Old joke:
You're working class if your name is on your shirt.
You're middle class if your name is on your desk.
You're upper class if your name is on the building.
So what does this picture mean?
This the CEO of the Saskatchewan's largest employer - Saskatoon Health Region. And she's wearing a name tag.
It's not just for this photo-op, either. I've seen her around several times over the last month and she was wearing the name tag each time. What's up?
When I spent some time at Calgary Foothills Hospital last spring, I noticed that all the staff wore name tags. Including physicians. I found that unusual because most physicians in SHR don't wear name tags in the hospital.
Granted, most residents do wear their name tags, but it's unusual to see staff physicians wearing them. A notable exception would be the ones who wear lab coats at work. In those cases, they leave the name tag clipped to their pocket and don't have to worry about moving it between different items of clothing. (It also means they don't change/launder their lab coats very often, but that's a whole different subject...)
I think physicians don't see a need to wear a name tag. Most of us are well known to the staff in the hospitals that we frequent. A name tag would be a nuisance to cart around, especially if you're changing in and out of scrubs several times a day.
However, there may be some good reasons to wear one:
Collegiality - if other staff are required to wear name tags in hospitals, do physicians deserve an exemption because we're somehow... exempt? (Trying to avoid using "superior" here.)
Courtesy - new staff, or staff on wards I don't visit often, may forget/not know my name. Same for patients and their families, if we've only met recently and/or briefly.
Security/Patient privacy - This is the big one. I can probably walk onto any hospital ward (where I'm not well known) in the city, flip open any patient's chart and start reading. A layperson could probably get away with the same thing if they were neatly dressed (or in scrubs!) and had an air of confidence. I think it would be rare to be challenged.
So why does our CEO wear a name tag? She's not involved in clinical care. She's one of the most recognized people in the health region.
Could she be modelling appropriate behavior? That would be very sneaky.
Anyway, here's my New Year resolution: I'm going to start wearing my name tag at the hospital. If you see me at the hospital without this -
- call me on it.
And mention that you saw it on Plain Brown Wrapper!
2 comments:
Now I need to be sure I never forget to wear mine! During our recent CCHSA accreditation survey, the surveyors noted that we need to do a better job of ensuring all staff and physicians wear their name tages, for the very reasons you cited. Our commitment to more patient/family centred care needs to start with some basic courtesies, like helping patients, families and visitors identify who we are, among the confusing mass of people they encounter when they enter our facilities. Thanks for reinforcing this message.
FYI: Maura Davies (pictured, but unnamed in the original post) is SHR's CEO.
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