Most Patients Prefer Their Physicians to Greet Them With a Handshake and Introduction

June 19, 2007 — Most patients prefer their physicians to greet them with a handshake and to introduce themselves using their first and last name, according to the results of a survey reported in the June 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"Widely used models for teaching and assessing communication skills highlight the importance of greeting patients appropriately, but there is little evidence regarding what constitutes an appropriate greeting," write Gregory Makoul, PhD, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and colleagues. "The purpose of this study was to provide some guidance for medical students, residents, and practicing physicians by defining patient expectations for physician behaviors during the greeting stage of medical visits."
In a computer-assisted telephone survey of adults in the 48 contiguous United States, the investigators asked closed-ended questions about preferences for shaking hands, use of patient names, and use of physician names. To characterize patterns of greeting behavior in everyday clinical practice, they also analyzed an existing sample of 123 videotaped new patient visits.
Although patient expectations varied somewhat with patient sex, age, and race, most (78.1%) of the 415 survey respondents reported that they wanted the physician to shake their hand, 50.4% wanted their first name to be used when physicians greeted them, and 56.4% wanted physicians to introduce themselves using their first and last names.
Videotapes showed that physicians and patients shook hands in 82.9% of visits but, in 50.4% of the initial encounters, physicians did not mention the patient's name at all. However, physicians tended to use their first and last names when introducing themselves.
"Physicians should be encouraged to shake hands with patients but remain sensitive to nonverbal cues that might indicate whether patients are open to this behavior," the authors write. "Given the diversity of opinion regarding the use of names, coupled with national patient safety recommendations concerning patient identification, we suggest that physicians initially use patients' first and last names and introduce themselves using their own first and last names.... Greetings create a first impression that may extend far beyond what is conventionally seen as 'bedside manner.'"
The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:1172-1176.