Thank You Notes to Patients?

Nurses Relations

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  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 retired LTC.

"Nice to have met you while you were here. Best wishes for you at home." This would be the type of note I would write IF I were to write on such a card as you send. However like many others here have said for reasons I espouse, I would NOT be doing such an activity.

Helloberry, you have such a nice, old-fashioned gracious idea in this crazy all-too-fast crazy world. It's such a shame we can't have more of it in this work environment of ours. You are well-meaning and caring. Way too bad that it's been overshadowed by the cautiousness of many of us Crusty Old Ones. We've been out there and have seen the all the possible results. We all have our own ways of expressing ourselves to our pts as they discharge. After so long, we want safe closure as we continue to move along. So continuing to reach out after discharge usually doesn't sit well with many, myself incl.

Please keep your enthusiasm for caring; I'm sure your pts recognize it as we all do too. But we all express it differently. To each his own.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

"Nice to have met you while you were here. Best wishes for you at home." This would be the type of note I would write IF I were to write on such a card as you send. However like many others here have said for reasons I espouse, I would NOT be doing such an activity.

Helloberry, you have such a nice, old-fashioned gracious idea in this crazy all-too-fast crazy world. It's such a shame we can't have more of it in this work environment of ours. You are well-meaning and caring. Way too bad that it's been overshadowed by the cautiousness of many of us Crusty Old Ones. We've been out there and have seen the all the possible results. We all have our own ways of expressing ourselves to our pts as they discharge. After so long, we want safe closure as we continue to move along. So continuing to reach out after discharge usually doesn't sit well with many, myself incl.

Please keep your enthusiasm for caring; I'm sure your pts recognize it as we all do too. But we all express it differently. To each his own.

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Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.
You are under no obligation to reply or return to the thread and you can ask the Administrators to close it if you feel anonymous opinions on this message board are affecting your outlook regarding other aspects of your life.

As someone else alluded to these threads take on a life of their own sometimes. The fact that this turned into a hot button means that there is interest out there and other readers may benefit from our thoughts on the subject.

Although at times it seems personal, it really isn't. You've been very polite and civil.

No, please don't close it! If they closed every thread where the OP disagreed with a few of the posts we wouldn't have any more open threads!!! LOL To me, the whole point is to get opinions that may change the way we look at things... Just because this one made me feel a little jaded doesn't mean I haven't benefitted from tons of other threads or even from this one.

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Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.
"Nice to have met you while you were here. Best wishes for you at home." This would be the type of note I would write IF I were to write on such a card as you send. However like many others here have said for reasons I espouse, I would NOT be doing such an activity.

Helloberry, you have such a nice, old-fashioned gracious idea in this crazy all-too-fast crazy world. It's such a shame we can't have more of it in this work environment of ours. You are well-meaning and caring. Way too bad that it's been overshadowed by the cautiousness of many of us Crusty Old Ones. We've been out there and have seen the all the possible results. We all have our own ways of expressing ourselves to our pts as they discharge. After so long, we want safe closure as we continue to move along. So continuing to reach out after discharge usually doesn't sit well with many, myself incl.

Please keep your enthusiasm for caring; I'm sure your pts recognize it as we all do too. But we all express it differently. To each his own.

Lets be honest, the would would be terribly boring without the old crusty ones :) I hope I can develop an appropriate level of cautiousness without becoming one too.

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Lets be honest, the would would be terribly boring without the old crusty ones :) I hope I can develop an appropriate level of cautiousness without becoming one too.

Now, what have you got against Crusty Old Ones???? Ah, story for another thread....:lol2:

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

[quote=amoLucia;7362648activity.

Helloberry, you have such a nice, old-fashioned gracious idea in this crazy all-too-fast crazy world. It's such a shame we can't have more of it in this work environment of ours. You are well-meaning and caring. . True-that brings up another point for me.Nurses have tried to be seen as "professionals" for years. Is a handwritten thank you note "professional"? For instance,does an attorney or a physican send a thank you note to a former client? (Dear OJ,thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you get away with murder) I'm peeing my pants laughing,I'm cracking myself up over here....But I'm serious-do lawyers do that? I don't know. I do know that I have never gotten a thank you not from a doctor.We do get one before Christmas from our refuse haulers-it comes with an empty envelope to stuff our tip into.

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I have not and will not send 'thank you' cards to my patients. I do not care to establish a personal relationship with them beyond the bounds of their bed/room.

I actually think it's kind of creepy.

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I hope you don’t mind a patient chiming in but I have to agree with most of the posters that say it is not a good idea. Many times I have wanted to forget the time I was in the hospital, was it because of the care I received? No. I always got great care from the nurses and CNA’s. It was the reason I was in the hospital I wanted to forget. (Having to have a surgery over again within six weeks of the first one) is something that I want to forget. A card sent to me would bring that back up again. What matters to me isn’t that you sent me a card AFTER you cared for me, what matters is how you cared for me WHEN you had me as a patient. That’s really all that matters, that you helped them at their worst. They can CHOOSE to remember that. You sound like a very sweet person, A nurse anyone would be lucky to have, but don’t worry about after a patient is discharged, focus on give the top notch care you would want, who knows if they have to come back in the hospital and remember the care you gave them, they might request you again and I heard from nurses that is the best complement a nurse could get.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Lets be honest, the would would be terribly boring without the old crusty ones :) I hope I can develop an appropriate level of cautiousness without becoming one too.
Wow......crusty old one. Interesting. I think this has been an interesting thread that will help many nurses in their practice....this is clearly a polarizing topic and something that faces nurses every day.......

