Really, how can you remember?

This happens to me frequently in ICU. A patient and their family will come into the unit, sometimes bearing candy or cookies (yum!), and they come up to me and say, "Hi Sunny, I'm going home today and I wanted to thank you for your care".

I'm like . . . you're very welcome . . . . uh . . . . . who are you??? They're dressed in street clothes, clean-shaven, hair nicely combed . . . I've got no idea who they are!!! But, then, before he can respond, a colleague will run up to him and say, "Hi Mr. So-and-so".

I think I need to start taking Aricept!! Early Alzheimer's!!!

[AgentBeast, BSN, RN]

It's part of having a Y chromosome dude. We're all terrible with names and faces.

[OutlawNurse86, BSN, RN]

Yeah, I was at a gas station the other day buying a coke and the gal behind the counter didn't even charge me for it. She said "You took such good care of my husband 4 months ago"...I was like "um...ok...thanks..." and then I asked the obligatory "How's he doing?" I felt bad cause I couldn't recognize her.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

I don't recognize people the next day, but sometimes I'll recognize the person with the patient because they are in street clothes both times. I know some nurses that can recite the patient and family history back 20 years.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I get this all the time. There I'll be, running errands in the mall, and someone comes up and says "Oh, there's Dad's favourite nurse". So there I stand, frantically trying to remember who "Dad" was. Did he go home? Did he go to a nursing home? Did he die? (because all they things could of occured). Usually I just stand there, smile and try not to ask "So how is Dad" only to be told - "Um - you were with him when he died". I just say things like "thank you" and "how nice of you to remember me". I am terrible at faces and names. Unfortunately for me, due to a disfiguring disease, I have a face that makes me stand out from other people so people remember me.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I have this problem all the time. People will walk up to me in the store or in town and say, "Hi, Marla, it's good to see you again!" and I have no idea whatsoever where I've met them or how they know who I am until they say something like "You took such good care of me a couple of years ago," etc. I usually have to picture them in a patient gown to figure out who they are.....luckily, that usually works. :)

[opensesame]

Right there with ya, Sunny. Pass the Aricept around...

[OCNRN63, RN]

Happens to me all the time. I feel bad about it, because these people have been through chemo, so you'd think I should remember them.

Cut yourself some slack. Everyone looks a tad different with a tube down their throat. LOL!

[catshowlady]

Send some of that Aricept my way, too, please. I cannot remember faces. Give me a name, and I'm likely to recite a health history and course of ICU stay, but I just can't remember the face to go with the name.

:paw:

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

My concern is I live in a fairly small town with 1 inpatient psych unit (12 bed unit) and I recognize the patients out in the city all the time. My problem is they also recognize and remember my name and when they approach me in public I don't know quite how to respond. With the more severe mental illness case I will act like I don't see them and disappear fast. It's because they were having exacerbation's of their mental illness is why they were being treated by me so I don't know if they are just being polite by saying hi or if they're being sincere in saying hi.

[agldragonRN]

it's part of having a y chromosome dude. we're all terrible with names and faces.

i concur!!

[agldragonRN]

duplicate..

Edited Oct 10, 2010 by agldragonRN

[FlyingScot, RN]

I get this frequently at WalMart. They are usually "dentally challenged" and scratching their privates when they come up and say "didn't yew take care a me in the ER last month"? I always reply "No sir, I didn't. I'm not a nurse but I get this question a lot so I must have a twin out there". That usually confuses them and I quietly make my escape. :-)

[opensesame]

I get this frequently at WalMart. They are usually "dentally challenged" and scratching their privates when they come up and say "didn't yew take care a me in the ER last month"? I always reply "No sir, I didn't. I'm not a nurse but I get this question a lot so I must have a twin out there". That usually confuses them and I quietly make my escape. :-)

That's what you get for shopping at WalMart.

Funny Pictures at WalMart

Lordy, lordy, I've been at my new job over 5 years and still can't remember some of my co-workers names!!!!! Double the dose of Aricept stat!!!!!

It's part of having a Y chromosome dude. We're all terrible with names and faces.

Scott,

You're right! My wife reminds me of this daily. Case in point . . . we're at the mall and a co-worker from the hospital comes up to me, "Hi Sunny, blah, blah, blah, oh, this must be your wife . . . I say, "Yes, this is "wifey-poo" . . . *long pause* and my brain is spinning . . . what's her name? what IS her name? Oh geez, you just worked with her yesterday!!!??? . . . finally, she ends the torture . . . "Sunny!!! I'm "blah-blah", we worked together yesterday!!!"

Sigh . . . the joys of having a Y chromosome!!

p.s. - And, my wife will remember that co-worker's name F-O-R-E-V-E-R!! I've already forgotten!!

Edited Oct 9, 2010 by sunnycalifRN
clarification

[HopeItWorksDNP]

It's not the Y-chromosome. I can only remember you if I see you in the same context I saw you in before. If you return to the ER, I'll recognize you and remember what your last visit was for and your family members and how we treated you. If I see you out in public, I can't remember if you were a patient, a school teacher from my younger days, someone I worked with in a factory years ago, etc.. I just need people to stop moving around and stay in the place I first met them!