The Delegation Argument

 

I had a very upsetting conversation once with a theatre porter. I said: "We porters are part of a life-saving team." He responded: "So if the police do a raid and catch some bank robbers, yet just before the raid the inspector asks his secretary: 'Can you pass me that pen?' and she does it, is she also part of the team who catches the bank robbers?" What made me so sad was that this theatre porter was arguing for his own worthlessness, yet that didn't deter him. Despite what you might think, it actually doesn't bother me that much when civilians look down at porters; it bothers me far more when porters look down at porters. Many many times when you, as a HP, approach others with anything short of shoulder slumping humility you will be hit with the delegation argument. "But all you do is push a trolley. If you weren't there anybody else could do it. When I was in hospital I saw a nurse pushing a trolley etc etc." This comment shows a total ignorance of hospital matters. In Ireland anaesthetists and anaesthetic nurses are not needed in delivery to do epidurals; obstetricians do their own epidurals and are assisted by midwives. Does this mean therefore that anaesthetics and anaesthetic nurses are worthless? If they then move on to the "pass the pen" development, you should ask your interrogator: "Alright then, where is the line drawn?" At what point does one become a person of value even though they can also be delegated? Is the person just to the other side of that line of no value at all? Do you see what a ridiculous and illogical point this is? In a large hospital there are porters and what we do is essential to the workings of that institution. In very some small clincs there are no porters, especially when the patients treated tend to be mobile. In very small local surgeries, especially in remote areas, there are no nurses, just one or two doctors. Anybody using the delegation argument is either ignorant or dishonest. They are nothing but conformists who cannot bear to live in a world where HP's are proud to be HP's.