My Patient renamed Me....

Published Jul 4, 2005

449 Posts

Specializes in Med/Surg..

Hi All,

Just wanted to share something sweet and funny that recently happened to maybe give everyone a chuckle and lighten things up. I'm currently in my 3rd Semester of Nursing School - only 2 more to go before I can sit for the Boards and hopefully have an "RN" after my name, God Willing. This past week has been our 1 week of Summer Break and I started working part-time on a med/surg floor to get some extra experience for clinicals and a bit of extra money to help pay for school.

Yesterday was my first shift on this floor, I was really excited to finally be working, but a little bit nervous about being the "new girl on the block". The Nurse I was working with introduced me to all of my patients, told them I'd be their NA for the night. My name is Susan, but for some reason one of my patients kept calling me Judy. The Nurse corrected her twice and when the patient kept calling me "Judy", I told the Nurse, it was ok, I'd be Judy. :chuckle

I was working through 2 shifts and since I was new, when the shift changed and my patient buzzed the Nurses Station asking for "Judy" to help her get to the bathroom, the new Secretary had no idea who she was talking about and was asking everyone if they knew of a new employee named "Judy". I told her the patient was asking for me - she said - I thought your name was Susan, it was very funny. This patient would buzz every half hour asking for "Judy" and by the end of tonight - only my second night on the job, all the Nurses and Techs were cracking up about this and started calling me "Judy".

Tonight before I left, this sweet little old lady really touched my heart - she buzzed again - asking for me (Judy). She said - Judy, I'm being discharged tomorrow and just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate everything you've done for me. And - Judy, with you leaving so late at night, I hope you have a can of mace with you in case your attacked in the parking lot. To think that she was worried about me was so sweet, I just didn't have the heart to tell her my name wasn't Judy.

That mix-up with my name was a real ice-breaker with the rest of the staff. I found out they all have a pretty good sense of humor and it really put me at ease in this new job. When I was leaving tonight - a Nurse named "Kim" coming on duty told me this same patient had called her "Linda" for the last week. I couldn't help but laugh all the way home - I love this job....