The Nurse's Etiquette Advantage, How Professional Etiquette Can Advance Your Nursing Career, Kathleen D. Pagana, PhD, RN. Indianapolis: Sigma Theta Tau International; 2008. softcover, 206 pages, $19.95.
When I first heard of an etiquette book for nurses, I immediately thought it would be in line with customer or patient service. I was pleasantly surprised that it is much broader than that. This book of etiquette can be used with patients, families, piers, and professional partners in multiple settings. In leadership, we speak of the bedside to the boardroom. In etiquette, it can be from the bedside to the bar. Although the book does not emphasize the bedside, the tips, if practiced, can easily become a habit in any setting. Yes, this book even teaches us how to hold a drink in one hand while shaking hands with the other one.
The first thing you find when you open the book is a 5 x 8 card with the Top Ten Etiquette Tips for Nurses. The card can easily be slipped in a pocketbook or briefcase, and the tips are not just for nurses. The top 10 tips include handshakes, how to present your business card, how to approach someone you met before but not might remember you, where to place your name tag and why, what clothes should reflect, where to stand during a phone interview, how to present your e-mail message, preparing for the "what do you do" question, where your bread plate is-left or right, and a warning about gestures in traveling abroad. Let me give you just one of the tips on this card: Did you know that standing up during a phone interview will make your voice sound more confident and dynamic? I did not know that one.
Have you heard the adage that the hard stuff is easy and the soft stuff is hard? The book itself is packed with pearls of wisdom around "soft stuff" you can do, beyond your excellent clinical skills, to be more successful. The chapters also include Faux Pas and Good Ideas. Along with 10 tips, there are 10 chapters:
1. Making your acquaintance-Introductions
2. When Talk's Not Cheap-Conversations and Networking for Career Success
3. Appearances Are (Almost) Everything-Your Profession Presence (for Both Men and Women)
4. Interviewing-What You Say Gets You What You Want
5. Controlling Technology Before It Controls You-Communication Technology
6. Mingling Amongst the Cocktail Set-Juggling Drinks and Hors d'Oeuvres at Corporate Events
7. How Dining Etiquette and Business Success Go Hand-in-Hand
8. Thank You Notes and Business Letters-How Expressing Gratitude Can Make an Impact
9. Jet Setting to Success-Business Travel and Etiquette
10. Going Global-Business Etiquette around the World
I recently received a handwritten note from a young clinical leader. I had introduced her to a few people at a state meeting. I was impressed with her as a person to begin with, but I will remember her in my busy days because her note went the extra mile. Some of the tips in this book are just common sense. Remembering to be kind and considerate provides a good start. But knowing how to dress, words to choose, things to do in a social setting, how to conduct yourself at a conference or even as important, and knowing what not to do will build your own self-confidence while building relationships with others. This book is helpful for all nurses. For sure, if you are a leader or an aspiring leader, you will find a book on etiquette essential. Let me share one more of the author's tips, one that will help all of us. Never approach someone and say, "Do you remember me?" Put out your hand and state your name (xi).
One of the basic tenets of leadership is the ability to influence other people. Nurses have so many opportunities to do this in so many settings; a book of etiquette can only help us present ourselves in a better light.
-Elizabeth (Betty) Falter, MS, RN, CNAA, BC
President, Falter and Associates, Inc Tucson, Ariz