remembering names

[tugo]

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hello everyone,
this may seem like a dumb question, but i will be starting med school this fall and would like some help. i have always been bad at remembering people's names, but as a doctor, i know it is an important social skill to have. i would like to remember my patients and other staff members by name.

for those of you who do it well, how do you do it? any pointers or helpful hints?

 

[gwyn779]

name badges

 

[Amy]

One of my friends is really bad with names, so another one of our friends made her flashcards of everyone in our class with their picture on one side and the name on the other. 😀

In the hospital, all the staff has name badges, and the patients have charts, so you should be ok. 😉

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

I have the same problem...there are still a handful of people in my class that I can't remember their name. Once I hear it, i'm like, OH YEAH... Anyway, ID badges really help. Another thing you can do is when they say their name, repeat it back to them. For example, Hi, I'm Amanda. and you say, Hi Amanda, etc. May sound cheesy, but it works somewhat. 🙂

 

[Megalofyia]

Any hints for remembering names in general? Not just people's names. I have a hard time recalling the names of stuff and people. I can remember what something is for, how it is used, what can go wrong with it, etc but I have a hard time remembering the word it is called.

 

[tms]

Yeah...remembering in general...I have an hard time remembering what nerves inervate all of the muscles in the body...OH WAIT...medschool is supposed to be about memorizing.

Jus' kiddin. I use the repeating it back idea. It works if you use it. Add...It was nice meeting you Amanda...at the end of the introduction. Also, the animal illiteration works too. Use the first letter of their name with an animal.

Hi. I'm Amanda.

Hi Amanda. I'm TMS. (hmmmm. Amanda Armidillo...hmmmm) blah blah...Nice to have met you Amanda.

Sounds kinda summer-camp...but it works if you use it..even though I don't and can't remember ****.

 

[doc05]

don't worry about it. First week of 1st year, I could remember about 10% of the names. Within a couple weeks, I knew everyone's.

 

[ckent]

I'm horrible with names too, and it used to bother me a lot, but now I just go with the flow. Before I go see my patient, I will see their name and call them by their name when I greet them, but 5-10 minutes into the interview, I just end up calling them "sir" or "mamn" because I've forgotten their name. For classmates, it was really annoying, but I just got used to greeting everyone with "hey, how's it going?" instead of trying to guess on their name (which I usually get wrong if I do try to guess).

 

[souljah1]

I repeat there name back to them like this. "Hi I'm Chris". Hey there Chris chris bo bis banana fana fo fis fee fie fo miss..chris. It works like a charm.