i just had minor surgery and it was the first time i've spent any substantial time in a medical setting since beginning to explore nursing as a career. of course, i was much more observant now that i may be making my way to the field myself! i noticed some things and wondered your take on it, as nurses...
the anesthesist (sp?) took me from the waiting area to the op room and asked me all the history questions and took my BP...but never introduced himself. i don't have any idea if he was a doc or nurse (not that it matters)...or even what his name was. in fact, no one introduced themselves and there were 5 people in the room, counting my doc. i found myself wondering who was what? nurse, LPN, CNA, MA, PA, other? they were all very nice and attentive...it was just curious that no one told me their names or roles or anything.
i thought back to the first surgery i ever had and remembered very clearly that not only did each person tell me who and what they were, but they made it a point to tell me what exactly they would be doing as their part of the procedure. of course, i was i think 20 or 21, alone, scared to death (it was an unexpected urgent surgery), and it definitely showed...so maybe they were just trying to make me feel at ease(?).
so nurses...how do you introduce yourself to patients if at all, and does it matter?
I work in an ER (very busy). I always introduce myself with "Hi, I'm trauma and I'll be your nurse tonight." On our picture name badges, we have our first name, RN, (our degree if we want) and any national certs that we have. We also have a BIG red badge that hangs below our name tag which has 2 inch white letters "RN" on it.
On my nametag, I have "trauma, RN, MSN, CEN" on it. I frequently get questioned as to what the initials stand for - I am always happy to explain it. I also am finidng that more and more patients and families are asking what the initials are.
I do provide my last name if asked - there is no reason not to in my opinion. However, I have a long and unusual last name and there are few that can spell it even with help, so I'm not concerned about the pt/family knowing it at all. Besides, if there is ever litigation, my complete name is in the chart anyway.
Ideally I do it at the beginning of my shift when I go in to do my initial quick assessment. I say 'I'm ___; I'm the evening nurse and I'm here till 11:30. I wanted to introduce myself to you and I'd like to take a quick listen to tour lungs and check your pulses. I then might follow up on something I heard in report, like asking "Have you had any further pain in your back?"
Like everybody else here (Yeah!) I always introduce myself with first name and something along the lines of "I'll be taking care of you until tomorrow morning"...I don't have to explain that I'm the nurse because there are only nurses in our hospital- we have no CNA's or anything else like that. I have noticed though, that quite a lot of my coworkers tend to forget to introduce themselves. I always think that the patients must feel a little lost if they don't know how to adress someone with name- A "hey nurse, I'm in pain here," just isn't as pleasant to hear as "Nurse, Kersti, something seems to be bothering me."
Like everybody else here (Yeah!) I always introduce myself with first name and something along the lines of "I'll be taking care of you until tomorrow morning"...I don't have to explain that I'm the nurse because there are only nurses in our hospital- we have no CNA's or anything else like that. I have noticed though, that quite a lot of my coworkers tend to forget to introduce themselves. I always think that the patients must feel a little lost if they don't know how to adress someone with name- A "hey nurse, I'm in pain here," just isn't as pleasant to hear as "Nurse, Kersti, something seems to be bothering me."
Are there NO ancillary personnell in your facility?? What about housekeepers, dietary, etc that have patient contact?
My mother once asked the housekeeper for pain med as well as the dietary staff who brought her tray.
"Hi there, my name is Valerie, and I'm one of the nurses who will be taking care of you today. I understand you've been having some (insert chief complaint here). Tell me a little about that."
I also make a point to explain anything I'm doing. "First we'll hook you up to the heart monitor, and then I need to draw some blood and start an IV." I find that it just puts the patient at ease to know what's happening.
well, i hope that more nurses (and other medical personnel) will follow the lead of so many that have replied to this thread. just spent the last 24 hours in a hospital for something totally unrealted for a friend and...
how incredibly frustrating!!! :angryfire
not only did almost NO ONE introduce themselves, but there were so many people in and out of the room (ER, semi-private) they could've been anyone. i did finally notice a pattern...that the nurses, CNAs and such seemed to all wear pretty colorful patterned scrubs and the docs wore varying shades of blue ones. BUT...the orderlies and techs (radiologists, etc) ALSO wore varying shades of blue! at one point i noticed that the guy who came into the room to emty the trash and straighten up had the same type of scrubs on as the guy who was reading the x-ray results.
the other thing that concerned me about this facility was that there seemed to be very little security. you could walk in and out of almost anywhere w/o being questioned or stopped, and there we a lot of unmanned stations. is this normal? this was NOT a "city" or "general" hospital.
anyway, i guess it just really concerned me to see that out of say, 9 medical personnel from start to finish of this ordeal, only 2 introduced themselves. most were very nice and i guess maybe they just forgot...but it seems so important and basic, IMO.
