Please be kind

I had originally planned a distinct blog post topic for this week, but I can be remiss if I didn’t use this time and space to share my experiences at my primary care doctor’s office today. I went to get my flu shot, no big deal; I only spent about 10 minutes there. However, during those ten minutes, I paid close attention to the nursing staff (don’t all of us do this?). The young woman called my name and I followed her down the hall as she studied her notebook – no eye contact, no hello, no smile, no introduction. I also quickly noticed that while she was wearing her scrubs, she wasn’t wearing a reputation tag or anything identifying her by name or role.

We went right into a small room where one other woman was working on her computer. There was no sink within the room. Just a desk with a stack of CDC fact sheets on flu vaccines (not that I used to be offered them); a cup of pre-filled syringes and a cup of needles; a stack of alcohol pads; and several other other unrelated items and pieces of apparatus. I noticed a chunk of paper on the wall with details about Guillain-Barre Syndrome – definition, signs and symptoms, and prognosis. I’m undecided if it was put there for employees or patients. In each cases, no information was provided as to why it was placed there.

This worker was preparing my vaccine the entire time while her long hair was flowing. She placed on gloves, asked which arm I desired to inject (then went to my right arm once I replied “left”), and administered the vaccine to me. A fast application of the patch and she or he handed me my “receipt”. No goodbyes, smiles and farewell greetings.

What happened to common courtesy and manners? I won’t assume that this staff person was a nurse, but I’m sure many other patients do and can proceed to accomplish that. How to advertise the skilled image of nursing when even the nurse herself (me!) feels this fashion after a brief visit?

I can have shared this text with you before. Notes from a New Nurse: 7 Tips to Improve Your Professional Etiquette, but I feel it’s price sharing again. OK, now I’m saying goodbye (with a handshake and a smile!)