Funny Orientation Story

A lot of you probably know by now that I'm a newbie. At a big hospital. A really, really big teaching hospital. The other day I was with a preceptor who, no matter what, could not get my name right. She was really sweet and tried hard, it just wouldn't stick. My name is Susan. My patient, we'll call her Marilyn, needed a foley. Marilyn is mildly psychotic and having DTs so the last thing she wants is that tube going where we were about to put it.

Usually, by the time I get a patient in the ICU they already have their foley so this was the first one I did since I started there. I grabbed my kit, pulled the curtain and my preceptor followed me in the room. As expected, Marilyn wasn't cooperating.

All of a sudden, my preceptor goes, "Susan! Open your legs. This tube needs to be put in!" I turned bright red and told her that the patient's name was Marilyn.

She must have been really intent on remembering my name because she did it again! "Susan! You really need to open your legs and relax! It's not as bad as it looks!" I get the foley in and clean everything up. We walk out of the room and all the nurses at the desk are cracking up. One says, "I guess you finally opened up to your preceptor, huh?"