Thank You Notes to Patients?

Nurses Relations

Published

  1. Do you write personal thank you notes to your patients?

    • 22
      Yes
    • 80
      No
    • 3
      Sometimes

78 members have participated

Hey y'all!

Do any of you hand write thank you notes? If you do, what do you say? My facility sends pre-printed notes that all of us sign, but for the last month or so I've started sending a relatively generic hand-written note to all of my patients who are discharged home... I work on an oncology unit, so many of our families receive sympathy cards instead. With that said, what is or is not appropriate to say in a thank you note?

Here's what I typically say in my thank you notes:

"I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed being your nurse during your stay on 12 East. You were a great patient and I'm so happy you're feeling better.

I hope you keep getting stronger every day!"

Lots of times I personalize the note with something I've learned about the patient or their family... and if I truly did not enjoy being their nurse or if they were NOT a very good patient (rude/demanding) I leave those parts out or replace them with something different.

What do you think?? I always use hospital stationary and never take patient info away from the hospital, so no HIPAA violations.

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I think it also depends on your relationship with the patient and how long they were in your care. I can see doing it for patients you have bonded with, or will specifically remember for one reason or another, but it seems kind of generic to me to send one to every single person you care for, whether you like them or not. I'm also thinking maybe not "thank you" cards but "feel better soon" type cards, although then there are those patients that wont be feeling better soon, so I digress.

If I were you I wouldn't send them to every single patient. Just the ones you connect with. I also wouldn't say "you're a great patient" Maybe something like "You were a pleasure, make sure to give that dog and extra hug for me" or whatever personal effect you remember about them.

Just my .02 cents.

0 Votes
Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.
I wouldn't be comfortable doing it in general. I wouldn't want it as a patient. A follow up phone call is okay from the ER or UC or discharge team but that sort of thing, no thanks.

Please keep in mind I'm not talking about ER patients or even typical med/surg patients... I'm talking about usually terminal cancer patients.

0 Votes
Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.
Would you want your patients to access confidential files to find out your home address and send you a thank you letter?

I never thought a thank you note would be so controversial!

I wouldn't mind receiving a note... I would appreciate it personally because I know how busy nurses are and I would know they put forth effort to be kind for the sake of being kind. Different strokes, right? :)

I see your point and I appreciate your opinion... I understand this is strictly a personal decision, but you seem really adamant that this is a bad idea altogether. Do you feel like sending them unsolicited mail is the issue or the fact that I want to tell them that I hope they're doing well is a problem?

I'm not accessing any more confidential files than they have already given me permission to access... It's the same info the unit coordinator accesses to address the generic thank you notes the facility sends to all of our patients... Also the same info the unit coordinator uses for discharge calls in some facilities. I would rather my nurse access my confidential info than the secretary who isn't even involved in my care.

0 Votes
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

The ONLY time there is ever anything resembling a thank you card in OB is for a fetal demise. And generally, all the nurses who took care of the family just signs their names. Or not, however they choose.

My mind is boggled at the idea of writing thank you cards to patients. Like someone else said, I've gotten plenty of thank you cards and small gifts in my day, but no, I don't write thank you cards.

0 Votes
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

And after thinking on it, I am a very private, introverted person. One would probably not know that by meeting me casually (or being my nurse). But I would feel weird and uncomfortable if I received a personal card in the mail from one of my nurses.

0 Votes

Unless the patients specifically gave you their address and told you to contact them at home, you do not have their consent to contact them after they are discharged from the hospital.

0 Votes
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I agree with Dishes. To me, I feel like it crosses a vague boundary that just leaves me feeling uncomfortable. On the surface, it seems nice and harmless enough. But I think s/he has a point - unless they gave you consent to contact them outside the hospital, then contact with the person should cease when they are no longer a patient.

0 Votes
Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.
Unless the patients specifically gave you their address and told you to contact them at home, you do not have their consent to contact them after they are discharged from the hospital.

I completely understand. Thanks for clarifying.

0 Votes
Specializes in ICU.

I don't think it is a good idea at all. Our hospital does "call backs," hoping to improve our satisfaction scores, but that is as far as it goes. The only time we would send a card is in the event that an infant or child dies, on the one-year anniversary date of the death, and then we all sign it.

