One day on internal medicine CTU, I was sent to talk to a patient who was admitted for heart failure. I skimmed the admission note, and gathered some facts about his history; then set off to talk with him. I arrived in his room, and saw two beds with elderly men in each. I announced the patient’s name loudly, and the gentleman in the far bed waved to me. I sat down, and began my interview. I asked all my questions, and got a good sense of his story, however found that some details were slightly off from the consult note: his age by two years, the length of time he had been widowed by 8, his pack per year smoking history by about 5 years. I didn’t think much of it. I returned to my team and presented the case, suggesting some adjustments to the management plan. My staff said he has spoken to the patient too that day, and disagreed with some of my points; so he suggested we go to see the patient together. To my horror, as we entered the room, I waved to the patient with whom I had spoken, but my staff turned to the OTHER patient in the room, and began talking to him. Only then did I check his ID bracelet, and realize that I had interviewed the WRONG patient entirely. Somehow, their stories were both extremely similar!! I was immensely flustered, and ended up waiting until after my staff was done talking to the patient to admit what I had done. Honestly, I felt like the biggest tool ever. My staff initially looked unimpressed, but after I explained that the other patient had actually ANSWERED to his roommate’s name, he started laughing. He admitted that something in my story had seemed a bit off. He encouraged me to always check the ID bracelets – Which believe me, I always do now! Take away – Admit to mistakes, and check IDs!!!

 

– CC4