Beam Me Up Scotty

When our new ER opened a year ago they decided to install a fancy new tube system for delivering blood and other lab specimens. Ok - so to many other health care workers reading this it may not seem like such a big deal but in my little neck of the woods it's pretty advanced. I love it! You tuck your little specimen inside of a red bag, stick it in the big plastic tube, push a few buttons (usually curse a couple of times because it takes so long) and woosh!...off it goes to the lab. It's sort of like the system from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that sucks up the glutinous Augustus Gloop and turns him into an eight foot tall basketball phenom. As much as I enjoy the tube system (and to be honest I still get a little bit excited when I get to use it!), I think that we could use it for much more exciting things. For example, Tim Hortons. We could send our orders up to Tim Hortons and have them "tube down" our coffee (in specially made containers of course). Or how about enlarge the tubes and use them for patient transfers? Forget about waiting for porters and elevators. Just pack up your patient, enter the room number and PRESTO! So many possibilities...