What Is Your Name? Where Are We? Who Is President? Oh God.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Medical Examiner Health and medicine explained. Feb. 27 2017 5:46 PM

What Is Your Name? Where Are We? Who Is President? Oh God.

This used to be a routine test.

By Jeremy Samuel Faust

As an emergency doctor, one thing I cannot take for granted is whether or not a patient is fully oriented. To assess this, I ask four basic questions: What is your name? Where are we? What is the date? Who is the president of the United States? If the person knows all four answers, they are said to be “alert and oriented to person, place, time, and POTUS.” When they get one of the answers wrong, it is good practice to reorient them.

Just by the math of it, several times per week, a patient of mine answers the POTUS question incorrectly. Jimmy Carter seems to be a favorite. Last week I had a patient tell me that Obama was the president. When I told him that Obama’s term was up, he wanted another guess. He went backward to Bush.

All kinds of things can cause these lapses in memory, from chronic dementia to a temporary head injury. So, some patients are alert, conversant, and are otherwise “with it” enough to understand the gravity of the news I end up breaking to them. It’s actually a fascinating moment, and I have become deeply curious as to what each patient’s reaction will be. Each time now, I stop, take a big breath, look them squarely in the eyes, and then I reveal to them the full, undeniable truth of the situation: The president of these United States is Donald J. Trump. I pause. I do not break eye contact.

For the most part, it isn’t pretty. ... One elderly woman let out a startling moan, the kind of sound I would have expected if someone had told her that her cat had died. Another blinked twice when I told him. “Really?” he said, in disbelief. “Come on, doc, you’re shaking my leg.” One patient accused me of playing a trick, although I have not yet been accused of bringing fake news.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Jeremy Samuel Faust is an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. He is the co-host of FOAMcast. Follow him on Twitter. @jeremyfaust

[yallerdawg]

1. It has been reported...

many medical professionals have dropped the "Who is president?" question because half the time they get horrible reactions!

[machoneman]

3. Yeah, they dropped the POTUS question....

when 1/2 the patients immediately hit the floor after going into cardiac arrest!

[unblock]

2. good story, but they stopped training to ask about potus ages ago.

i got my emt training in 1997 and they told me never to ask about potus. they said it was a hollywood thing.

first, there plenty of people who are "alert and oriented times three", yet actually don't know who the president. pathetic, but true.

second, the last thing you usually want to do in an emergency situation is raise blood pressure and anxiety levels by giving someone a pop civic quiz and bringing up what is often a contentious topic.

[yallerdawg]

4. I was asked one time by doctors (I won't tell you why)...

"What does it mean when people say 'don't throw rocks in glass houses'?"

I knew who the president was!