Gravity, our invisible friend

The perfect gravity-assisted ward round – which starts with patients at the top of the hospital and works down sequentially – remains an elusive dream for all those whose rounds require them to see patients scattered over various floors. Although a pure anti-gravity ward round is easily avoided, bleeps, lost radiology request forms, and realising that one's stethoscope has been left on level 7 may all necessitate traipsing back up stairs, resulting in a partial anti-gravity ward round. Not infrequently, consciousness becomes impaired at some point during the round; the so-called complex partial anti-gravity ward round. In such situations, a cup of tea is generally curative.

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