I always say, "Hi, my name is Jennifer and I will be your nurse tonight until tomorrow morning." I follow by a general how are you doing and always get a pain rating. It lets me know if I have time to start my initial assessment or to get pain meds first. The CNA's introduce themselves and write both names on the board in the room so the pt. knows who they are asking for when they ring the call bell.
I wear my name badge AND introduce myself to each pt without fail. However, anyone wearing scrubs is "Nurse" to most pts; I sometimes wonder if they notice the shift has changed and all new people are there.
maybe a stupid question but...why do some docs wear scrubs and others street clothes w/ just a lab coat? other than the obvious (surgeons vs. say, a ped who is seeing routine appts all day).
When I enter a room, I do introduce myself. I usually say something like, Good Afternoon, my name is Angela and I will be your nurse until 11 this evening. I put my name and phone ext (we carry portable phones that the pt's can call us on) on the whiteboard, and if the CNA/Tech's information is not there I also put that (they do the same if they are the first in the room) on there also. I then explain to the patient what our Care Plan is for the day. If there are any tests that need to be done, samples that need to be collected, etc. I also then ask if they are having any pain (with appropriate follow up questions) and if there is anything that they need at this time. I also make sure the patient understands how to contact myself or the CNA/Tech either using the call light or calling our exts from the phones in the room. Once I introduce myself, most of the patient's turn around and introduce themselves back to me. It's funny after being their nurse for a few days, some of the patient's consider you family and are disappointed if you will not be there the next day. But then they also greet you like lost relatives on their next admission to the hospital - we have several that are frequents visitors.
It's nice to see that we introduce ourselves to our patients :) (I'm still a CNA, but I do introduce myself), but I think that it is interesting that nurses often introduce themselves with their first names only. I saw that some of you are concerned about security issues, and this is why you don't reveal your last names, and that is totally understandable to me. However, I've been reading some of Suzanne Gordon's books lately, and she makes the case that doctors are almost always referred to by their last names. If a doctor is named Ellen Davis, she calls herself Dr. Davis, not Ellen. I have never had a doctor introduce herself/himself to me by her/his first name only. She wonders why nurses don't put their titles in their names, and say "I'm Nurse Anderson," instead of "I'm Patricia." I never really thought about this issue that way before, and I'm wondering if anyone agrees with her point. I can see the security side of the issue, but I can also understand her point that if doctors can put their titles and last name in their introduction, nurses should, as well.
maybe a stupid question but...why do some docs wear scrubs and others street clothes w/ just a lab coat? other than the obvious (surgeons vs. say, a ped who is seeing routine appts all day).
I haven't even started school yet and I have a slightly smart/jaded answer?
Is it because docs aren't in the room long enough to get vomited/pooed/peed on?
Back to the subject - I plan to work with children and my dream is a PICU. I cannot stand to have "Kimberly" shortened to "Kim" (which is what most people do as soon as you say, 'Hello, I'm Kimberly' - uhm, excuse me, were you LISTENING??) and I'm not going to walk around correcting patients. I plan on going by my initials, K.C. It's relatively easy for little ones to say and since I was born in the generation of Kimberlys and Jennifers, I'm sure it will be more distinctive than my first name.
Plus, I'm a bit of a nut anyway, and Kimberly sounds so cotton-picking formal!
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traumaRUs, MSN, APRN
87 Articles; 21,288 Posts
I work in an ER (very busy). I always introduce myself with "Hi, I'm trauma and I'll be your nurse tonight." On our picture name badges, we have our first name, RN, (our degree if we want) and any national certs that we have. We also have a BIG red badge that hangs below our name tag which has 2 inch white letters "RN" on it.
On my nametag, I have "trauma, RN, MSN, CEN" on it. I frequently get questioned as to what the initials stand for - I am always happy to explain it. I also am finidng that more and more patients and families are asking what the initials are.
I do provide my last name if asked - there is no reason not to in my opinion. However, I have a long and unusual last name and there are few that can spell it even with help, so I'm not concerned about the pt/family knowing it at all. Besides, if there is ever litigation, my complete name is in the chart anyway.