New Patients Prefer Handshake When Meeting Physician

TUESDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Many new patients prefer a more personal greeting from their physician, including a handshake and the use of both the patient's and physician's first and last names, researchers report in the June 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Gregory Makoul, Ph.D., of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues used phone interviews to identify patient expectations when they meet their physician, and videotaping to identify the everyday patterns of first-time greetings in clinical practice. The goal was to provide guidance for medical students, residents and practicing physicians in terms of new patient expectations.

The investigators found that 78.1 percent of 415 survey respondents preferred a handshake from their physician, and videotapes showed that handshaking actually occurred 82.9 percent of the time. Fifty percent of patients preferred that their physicians address them by their first name when they greet them, and 56 percent of patients want their physician to introduce themselves with their first and last names.

"Physicians should be encouraged to shake hands with patients but remain sensitive to non-verbal 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."

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