Crusty old one........:roflmao:

I have been a nurse since I was 18 years old. I have been a nurse for 35 years. While I have wandered into management......I have kept my feet firmly planted at the bedside for it is my only love.

I am probably the most compassionate, loving, caring person I know or you will ever meet. I LOVE being a nurse and I LOVE my patients....even the ones who hurl obscenities amongst other "things".

I have snuck babies and dog into an ICU so that person who probably won't get off the OR table can see their first born grand-baby and to save the dog from dying because it quit eating because it missed it's owner.

I took a dying patient to an area in the hospital to see her beloved miniature horse one last time.

I have honored a vented patients last wish to feed the ducks on the pond where I worked by gathering an entire hospital portable O2 and tanks to fulfill that wish.

I packed up a vent patient with ALS ON MY OWN TIME to see her daughter skate in an important competition knowing it would probably be her last.

I snuck a 6 pack of beer and a pizza and her 3 small children in ICU to a dying Mom of 24 from ovarian cancer so she could see her babies......

I mean this in the best way........you have NO IDEA who I am.

I don't often clarify what people think for really ....... I don't care and those who know me understand. Today is an exception.

I think that although I might have a superficial crust from all of the....uhm.....dirt that has been slung at me over the years....... it only provides a fine layer of protection from further assaults from what I have learned...and witnessed.....and are current behaviors adapted by administration and is the current thought process of hospital administrators.

Being the victim of said mudslinging....... I try to make myself somehow feel better by warning others of the amoralistic (if there is such a word) behavior of most administrators. They will sling anyone, including their own mother, in front of a moving bus to save their own ass. (yes ass is allowed as long as you are not calling someone an ass;))

OP I am so glad you have done your homework....I hope you are right and my dire words of warning are unfounded for I would never want anyone to have to face the heartbreak that came my way because I was a good nurse and I was made the sacrificial goat. :inlove:

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Leave a thank you note for your waiter instead.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Wow......crusty old one. Interesting. I think this has been an interesting thread that will help many nurses in their practice....this is clearly a polarizing topic and something that faces nurses every day.......

Crusty old one........:roflmao:

I have been a nurse since I was 18 years old. I have been a nurse for 35 years. While I have wandered into management......I have kept my feet firmly planted at the bedside for it is my only love.

I am probably the most compassionate, loving, caring person I know or you will ever meet. I LOVE being a nurse and I LOVE my patients....even the ones who hurl obscenities amongst other "things".

I have snuck babies and dog into an ICU so that person who probably won't get off the OR table can see their first born grand-baby and to save the dog from dying because it quit eating because it missed it's owner.

I took a dying patient to an area in the hospital to see her beloved miniature horse one last time.

I have honored a vented patients last wish to feed the ducks on the pond where I worked by gathering an entire hospital portable O2 and tanks to fulfill that wish.

I packed up a vent patient with ALS ON MY OWN TIME to see her daughter skate in an important competition knowing it would probably be her last.

I snuck a 6 pack of beer and a pizza and her 3 small children in ICU to a dying Mom of 24 from ovarian cancer so she could see her babies......

I mean this in the best way........you have NO IDEA who I am.

I don't often clarify what people think for really ....... I don't care and those who know me understand. Today is an exception.

I think that although I might have a superficial crust from all of the....uhm.....dirt that has been slung at me over the years....... it only provides a fine layer of protection from further assaults from what I have learned...and witnessed.....and are current behaviors adapted by administration and is the current thought process of hospital administrators.

Being the victim of said mudslinging....... I try to make myself somehow feel better by warning others of the amoralistic (if there is such a word) behavior of most administrators. They will sling anyone, including their own mother, in front of a moving bus to save their own ass. (yes ass is allowed as long as you are not calling someone an ass;))

OP I am so glad you have done your homework....I hope you are right and my dire words of warning are unfounded for I would never want anyone to have to face the heartbreak that came my way because I was a good nurse and I was made the sacrificial goat. :inlove:

^THIS....Esme!!! Thank You for sharing THIS!!!

Those are the TRUE "thank you" we do for patients....Most of us have our own stories for what we do for our patients and their families.

I do my work as a nurse and my "crust" allows me to empower, educate, and advocate and ensure I can continue to without "interruption" of these times...I have survived in a profession that others have thrown in the towel sooner than their ink is dried on their license, and I will continue to enjoy it as long as Esme-I got 22 years to go! ;)

You learn very quickly on how to hone your nursing profession, you will...I have learned and I am proud of the "crust" I have developed because of nurses like Esme and countless others that post here when I was first starting out, and it has made me a better nurse. :yes:

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I don't often clarify what people think for really ....... I don't care and those who know me understand. Today is an exception.

I think a lot of us come across more jaded and heartless than we really are. Especially if we've been doing this long enough to become jaded and heartless. But that's because we've seen what happens when a nurse was doing something with good intentions and management decides they don't like it. We've seen it too many times.

I think the personal thank-you notes falls under a "bend-the-rules" kind of grey area. And those of us that have been around for a while know what's worth bending the rules for and what's not. What makes a big enough difference to make it worth the risk to our jobs/license/reputation/whatever and what doesn't. And how to cover our behinds when we do such things.

Save your capital for something that REALLY makes a difference to the patient. If you're ALWAYS bending the rules, it's harder to claim it was a "momentary" lapse in judgment when you make the big gestures.

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