It's a small world...

Last night I took care of a patient that came to the Emergency Department.  The patient's friend and neighbor came with her to the hospital to provide support.  After a few minutes, I had accomplished all of the immediate tests and treatments that were needed.  As I was preparing to leave the room, the patient's friend said to me, "You look very familiar.  How long have you worked here?"

It was at this time that I paused and turned to her, to really look at her and tried to recognize her.  Now as an Emergency Nurse, I take care of hundreds of patients a year.  Add all of the friends, family, and other visitors... I see a lot of faces!  Trying to remember one out of several hundred is difficult.  Yet there was a recognition, I had seen this person before.

I explained to her that I was a Travel Nurse and had only been in Yuma for about 3 weeks, yet I too agreed she looked familiar.

As I was documenting the care I had provided, my sub-conscious brain was literally turning.  I wasn't actively, consciously thinking about it though, sort of like a little sub-processing as I went about caring for my other patients.

A few minutes later when I walked back into this patient's room and saw this person sitting there, bam!  I remembered her, or more specifically the circumstances around meeting her the first time.

It was almost a year ago, while working at another hospital in Phoenix.  I received a patient from Yuma via helicopter, that had fallen and had suffered a head injury.  The patient was exhibiting confusion, disorientation, somewhat combative at times - classic for a closed head injury.  This patient was the husband of my current patient's friend.  I remembered when she arrived 4 hours later, as she had to drive to Phoenix, she had come into her husband's room and sat in a chair just as she was doing last night.

After reassessing my current patient, I turned to her friend and said to her, "I was the nurse that took care of your husband when he had his fall and was flown by helicopter to Phoenix."  Her eyes lit up and the look on her face made my day!  She confirmed that I was the nurse that cared for her husband and was amazed that I could remember the details after so long.  She gave me an update on her husbands recovery and current condition (he is doing well by the way), and we talked for a few more minutes.  As I walked out of the room she told another visitor that my current patient was "in very good hands." 

And yes, I smiled when I heard that...