I had a meeting this morning in connection with a project we’re doing where the issue of next of kin came up. Uhm, just realised most of you don’t know much about my job, so an explanation is in order. I changed jobs in July. I now work for a company, which shall remain nameless (not because you’re not allowed to know, but because although I don’t mind my colleagues or our customers reading this I’d prefer it if they found it some other way than by searching for the company name on Google) which produces patient journal handling software for GP and company health service offices. For one of our major customers we’re now on a project where our database needs to query their personell database for certain info, such as the patient’s address and his/her next of kin. Which brings me back to:
I had a meeting this morning where the issue of next of kin came up, specifically, whether the record queried would always contain the person’s “person number” (unique identifier for a Norwegian, a bit like your social security number), to which the answer, naturally, was “No”. I know my own PN, and I think I might be in the minority. I have my brother’s writen down somewhere, as he is my beneficiary on the ex-company pension plan/life insurance. I have no idea what my parents’ PNs are. Most people are unlikely to know the PN of their next of kin, so what happens when the patient is asked for the details and can’t answer? Well, the other system generates a “fake” number, with an x to indicate the fact that it is fake. Fair enough. Now the first half of the PN is your birthdate, so for me it’s 100474, and someone said that in some cases this would have to be “faked” as well…
I made a remark to the effect that “It can’t be a very close next of kin if you don’t know their birthday.”
Well, apparently it can. (Always depending on your definition of “close”.) So, people, quick poll: How many of you would not be able to quote your parents’, siblings’ and/or significant other’s birthday if put on the spot? I’m not talking about remembering to send that card, or buy a present, or to phone on the actual day in question, rather than a week later (we all know that this can be quite tough, depending on your individual state of distraction), I’m talking about coming up with a simple (preferably correct) date. Anyone?
Congrats to Jimmy Carter on the Nobel Peace Prize. Good on you, Jimmy, old boy, for spending your rubber chicken years doing something worthwhile.
I can’t believe Bush was actually nominated. Not only do I have problems fathoming how anyone could consider that he deserved it, but why anyone should think the committee would give it to him in the current climate is really beyond all comprehension. It’s not as if they’ve ever been the sort to give in to pressure (thanks, no doubt, to the way the system works, with the individuals on the committee being so blessedly free from any considerations such as personal gain in making their choice).
Also, of course, it gave them a perfect opportunity to express the opposite of admiration and support to the way Bush is handling his job. To which I can just say: Ditto.
Not that this is to say I don’t think Saddam Hussein probably deserves everything Bush & Co can throw at him, it’s just that, from experience, SH himself isn’t the one who’s going to suffer. Invariably, it is the unprotected and innocent in the attacked country and the individual “attacking” soldiers (how many positive “I was in the Gulf war and it was a cracking experience” stories have you heard?) who take the hardest hits.
(Nice blend of half-mentioning the job, a “something funny happened to me this morning” story and touching on controversial political issues, there, I thought.)
Voice in my head: whassernameagin? – Universal Soldier