I'm at the nurse's station, finishing up a patient note, and getting ready to leave.
So I take off my white coat, shove it into my backpack, start to click out of the computer.
A nurse walks over, turns to me.
"Who are you? You can't be back here."
"Uh, it's me. [My name.] You've been dealing with me all night...? I just took off my white coat...."
"I don't know who you are. You can't be back here. You don't even have an ID."
"The ID is in my coat. We literally just had a conversation about Patient Jones ten minutes ago."
"What do you know about Patient Jones? Who'd you say you are?"
"[My name.] The resident. The resident you've been dealing with for the past twelve hours."
"I need to see your ID."
So I open my backpack, pull out my white coat, put it back on...
"Oh!! You!! Of course I know you. I didn't recognize you without the coat on. I'm sorry."
"So we're just all the same to you, yeah? Anyone wearing a white coat, that's all it takes?"
"Don't pretend you'd recognize me in street clothes, Doctor."
"Maybe not tomorrow, but a minute from now I'm sure I would."
"Don't be so sure."
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Not all nurses are as rubbish as the ones you seem to encounter! (Well I'm not,but I am old school, and English!) :)
ReplyDeletemy English teacher told me all Asian girls look the same, he can only recognize us by remember the color or style of our coat, haha.
ReplyDeletei can understand why the nurse cant recognize you after you took off your coat, haha
oh, really？ how come i never feel that way？haha
DeleteI'm a med student on rotations and the other day I was working with a doctor on a case for several hours. Later that day he wanted to know something about the case and yelled across the room, "hey! About that case...what's your name?"
ReplyDeleteAnd I find that is not uncommon. It's kind of sad.
Lori - it is also sad that most physicians are working longer and longer hours to pay their overhead and treating less and less appreciative patients. Thus many of us are working through burn out every singe day. Try to see it from the other end
ReplyDeleteSome people are good at faces, others aren't. I watch sci-fi partly because it is easier to tell the actors apart. My husband after 6 years is just beginning to realize that kirk and spock would look almost the same to me without the vulcan ears. I have to ask him to help keep the skinny blonde actresses seperate in 'normal' movies. I really cannot tell them apart and they are the same race as I am. I try to remember names...using mneumonics, repetition, focusing on one detail. I try not to focus on clothes because I would be exactly the same as that nurse if I did.
ReplyDeletehehe Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI wear a scarf on my head- hospital staff AND patients recognize me even at the local supermarket=)
Yikes that's scary.
ReplyDelete