Happily, I’ve never had anyone who didn’t immediately identify themselves and their function within my care plan.
I was a candy-striper in the mid-80s, when the switch to scrubs happened. It had to do with HIV and universal precautions. Any time a person got fluids on someone’s scrubs, they wanted to be able to take them right off any put something else on, quickly. Not something with buttons and zippers.
My son’s doctor-to-be wanted to be present at his birth, which was fine with me. A couple of days before I went into the hospital, she called me up, and said she had a med student observing in her practice, and could she come to the birth? she would understand if I said no. It was fine with me (I had been in the Army, and once you have peed in those open troughs they have for the women, there is no more shyness); med students have to learn.
As it happened, I had an unplanned c-section, and the boychik needed to have his breathing started. His doctor hadn’t planned to do any actual doctoring, but she ended up heading the resuscitation team, because even though they paged the pediatrician on call, it took him a few minutes to get there. There were a couple of nurses there, but the med student got to pitch in as well. I don’t know exactly what she got to do, but I’ll bet she was telling her med school friends about it for weeks-- especially since he recovered quickly, so, happy ending and all.
On another note, when my father was dying, I was sitting in his room keeping vigil, since the nursing home hadn’t been able to get hold of my mother. BACKGROUND: my Jewish father was friends with an Episcopal priest, who was the rector of a church. I forget how they knew each other, but they got together occasionally, and when my father was ill, the priest used to stop by after his official rounds just to chat. One day, he had his assistant doing rounds, and he asked her to stick her head in his room and say “Hi.” (He had no way of knowing my father was unconscious that day, since he had been conscious the day before). She misunderstood, and though she was supposed to pray over my father.
Anyway, she walks into his room, looks at me, and says “Who are you?”
I said “I’m his daughter. Who are you?”
She said she was the assistant rector and whatever church, and was there to pray with my father. I said he was Jewish, and no thank you. She insisted on calling the rector, who explained that he just wanted he to pass on greetings. So she left, but she kind of gave me the hairy eyeball. I wonder how her ecclesiastical career turned out.
Not sure what that has to do with “political correctness,” but otherwise agreed. Just ask. They can deal with it fine.
I don’t have any problem with asking someone who they are, or what their role is.
My intended was a doctor, and he’s pointed out that you can just *buy *scrubs or a lab coat.
Another doctor here, and I can tell you we never mind if we get asked who we are. If anything, it’s embarrassing that we didn’t introduce ourselves in the first place. As turnabout, I always ask who the other people in the room are before we discuss anything. I used to try to be as diplomatic as possible, but I find the direct approach is the easiest and least confusing: “… and who are you? Is it okay if we discuss your medical care in front of him/her?”
I just want to clarify another misconception about interns that I happened to notice earlier up. It was probably a joke, but 99% of interns are still nervous about introducing themselves as “Doctor So-and-so”, much less so full of themselves that they’d be offended by the patient asking who they are.
I hope some of the horror stories above about teaching hospitals are from the distant past; nowadays schools and teaching programs specifically teach exactly how to avoid those kinds of dehumanizing situations.
This thread seems like as good as place as any to state my wish that, on admittance, the hospital would issue the patient and family a cheat sheet listing the common personnel and their roles. When my mother was hospitalized for colon cancer I was under a lot of stress and had never really interacted with the hospital system before. Even being told someone’s job title didn’t necessarily help a civilian such as myself. I never really knew which people were appropriate to ask for a refill of ice chips vs who to ask if the respiratory therapist was scheduled that day. For instance, some of y’all are talking about the floor nurse, just as if I would know what that person’s responsibilities are (is that a supervisor of some kind?). I couldn’t tell if the floor nurse made rounds, or if I had to seek her/him out, or what?
It seemed like I would ask someone a question, to be told “XX will talk to you about that,” but I would have no idea when to expect to talk to “XX.” I guess I was supposed to just grill everyone who came in the room, but I’m very introverted and that was really difficult, and everyone seemed to be in such a hurry.
I don’t think my mother necessarily received poor care. But I do think people who work in a hospital day in and day out made a lot of assumptions about their environment and processes that were completely opaque to me. And don’t get me started on hospital signage.
This actually worries me a lot. I am very healthy (and lucky) and have never been hospitalized myself. I’m basically alone, and will have to be my own advocate. Someday that day will come, and I’ll be screwed.
troubledwater, that’s actually an excellent suggestion. I think I will work on creating just such a document for my own patients. It will of necessity be a little general, since there are more than 200 hospitals in my city that my patients may go to, and job titles/duties may vary. But it might be better than nothing. Would you like me to post it for you when I’m done?
I’d be interestedbin seeing it too Whynot.
In the mean time, troubledwater, when you need something, pain pills, ice chips, you dropped something on the floor, don’t hesitate to hit the nurse call button. I learned a while ago, it’s not that it sets off alarms and they’re going to rush in with a crash cart, it just alerts someone at the nurse’s station that you need someone to check in on you. Sometimes they’ll even do it via intercom.
When things get really bad, you can look into a Hospitalist. They help to coordinate your care within the hospital.
Ok, I’m working on it, and I’ll post it in MPSIMS when I’m ready for assistant editors and contributors to fine tune it. I’ll drop a link in here.
Why no, I’m not procrastinating my actual homework and paperwork I have to catch up on for work, why do you ask?
Okay, yeah, I’m totally procrastinating. But it’s for a good cause. 
Where I work, we wrote a guide that we give to all of our inpatients, and it lists the different types of doctors, nursing staff, PT, OT, administrative staff like unit coordinators, chaplaincy, interpreter services, housekeeping, dietary, and patient advocacy. Even with all that, there are still so many other people involved.
Here you go! First draft. Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood (Hospital)?
The hospital where I work has photos of people dressed in the various uniforms. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of confusion about who’s who.