“Hello, my name is” introductions and badges need updating to include full name, title, and role

The “Hello, my name is” campaign, set up by geriatrician and cancer patient Kate Granger in 2015, encourages all staff to introduce themselves to patients.12 The campaign stemmed from her experience as a patient and the lack of introductions she received from the healthcare staff looking after her.3 It reflected the simple need to know who was providing her care. However, it is now often conflated with use of the first name of healthcare professionals, both in introductions and on name badges, which can cause confusion about names, titles, and roles. The “Hello, my name is” campaign needs updating.

Names matter for patients, but introductions using first names alone are insufficient. Introductions and badges should include a healthcare professional’s full name, title, and role. Healthcare delivery has diversified, so role recognition is more difficult and important than ever. Like Kate Granger,1 my usual introduction is “I am Professor Tim Cook, consultant in anaesthesia/intensive care” followed by “I believe you are Mr/Mrs/Ms A B. What name would you like me to use?” My badge identifies my title, name, and role and it would benefit everyone if this were widely adopted.

Names matter to patients practically, personally, and medicolegally. First names are too non-specific to help patients identify a clinician for help, feedback, to pay them a compliment or raise a complaint. Multiple staff may share the same name whereas organisations and regulators refer to staff with second names. In professional settings, universal use of first names may also be too familiar, blurring demarcations between a personal relationship and professional care and might even increase the difficulty of delivering objective evidence-based decision making, declining certain treatments, or giving bad news. The widespread use of first names in healthcare contrasts with other professions—for example, in court where the barristers, judges, solicitors, and coroners all use professional title, but mirrors retail and service settings, where a single name is commonly used.

Name badges matter not just for patients but also for clinical teams and there may be a tension between which name should be used for patients and which name for colleagues. Names matter routinely in clinical teams, for politeness, mutual respect, communication, documentation and morale. I meet 50 or more colleagues in a working day, as teams change from day-to-day and case-to-case. Name badges improve the work environment and aid communication, enhancing its quality, specificity, and pleasantness. Clarity on names and roles matter for safety in emergencies, where a “flash team” of often unfamiliar people is rapidly drawn together. Names aid teamwork and communication, especially in allocating time-sensitive tasks.4 In clinical teams, use of first names may be beneficial in breaking down barriers, flattening hierarchies, and promoting speaking up.3 In my experience, their use differs between specialties and is increasingly common among anaesthetists and emergency physicians, but less so among groups containing senior physicians and surgeons. However, in emergencies a name alone is not enough—understanding the role, experience, or seniority of team members is necessary so roles are allocated appropriately. Badges and scrub hats that identify these are invaluable.

Failure to include title and role in introductions and “My name is” badges also compromises recognition of professional roles. As a longstanding example, many patients do not know their anaesthetist is a doctor. This is not a big problem for me as a middle aged, white male, but is for younger, female, and non-white anaesthetists about whom assumptions may be made. If their role and title is specified and clearly displayed it lessens the likelihood of them being mistaken for a nurse or other allied healthcare professional which is detrimental to the individual, the wider specialty, and the patient.56

Importantly, diversification of healthcare roles, including the expansion of medical associate practitioners are increasingly complicating matters and first name only introductions and badges risk leaving the patient uninformed or even misdirected. Is the individual seeing unselected patients in primary care a general practitioner, a physiotherapist, or a physician associate?7 Is the person placing the central line in the intensive care unit a resident doctor, an advanced nurse practitioner, or an anaesthesia associate? Although care delivery from each of these individuals may be appropriate, the patient should know their name, role, and position. Both the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Physicians support this position.89

For everyone in healthcare, names matter. The ubiquitous, yellow badges declaring “My name is” are good for all but they often lack second name, role, or seniority, or if present these are in unreadably small font. Titles are rare. This is not suitable for frontline healthcare. Staff should introduce themselves to patients when they first meet with their title, name, and role. A badge should clearly detail this information. Whether, over time as a relationship develops, the title and surname slip away is a matter of personal choice. But this is the starting point: polite, informative, and unambiguous.