Meeting and greeting in the clinical setting - are we doing what patients want?

Objective To determine how patients want to be greeted by clinicians on a first encounter in the clinical setting.Setting A UK dental teaching hospital in 2015/16.Materials and methods Data was collected prospectively via 450 patient questionnaires. The results were stratified by generational cohort and compared to assess if there was an association between patient preferences and the generational theory.Results Patients preferred to be greeted informally by their first name and didn't mind how the clinician introduced themselves or preferred them to use their first name also. Patients showed a preference to shake hands with their clinician, particularly in older generational cohorts. The majority of patients believed that it was helpful to know the training grade of the clinician providing treatment but didn't understand what the different grades meant. Patients believed that explaining the different training grades and using colour-coded uniforms would be useful.Conclusions Consideration should be given to addressing patients informally by their first name and shaking hands at a first encounter. Clinicians should routinely disclose their training grade when introducing themselves and consideration should be given to providing patients with an explanation of the different training grades and using colour-coded uniforms to avoid confusion.