Be On Time http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2403/
Juan Time
Jim Paredes and other personalities recently campaigned to make every Filipino aware of the Philippine Standard Time. Filipino cable channel viewers can see the nice ad placed in National Geographic. Those without one must have viewed the news clips provided by most media groups.
How big a problem is this? Many would easily scoff at the notion that Filipinos can actually develop the capacity to be on time. I have interacted with foreigners who find their meetings here delayed not just for minutes but even hours! All the while they are left to sit and wait for others to come. Some would set the meetings in "advance" for 30 minutes. This leaves the hapless punctual person coming earlier and waiting for the rest who would eventually come an hour later.
Patients are also prone to coming in late as well as their doctors. On many occasions I have witnessed childbirth in hospitals where the attending Obstetrician is late with the baby's head already protruding and the resident doctors trying to make the mother stop bearing just so the attending doctor can deliver the baby him/herself. On other instances, the baby can no longer be kept from its natural demands and are simply delivered without the doctor. The resident doctor's recourse will then be to leave the placenta in the pelvis until the attending doctor arrives. All the while the mother is lying on the delivery table cold, exhausted and anxious about what is happening (or, in this case, what is not happening) between her legs.
Every second counts thereafter. A baby delivered sooner or later than the expected date or time of delivery may have grave consequences. Premature babies are at risk for survival and if they do survive are at risk to thrive later in life. Babies who are delivered late are also at risk for infection and other delivery problems. They may be too large for the mother to safely allow in her canal.
Thereafter, life may then be a continuum for many. For others, every second becomes more precious. Every breath counts, every milliliter of oxygen in the tank becomes important and expensive, each tablet of medicine has to be taken at the proper time. Some may miss their pill and life can then be conceived.
But is a Filipino perennially late? Are we facing an untreated behavioral disorder? Punctuality is indeed a real, tangible problem for many Filipinos that addressing it cuts through the most important and expensive resource we have as a country. If our punctuality problem cannot be addressed who will do business with us? If I am a foreign investor and Philippine Stock Exchange does not operate with precision, I would hesitate to invest in this country who cannot get their life in order and on time.
If I am a patient I would rather find a doctor who have the time for me. If I am left waiting for hours at the doorstep of his/her office for hours waiting for him/her to arrive, how does that speak of his/her professionalism and quality of care?
On the flip side, If I am a doctor and my patient sets an appointment and arrives late, what does that mean to me? It means total disrespect for my practice, my office schedule, my life, my family and all other patients who have been bumped off the schedule taken by the patient who comes late.
Time is a precious resource that cannot be saved nor deposited in the bank for future use. It has to used properly now and always. Medicine operates with precision instruments around the hospital and doctor's clinic. This precision instrument should include the wall clock and the wrist watch for the practitioners, office personnel, hospital staff and patients.
Changing our attitude about time should be now. Let us get our lives in order.
Jim Paredes and other personalities recently campaigned to make every Filipino aware of the Philippine Standard Time. Filipino cable channel viewers can see the nice ad placed in National Geographic. Those without one must have viewed the news clips provided by most media groups.
How big a problem is this? Many would easily scoff at the notion that Filipinos can actually develop the capacity to be on time. I have interacted with foreigners who find their meetings here delayed not just for minutes but even hours! All the while they are left to sit and wait for others to come. Some would set the meetings in "advance" for 30 minutes. This leaves the hapless punctual person coming earlier and waiting for the rest who would eventually come an hour later.
Patients are also prone to coming in late as well as their doctors. On many occasions I have witnessed childbirth in hospitals where the attending Obstetrician is late with the baby's head already protruding and the resident doctors trying to make the mother stop bearing just so the attending doctor can deliver the baby him/herself. On other instances, the baby can no longer be kept from its natural demands and are simply delivered without the doctor. The resident doctor's recourse will then be to leave the placenta in the pelvis until the attending doctor arrives. All the while the mother is lying on the delivery table cold, exhausted and anxious about what is happening (or, in this case, what is not happening) between her legs.
Every second counts thereafter. A baby delivered sooner or later than the expected date or time of delivery may have grave consequences. Premature babies are at risk for survival and if they do survive are at risk to thrive later in life. Babies who are delivered late are also at risk for infection and other delivery problems. They may be too large for the mother to safely allow in her canal.
Thereafter, life may then be a continuum for many. For others, every second becomes more precious. Every breath counts, every milliliter of oxygen in the tank becomes important and expensive, each tablet of medicine has to be taken at the proper time. Some may miss their pill and life can then be conceived.
But is a Filipino perennially late? Are we facing an untreated behavioral disorder? Punctuality is indeed a real, tangible problem for many Filipinos that addressing it cuts through the most important and expensive resource we have as a country. If our punctuality problem cannot be addressed who will do business with us? If I am a foreign investor and Philippine Stock Exchange does not operate with precision, I would hesitate to invest in this country who cannot get their life in order and on time.
If I am a patient I would rather find a doctor who have the time for me. If I am left waiting for hours at the doorstep of his/her office for hours waiting for him/her to arrive, how does that speak of his/her professionalism and quality of care?
On the flip side, If I am a doctor and my patient sets an appointment and arrives late, what does that mean to me? It means total disrespect for my practice, my office schedule, my life, my family and all other patients who have been bumped off the schedule taken by the patient who comes late.
Time is a precious resource that cannot be saved nor deposited in the bank for future use. It has to used properly now and always. Medicine operates with precision instruments around the hospital and doctor's clinic. This precision instrument should include the wall clock and the wrist watch for the practitioners, office personnel, hospital staff and patients.
Changing our attitude about time should be now. Let us get our lives in order.
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