If I ruled the world, I'd make this a law : EVERYONE must wear a nametag, regardless of who you are. You'd be allowed to take it off only when you shower, or when you are 100% sure you would not encounter any new person. That means wearing it even when answering the door.
I'm terrible with names. When I mean terrible, I mean TERRIBLE. I can be introduced to someone, e.g. ; "Hello Hani, my name is Jennifer" and then have a 10-second conversation with her. At the end of ten seconds, after we've parted ways, I'd be like "Hmmm what did she say her name was again? Anna? No....but I'm sure there's the letter 'A' somewhere in the name...."
You see how hopeless I am. And the scenario above is not far from the truth at all.
There's this very friendly Filipino chap who's a porter at the hospital whom I met about 2 months ago. We've bumped into each other almost on a daily basis ever since, and each time he'd say "Hi Hani, how are you?"and I'd just smile back and have a cheerful conversation with him while desperately trying to peek at his ID hung around his neck (which is always backwards, so I can't see it, damn!).
So you can see how terribly embarrassing the whole situation is.
You might think, how on earth am I going to remember my patients' names, being the budding doctor that I am? (hahahah!). Well, you see, so that's where the whole nametag idea comes in handy. Once I see your name, know how it's spelled, you can bet that I'll remember it for a long time. I think my mind remembers names better if I can visualise how they are spelled. Really. I can even remember the names of people whom I went to primary school with. Full names, mind you. And it's because I remember reading their name tags. So it's not a problem when it comes to patients, since they have ID tags on them and their names are always written next to the bed.
So yeah, to make life easier for everybody (especially yours truly!), how about nametag-wearing for a world policy?
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