Joseph Engel had a surgeon. He had an ear, nose and throat physician. He had an internal medicine physician.

People with white coats came and went throughout his stay at Ephrata Community Hospital.

But the 82-year-old West Earl Township man had a way to keep all of his doctors straight.

Patients at the Ephrata hospital now receive cards with photographs of their physicians, grouped together by practice.

The doctor cards -- akin to baseball trading cards, minus the statistics -- were a brainstorm of a hospital official who noticed a quirky response to a satisfaction survey given to patients about their hospital stay.

"Some people would say, 'I didn't see my doctor,' '' said hospital spokeswoman Joanne Eshelman, "when in fact they did see someone from that group."

The hospital realized that being in the hospital is stressful and seeing a number of unfamiliar faces is even more stressful.

Sometimes your regular physician is not the one from the practice doing rounds the week you happen to be in the hospital. Sometimes you have to see a specialist, maybe a urologist or a cardiologist, you have never seen before.

"Long ago, our medical staff was smaller and the staff and patients tended to know everyone," Eshelman said.

But with more than 350 physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants on the hospital staff nowadays, that's not necessarily the case anymore, said Stacie Whiting, who works on patient and employee satisfaction programs.

"Doctors walk out of a patient's room and they (patients) say, 'Who was that? What kind of doctor was he?' " Whiting said.

The doctor cards are designed to help answer the question.

For example, during his stay at the Ephrata hospital, Engel got a card with the photos of doctors from Internal Medicine Associates of Ephrata.

On the practice's card was Dr. William Loretan, who stopped to see the retired Amish taxi driver as he recovered from neck surgery.

"I'm your attending physician," Loretan told Engel. "I'm kind of like the captain of the ship."

Ticking off his list of doctors, Engel said the cards "give you something to take home, too."

Fifteen groups, mainly the specialty groups such as neurologists, cardiologists, cancer doctors and others, have the cards. In addition to photos, the cards also contain a brief description of the kind of work the practice does.

Patients receive the cards from a patient ambassador, a staff member who provides communication and comfort to patients during their stay at the Ephrata hospital. In the critical or intermediate care units, patients' families are given the cards as well.

One of those ambassadors, Dore Worhun, said patients have appreciated the cards, which they usually keep on their bedside table.

"Sometimes there is so much on their minds, it's hard to keep track of people," Worhun said. "This is an easy reference."

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