0 Votes

I think we have to remember that it's not always the Golden Rule of treating others like you would want to be treated. You have to treat others like THEY would want to be treated, and often they're more sensitive to certain things than we are.

I'm not accessing any more confidential files than they have already given me permission to access...

I'm definitely not one to scream HIPAA, and this isn't at all a case of a HIPAA violation, to be clear. But I think it crosses a privacy boundary for a lot of people. While I'm in the hospital, having strangers see me in a hospital gown without my bra on (Swing low...sweet chariot...) and asking intimate questions and having to help me to the bathroom... It's something that goes with the situation. But if I'm a fairly private person (I'm not, so if it bothers me at all, I can see a more private person being really offended), then once I get to my HOME, that place that should be safe and secure for me, I don't want to be back in that vulnerable place of a hospital gown and getting help to the bathroom. That someone would access my information, NOT for a legitimate reason of improving my health or even for billing/insurance problems, but to invade my home, which is how some would see such a note, as an invasion... That takes them back to the vulnerable state they were in. And who wants that?

Sure, some patients may see a note as a nice thing. But the adage of "Do no harm" has to be kept in mind, and some would see it as an invasion of their privacy. You may not be accessing more information, but you ARE accessing their home with that note when it lands in their mailbox.

0 Votes
Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Please keep in mind I'm not talking about ER patients or even typical med/surg patients... I'm talking about usually terminal cancer patients.

Even so, there is a line and a process within the nurse-patient relationship that posters are referring to...even if you see them frequently, the nurse-patient relationship typically is terminated when they leave the hospital, EACH time they leave.

I truly understand your personal decision, I do. However, we still have to remember our practice act, and in terms with our relationship with our patients...you never want to be in a position where you are questioned in remaining in contact with your patients past their stay, and they are questioning your ethics. Even in some cases, in certain areas, that would occur-the fear of ethical and professional boundaries occur frequently. I have witnessed plenty of cautionary tales where having that "connection" is-most of the time-considered inappropriate and too much of a risk.

I have been invited to many funerals from family members that I cared for...most of the time, I will sign a card with a note in it, and leadership will go because I want to maintain that philosophy of the nurse-patient relationship. I had to miss funerals for family members who wanted to see me PERSONALLY-for closure, for a tangible way to process grief, perhaps, but then again, the option for a professional line to be crossed, too risky.

And again, NO one here is not trying to discourage you from doing this, but rather, giving you an honest perspective of the nurse-patient relationship and professional boundaries. Intentions are ALWAYS good...and when people are at their most vulnerable the risk of boundary crossing gets higher...and it's the risk of PERCEPTION, not the intention, that gives a lot of posters, pause.

0 Votes
Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I think we have to remember that it's not always the Golden Rule of treating others like you would want to be treated. You have to treat others like THEY would want to be treated, and often they're more sensitive to certain things than we are.

I'm definitely not one to scream HIPAA, and this isn't at all a case of a HIPAA violation, to be clear. But I think it crosses a privacy boundary for a lot of people. While I'm in the hospital, having strangers see me in a hospital gown without my bra on (Swing low...sweet chariot...) and asking intimate questions and having to help me to the bathroom... It's something that goes with the situation. But if I'm a fairly private person (I'm not, so if it bothers me at all, I can see a more private person being really offended), then once I get to my HOME, that place that should be safe and secure for me, I don't want to be back in that vulnerable place of a hospital gown and getting help to the bathroom. That someone would access my information, NOT for a legitimate reason of improving my health or even for billing/insurance problems, but to invade my home, which is how some would see such a note, as an invasion... That takes them back to the vulnerable state they were in. And who wants that?

Sure, some patients may see a note as a nice thing. But the adage of "Do no harm" has to be kept in mind, and some would see it as an invasion of their privacy. You may not be accessing more information, but you ARE accessing their home with that note when it lands in their mailbox.

^Hit the nail on the head Wooh. This-especially the first paragraph-is what I was trying to convey :yes:

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment