TY - JOUR T1 - Notices: just say no! JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 255 LP - 255 VL - 57 IS - 536 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2007/03/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/536/255.abstract N2 - If, as William Osler wrote, a human being can be defined as a ‘medicine-taking animal’, then surely a health service professional can be defined as ‘somebody who likes putting up notices’. The profusion of waiting room notices in surgeries and outpatient clinics is commonly justified by the conviction that these provide useful information to our patients. In fact, such notices are at best condescending, and at worst, express a worrying degree of fear and loathing of patients.In my surgery we recently succumbed to staff pressure to put up notices banning the use of mobile phones (my suggestion that we should use posters publicising the well-known facts that they cause male infertility and brain tumours was vetoed). It soon became clear that the notices were completely ineffective. People ill-mannered enough to talk loudly into their mobiles in the waiting room — even … ER -