Is the title Ward sister outdated?

Readers' comments (28)

• Anonymous | 2-Jul-2012 8:46 am

  i thought the male equivalent was called charge nurse?

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• Anonymous | 2-Jul-2012 9:31 am

  must date from the days when nuns ran hospitals and seems inappropriate in the 21st century.
  
  nurses in France were 'soeurs' or 'ma soeur' which is not used anymore in lay hospitals. a nurses are now addressed as 'Madame' (Mademoiselle is no longer PC, except for very young women) which can be followed by their name, or Christian names may be used, which seems more appropriate and more respectful than the way they are often addressed in the UK as nurse or sister which gives the feeling of being treated as an object, a servant or some religious relic from the past.
  
  In Germany the title 'Schwester' was phased out quite recently and the term 'Krankenschwester' has been replaced by 'Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann' (female or male care professional). Here again staff are more appropriately addressed by their names, although sometimes patients will call out 'Fraulein'.

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• Anonymous | 3-Jul-2012 6:16 pm

  yes, it's out-dated. Ward Manager is more appropriate, got to call them something. Would you call a male nurse 'ward brother'?

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• Ellen Nicholson | 3-Jul-2012 6:54 pm

  Yes it's outdated. I think Ward manager or just Charge nurse would be more up to date.

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• Anonymous | 3-Jul-2012 8:17 pm

  Not really (unless they're a man). I think its down to personal choice - some female managers and charge nurses prefer to be called Sister because a lot of older patients identify with the title better and sometimes it sounds more traditional and unpretentious. Unqualified staff can call themselves Healthcare Assistants, Carers, Nursing Auxiliaries or Clinical Support Workers... if it all means the same thing you might as well chose which title you use! x

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• Sue Meredith | 3-Jul-2012 8:26 pm

  Thats fine, but what about the Band 6 junior sisters post then? I am Band 6 with a band 7 manager who works across 2 sites 8 miles apart, I am second in charge,title has been changed for me to Nurse Team Leader, but then there are the other 3 Band 6's, what do they get tagged as?
  I agree too, that the older people associate "sister" with someone senior and the male nurses were always charge nurses.

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• Anonymous | 3-Jul-2012 10:05 pm

  To be honest think its a waste of time and effort to concentrate on this particular subject when there are so many other varying topics that challenge nursing today ..Just my opinion.

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• Anonymous | 3-Jul-2012 11:06 pm

  Anon 10.05
  
  I agree with you. I have a name and a title of my civil status as well as a given name and I expect people to use these just as I treat others with respect and courtesy and use theirs. I do not wish to be called sister, nurse, matron (which I soon put a stop to in my last post as I was only the deputy anyway with a ghastly uniform to match), or any other name of an object! It is time nursing dropped this military service image and people were more human and civil to each other!

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• James Bird | 4-Jul-2012 10:34 am

  An interesting debate, does being called sister instantly mean you are old fashioned? I think not, I always introduce myself to patients using my name, not my title.
  
  However my job title is that of Senior Charge Nurse, and it says as much on my name badge, not because its modern, but because i am male, and my female colleagues are Senior Sisters. We still all introduce ourselves by our first names, if you have to hide behind your job title are you happy / secure in what you are doing?
  
  My leadership and seniority is not enforced with my title and adherence to a military type rank structure. My leadership and the fact that others follow me comes from my clinical skills and knowledge, along with the clinical example i show on a daily basis.

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• Anonymous | 4-Jul-2012 4:45 pm

  We call them 'blueys'.

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• Jane Ingram | 4-Jul-2012 7:43 pm

  I totally agree with James Bird and do not understand why the majority of nurses cannot stand up and be counted, instead of hiding behind 'anonymous'.

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• Yvonne Bates | 5-Jul-2012 1:25 pm

  Yes my belief is that it is very outdated.
  However working in Australia for the past 25 years I have not been used to that system.
  Here we call the nurse head poncho.... Nurse Unit Manager (named NUM ) and those below her who are in charge Acting Nurse Unit Manager ( named ANUM ). We are all on first name terms no matter what position we play in the hospital system, but will always introduce or talk of those seniors with names and then titles.
  Yes we are more relaxed here, but it has no bearing on how we respect each other.
  All staff introduce themselves to patients by first names only. For confidentiality no patients know our surnames, and it is not on our IDs.

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• Anonymous | 5-Jul-2012 11:14 pm

  Jane Ingram - I cannot find James Birds' reference to hiding behind anonymous - do you mean hide behind your job title?
  
  I know a lot of nurses who think they should be called 'staff nurse', 'sister', 'Mr" in the case of a charge nurse. Some nurses have been working a long long time and this is a mark of respect.

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• Anonymous | 6-Jul-2012 10:57 am

  If I walked onto a ward where I didn't know the staff I would address the sister as 'sister', what else would I call her.
  
  For those who think it is out-dated and don't like to be called anything 'formal' or 'military' do you wear a navy blue uniform or do the staff all wear the same thing and just have their title on their name-badges?

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• Anonymous | 6-Jul-2012 11:35 am

  anonymous above
  
  sorry, I have lost my drag, copy and paste facility for some reason in the last few days and NT are unable to offer any advice on this although it doesn't happen on the web pages of any other sites! I can't find any specific settings to remedy it and am not sure it is a local problem.
  
  I prefer wards where nurses and all staff, except doctors, for practical reasons of more and deeper pockets, all wear the same and are identified by the name badge and which have three colour codes to distinguish professional groups. i.e. we had red for doctors, blue for nurses and yellow for all ancillary staff and there were never any problems with this in a large university hospital. I don't believe in all these unnecessary class distinctions.

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• Anonymous | 7-Jul-2012 9:00 am

  This was a pretty pointless debate.

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• Anonymous | 7-Jul-2012 9:20 am

  Anon 7 July 9.00
  
  why was?
  
  and it would be interesting to know why you find it pointless.

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• thomas evans | 7-Jul-2012 10:40 am

  I find it all quite funny. I am a band 6 deputy charge nurse which makes me feel like I should be in some kind of western movie.
  I don't see why it is overly important what we are called we are Nurses first and foremost. I don't introduce myself as a deputy charge nurse. I introduce myself as Tom one of the nursing staff/team, that team includes the HCA's AP's NA's etc. I don't think patients really care about our job title, they care about what kind of people we are and how we treat those under our care.

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  A Nonny Mouse | 7-Jul-2012 10:55 am

  Patients and rellies will often ask to speak to sister, thinking that they will have the answer to all their questions.
  
  Saying 'sister', 'charge nurse' or whatever the most senior title on the ward is, does sadly make some colleagues pay a bit more attention to what is being said. Staff nurses could get all precious about this but what's the point, we all know we are good at our jobs.

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• Anonymous | 7-Jul-2012 12:11 pm

  rellies?

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