Anonymous 2m 596 #hospital
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
A few years ago, I got a job working as a hospital transport. It was a mindless job with no real thinking required, but allowed me some time to read some books as I waited for patients to be done with their appointments. I enjoyed it because it was relatively stress-free and I got to meet different people and learn about their conditions and their lives. A hospital transport is someone who transports patients to and from their rooms to other places of the hospital, such as bringing them for an MRI or a CAT Scan. Sometimes we would be busy, getting a half a dozen calls within the hour, and other times it was quiet.
My job required me to be all over the hospital. I carried a walkie talkie with me and would receive orders to go here or there in the hospital. I would transport expecting mothers to the maternity ward, help move patients from the bed to the transport bed for surgeries and other areas of the hospital for tests. I would sometimes have to wait for those patients to be done and transport them back to their rooms.
This hospital I worked at had a sound system which was wired throughout the entire hospital. No matter where you were in the hospital, specifically the hallways, you could hear any announcements being made. The one thing this hospital loved to do during evening hours and on weekends was play music. I loved their variety of music which was mostly classical, oldies, and classic rock. This made the transporting of patients more entertaining and enjoyable.
I remember a few classic rock songs playing that probably made it awkward for the patient. The songs were often classic rock and awesome, but there are just some songs that should not be played in a hospital. These songs were from several of my favorite artists, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Blue Oyster Cult, and a few more. So here were some of the songs that I heard:
Bob Dylan
– Knocking on Heaven’s Door
The Doors
– Break on Through (To The Other Side)
Led Zeppelin
– Stairway to Heaven
– In My Time of Dying
Blue Oyster Cult
– Don’t Fear the Reaper
John Lennon
– Living On borrowed Time
Norman Greenbaum
– Spirit in the Sky
Cheryl Crow
– The First Cut is the Deepest
REM
– It’s the End of the World
– Everybody Hurts
– Losing My Religion
AC/DC
– Highway To Hell
Queen
– Who Wants To Live Forever
– Dead On Time
– Another One Bites the Dust
Guns N’ Roses
– Live and Let Die
Foreigner
– The Final Countdown
Aerosmith
– The Other Side
Metallica
– One
The Ramones
– I Wanna Be Sedated
Pink Floyd
– Comfortably Numb
– Goodbye Cruel World
– Time
Simple Minds
– No Cure
The Bee Gees
– Staying Alive
Paul Simon and Art Garunkle
– Sound of Silence
– Slip Slidin’ Away
Carly Simon
– You’re So Vein
There are a bunch more that I can’t think of right now, but I do love these songs. I love these bands. I love these artists. I certainly never minded listening to any of them, but when they come on the speaker system in a hospital filled with sick and dying people, there are just some songs that should never be played in a hospital. After a few months, they actually stopped playing classic rock and switched to just classical music, probably thinking the same thoughts I had.
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