Do you put real names in your essay?

[DrFlower]

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It may sound like a stupid question, but do you write in your PS the real name of the doctor you shadowed, or an abbreviation like, "I shadowed Dr. S"?

 

[dhoonlee]

.

 

[CaptainZero]

It may sound like a stupid question, but do you write in your PS the real name of the doctor you shadowed, or an abbreviation like, "I shadowed Dr. S"?

Yes for the doc, definitely NO for patients - in case you were considering telling a story about some particular patient you came into contact with. Use Mr./Mrs. X or something along those lines.

 

[TRUE]

I agree with Captain Zero, though you definitely won't get in trouble if you do. I wrote the name of a patient (Mr. Hernandez for instance), and even though it was a fictious name, it easily could have been the real patient. No one mentioned anything. It's up to you, though I would say use a made up name (and before the bashing begins, I know all about the patient confidentiality agreements and so forth).

 

[liverotcod]

You can use my name if you want. But really, a name doesn't identify a person. To use TRUE's example, how many Mr. Hernandezes (or Carlos Hernandez, or John Smith, or whatever) are there in the world. Lots. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to use name + SSN + DOB, though it's hard to imagine how this would come up in the PS:
"As a emergency room volunteer, it was my job to queue walk-in patients. One day, a patient staggered in. 'My name is Carlos Hernandez,' he said, 'and my social security number is 123-456-7890. I was born on the 4th of July, 1976. I think I have AIDS!' I duly noted this crucial information, thinking to myself that I should carefully protect this patient's identity in order to prevent him losing his job as a sex worker."