Business Cards?

[earthling]

I have a bone to pick with most hospitals and other institutions that employ staff nurses. As a second career RN, I am utterly dumbfounded that staff nurses are not provided with business cards. Are we not professionals worthy of "professional" symbols? I realize that nursing field employs a lot of temporary/traveling workers, but why can't workers get the recognition they deserve? Any thoughts?

[Audreyfay]

In these days of cost-cutting, I don't see how any hospital would be willing to pay for business cards for the unit staff nurses. But.. it would be nice for the patients to know our name to send us real cool thank-you gifts and money that we can't accept anyway. Or maybe a nice box of chocolates to help us on our way to the middle-age spread! Sorry for being sarcastic. I'm just considering who I would want to give a business card to. Of course, I would love to give cards to the patients I enjoyed working with and thought I was doing a good job. The patients who I suspected didn't care for me, I'd rather they didn't have a card to rip up and throw in the trash.

Just MHO.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Originally posted by P_RN

We were mandated to use the "business cards" provided for us. It was not an optiion. On the card was our name, job title, a blank for our beeper of the day # or cell phone #, and the charge nurse's name. Across the top was the hospital name, address, phone number and the NM's name.

It wasn't any problem. They stopped this after about a year as it didn't seem to make any difference in the feedback from past patients.

lot of gall that place had. NO ONE would get MY cell # or address. they don't even get my LAST NAME. huh uh. unreal and abusive to the staff. and downright dangerous and ignorant, given the sicko's out there.

[motherhen]

I think business cards are a way of networking. When you are at a seminar or convention and meet someone who ask for your number and then writes it on a piece of paper and it gets lost you have lost a contact. Sometimes it is just for educational info or a means of contacting someone for a project but vistaprint is cheap and I carry a few cards with me just for that purpose.

[James Huffman]

I find it interesting that there are nurses here who object to giving out -- among other things -- their own last names to patients.

What does this tell us about professionalism in nursing practice?

What would we think of any other professional refusing to give their last name or contact information?

Let's think lawyers, physicians, etc. Would we trust such a person with our professional needs?

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Just to clarify the cell phone was one we were supplied and were only used at work. They had no range outside of the building. The secretaries LOVED them because they cut down on the call light answering. We hated them because they never rang until you were elbow deep in STUFF.

[Gldngrl]

I can understand why many nurses would not want to provide personal information for patients. In many states, patients can access our personal information on the BON (licensure) sites, so it's always better to include business addresses/phone #'s, etc.

My husband's an attorney and his business cards are just that...his business information, not personal. The last thing we want is a former patient or defendant/witness/victim to access our personal information and act upon it by paying us a visit.