How are you supposed to answer the phone?

Nurses General Nursing

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We are supposed to answer the phone as thus:

"Good morning (what ever time of day it is), G_____ Elder Care, Home of the best care ever, M______C______, This is so and so, how might I help you this beautiful day????????

I kid you not.

Most people are lucky if they get , "Yo, what?" out of us.

BLECHHHHHHHHHHHH..

:eek:

M

Geez, I can't believe y'all were actually TOLD to say crap like that, what's more unbelievable is a class on answering the phone. You know, someone actually got PAID to decide how the phone would be answered, must be a challenging job :)

I answer "OB, this is Christie"....even done it at home before!

10 Tower David Speaking....if it is a call on our regular phones if it is a call on our Charge phone (we carry charge phones when we are charging....) I answer just with David That is all that is required for our unit

Dave

Specializes in LDRP; Education.
Originally posted by konni

If it's slow, "name of hospital, ICU, this is Konni, can I help you?"

If it's busy, "ICU, this is Konni, can I help?"

If it's crazy, "ICU, Konni."

HA! That's what I do.

By the way, what happens if you DON'T answer the phone that way? And what if it's not a beautiful day? What if someone's granny died and they are calling you for medical record release? Jeesh!

Originally posted by ptnurse

Here is the way the greeting is suppose to go where I worked. "It's a great day in (name of unit). This is (your name). How may I serve you?"

Sound like it should be finished with "in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" :rolleyes: :chuckle

I was pretty lucky,

"2nd floor Erin speaking":)

"Thank you for calling Camp Grueber Troop Medical Clinic. This is Sgt so and so, how can I help you sir or mam?"

yes, "sir or mam" really does come at the end of every greeting. Its just been drilled into my head so much that it dont bother me anymore to say it.

(I just try not to answer the phone!);)

Specializes in Geriatrics, LTC.

Name of facility, Station a, b or c (depending on where you are of course, this is ______.

The problem we have on nights is getting some of the aides to answer the phone for us. Some will just let it ring waiting for a nurse to happen by to get it. I tell all my new people how to answer and to please do so if the phone rings.

Well, I bet that cr*p is comming to a hospital near me. They are very into that kind of thing. So far, they have said we must answer the phone in 5 rings or less....takes me 3 rings to hear it over a screaming baby and another 7 to finish changing a diaper--then I need to wash my hands..... And if my kid is desatting and needs suctioning that phone ain't gonna get answered. I figure if they want it answered in 5 rigs or less, they need to get us a secretary.

Since I'm on straight midnights, I don't adhere strictly to the hospital's prepared speech.

When it's an outside call, I say "Behavioral Medicine, this is (mamabear), how can I help you?"

Anything more than that sounds fake, at best.;)

Six southeast...this is Joanne ...may I help you?

I never really thought too much about the exact words until I called the unit one evening to ask a question and heard : "Am I" when I called the unit.

I work in an MICU and frequently we refer to the unit as 'MI'. It never occured to me until I was on the other end of the phone how that sounds....It sounded to me like the person answering was saying "am I" I immediately responded with "Are you what?" My coworker was dumbfounded and said "What???" I repeated "Are you what?" I explained to my coworker how it sounded and we all try now to clearly at least say MICU and identify ourselves by name.

Specializes in Mostly LTC, some acute and some ER,.

I always pick up the phone and say "Goodmorning, skilled nursing, this is amanda, wanna hear me FART???" then I make gassy noises with my mouth, and then usually I dont have to talk to them because they hang up on me.

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