It’s no secret that healthcare workers have a lot on their plates. The easier we can make it for them to remember and do things, the better. I’ve noticed this is true for the people I work with. And I know it’s true for me!
I saw this principle play out recently when I taught my granddaughters “My Favorite Things,” the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Julie Andrews made famous in The Sound of Music. I expected it to take a while. It didn’t.
Within a few rounds, they were singing along and rattling off the items in order. When I asked how they remembered them so fast, the answer was simple: “We can see them.”
That’s the secret. The song is a string of small, vivid pictures, carried on a melody and a steady rhythm. They weren’t memorizing a list. They were watching a parade of images go by in their minds, set to music.
The girls were onto something science has been measuring for decades. We remember better when information comes with a beat, a tune, or a picture.
Here’s what the research says:
- Melody and rhythm boost recall. In a randomized trial, 9- to 11-year-olds who heard a 15-word list sung recalled about 20 percent more words than children who heard it spoken…and still 17 percent more after a 15-minute break. They also remembered the words in the right order more often. The authors concluded that training “may be more effective than rehearsal with spoken words.”1
- It works for adults too… In a study of 90 older adults learning a 16-item grocery list, rhythm helped people pick up the list fastest, while melody helped it stick after a distraction. The researchers recommend building mnemonics with both.2
- …Even after a brain injury. Stroke patients six months into recovery learned and recalled sung stories better than spoken ones.3
- Pictures beat words. The picture superiority effect, first explained by Allan Paivio’s dual-coding theory, shows we remember images better than words. A concrete image gets stored twice: as a picture and as a word. Either one can bring the memory back.4
One catch: Repetition matters. The benefit of music grows with practice, as the tune becomes familiar. Sing it once, and it fades. Sing it every day, and it sticks.
Why We Have the Ps
All of this is exactly why we built the Ps for purposeful rounding. A busy nurse or tech walks into a room with a dozen things on their mind. “Check on the patient” is vague and easy to forget. Four words that start with the same letter are not.
- Pain: How is your pain right now?
- Potty: Do you need to use the restroom?
- Position: Can I help you get more comfortable?
- Possessions: Is everything you need within reach?
The alliteration gives it rhythm; say it a few times, and it has a beat. And every P is something you can see: a grimace, a full urinal, a pillow slipping, a call light or water cup just out of reach. Just like my granddaughters, staff aren’t memorizing a checklist. They’re walking through a picture of the room.
That’s the difference between a round that’s “just checking on you” and one that’s purposeful.
We don’t create tools like the Ps because our staff can’t remember. We create them because all human brains remember better with rhythm, repetition, and pictures. Make it easy to see, easy to say, and practiced every day, and it sticks. Just ask a couple of little girls who can now sing every one of their favorite things!
Lisa Reich will hold a breakout session titled “Advancing Patient Experience” on Tuesday, October 20, at the Rewiring Healthcare: Foundation to Future conference in Nashville, TN. To learn more about the conference and register, please visit https://www.eventleaf.com/e/rewiring-healthcare-fall-2026.
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