The Man Who Sent His Discharge Nurse A LinkedIn Connection Request Within the Hour
You walk out of the hospital, you go home, you rest — that’s the protocol. What you do not do is pull up LinkedIn from the parking lot and search for your discharge nurse by first name and hospital. But Kevin, 44, a consultant from Phoenix, did exactly that, and Jess, 28, accepted thinking it was a professional network request until she read his message, which began with “I know this is unusual but our connection felt real.” (Jess’s profile now has no photo and lists her employer as “Healthcare Industry.” We fully support this.) The kicker? He included his business card in the message, complete with a direct line. She blocked it. He connected with two of her colleagues instead, apparently fishing. Both blocked him too. The man had a system.
It works. Mostly.
The Man Who Kept “Accidentally” Using Her First Name
Nurses wear name badges. This is a fact. What is not protocol is for a patient to use your first name in every single sentence like you’re on a first date, which is what happened to Anya, 30, a medical ward nurse in Boston, whose patient Robert, 52, said “Anya” approximately forty-seven times over a two-day stay. She counted. She told her colleague. Her colleague also counted on the next visit just to verify. (Forty-seven was, if anything, a conservative estimate.) At one point Robert said, “Anya, I feel like we really understand each other,” and Anya responded by updating his fluid chart with extreme focus and excusing herself to check a fictional blood result. Robert was discharged with a clean bill of health and no self-awareness whatsoever. He left a five-star review. It mentioned her name six more times.
