SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Hospitalist Barriers to Using a Personal Business Card

Pdf Summary

This pilot study examined hospitalist attitudes toward using a personalized business card to improve patient understanding and trust during hospitalization. Hospital stays are often stressful, and many patients cannot identify their hospitalist or understand the hospitalist role. To address this, the team created an oversized card with the hospitalist’s name, title, photo, education, and a short personal sentence, plus general information about hospital medicine and a QR code for more details. The card content was developed with input from a Patient Family Advisory Council.<br /><br />Cards were distributed to hospitalists over a two-month pilot period, and each provider decided whether and when to give them to patients. After the pilot, 115 hospitalists were surveyed; 35 responded (30.4%). Most respondents were physicians, and most had been practicing independently for at least five years.<br /><br />Overall, hospitalists supported continuing to use cards with select patients, but they did not support having someone else hand out the card on their behalf. They were generally comfortable including their first and last name and photo. Opinions were more mixed about including education and academic rank, and most were uncomfortable with adding a personal sentence.<br /><br />The main barriers to using the cards were concerns about too much personal information, fear of harassment, and the cards’ large size. These concerns were more common among women: half of men reported no barriers, compared with only a small minority of women.<br /><br />The authors conclude that hospitalists are generally open to business cards as a communication tool, but privacy and workplace safety concerns—especially for women—need further study before wider adoption.

Asset Subtitle

Stephen Biederman

Meta Tag

Author List Ajin John, Alan Dow, Stephen Biederman

Category Research

Concept Hospitalist

Concept Business Card

Concept Hospitalized Patient

Concept Rapport

Concept Personalized Business Card

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization VCU Health System

Presenting Author Stephen Biederman

Track Communication

Keywords

hospitalist

business card

patient trust

patient understanding

hospitalization

personalized communication

privacy concerns

workplace safety

patient-family advisory council

pilot study

Hospitalist

Business Card

Hospitalized Patient

Rapport

Personalized Business Card