The impact of business cards on physician recognition after general anesthesia

Despite their contribution to overall perioperative treatment of patients, anesthesiologists often remain in anonymity. We evaluated the impact of bus iness cards on physician recognition after general anesthesia. Using a ques tionnaire, 441 patients were interviewed for recall of the anesthesiologist 's name, the surgeon's name, and their overall satisfaction with anesthetic care 6 wk after undergoing surgery during general anesthesia. Of these pat ients, 155 had and 137 had not randomly received a business card during the preoperative visit, with another 149 patients serving as a control group. Business card recipients responded significantly more frequently than did n onrecipients or patients from the control group (65.8% vs 54.7% vs 53%), wi th recall of the anesthesiologist's name being significantly more frequent in the Business Card Recipient group (51.5% vs 14.3% vs 11.4%). Patient sat isfaction with anesthetic care and recall of the surgeon's name were simila r in all groups. The use of a simple tool such as a business card can indee d produce a measurable positive change in physician recognition on the part of the patient.