Position of the physician's nametag--a randomized, blinded trial

The patient-physician relation begins when the physician introduces himself with name and function. Most institutions request a nametag with name and function to be worn. Although nametags are consequently worn, the optimal position for the nametag is unknown. It was the purpose of this study to identify whether positioning the nametag on the right or the left chest side provides better visibility to the patient.

One hundred volunteers, blinded to the experimental setup, presented for an orthopedic consultation in a standardized manner. The nametag of the physician was randomly positioned on the left chest side and presented to 50 individuals (age 35 years (range 17 to 83)) or the right chest side and then presented to 50 other individuals (35 years (range 16 to 59)). The time of the participant noticing the nametag was documented. Subsequently, the participant was questioned concerning the relevance of a nametag and verbal self-introduction of the physician.

38% of the participants noticed the nametag on the right as opposed to 20% who noticed it if placed on the left upper chest (p = 0.0473). The mean time to detection was 9 (range 1-40) seconds for nametags on the right and 25.2 seconds (range 3 to 49, p = 0.006) on the left. For 87% of the participants, a nametag is expected and important and nearly all participants (96%) expected the physician to introduce himself verbally.

It is expected that a physician wears a nametag and introduce himself verbally at the first encounter. Positioning the nametag on the right chest side results in better and faster visibility.