Scott LaFee, Contributor

Most patients want their doctors to shake hands when they first meet, and about half want their physicians to use their first names in greetings, concludes a survey of patient expectations and preferences by researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

In a poll of 415 adult patients conducted between 2004 and 2005, 78 per cent said they wanted their doctors to shake hands; 18.1 per cent did not. It's not clear what the remaining 3.9 per cent wanted - perhaps a hearty slap on the back. Just over 50 per cent of patients wanted doctors to use their patient's first names; 17.3 per cent preferred to be called by their last name, and 23.6 wanted physicians to use both their first and last names.

On the flip side, 56.4 per cent of patients wanted doctors to introduce themselves using first and last names; 32.5 per cent expected their physicians to identify themselves only by their last name, and 7.2 per cent preferred doctors to use only their first name, as in "Hello, I'mDoctor Bob".

The survey, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, also videotaped 123 new patient visits in the offices of 19 physicians in Chicago and Burlington, Vt. The results: doctors and physicians shook hands 82.9 per cent of the time, but doctors never mentioned their patients' names in 50.4 per cent of the visits and failed to identify themselves 11.4 per cent of the time.

MEDTRONICA

Get your medical myths answered at

www.uams.edu/news/medical(underscore)myths/

Is drinking eight glasses of water every day good for you? Does sugar make one hyperactive? These questions and others are answered by the medical staff of the University of Arkansas.

STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM

Here's some advice from The Physical Life of Women (published in 1872) on how to have beautiful children: "During pregnancy, the mother should often have some painting or engraving representing cheerful or beautiful figures before her eyes, or often contemplate some graceful statue. She should avoid looking at or thinking of ugly people or those marked by disfiguring diseases."

According to Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of How We Die, at least 50,345 Americans have died from medical research since 1930.

BEST MEDICINE

Members of a neighborhood health club were meeting for the first time. The leader of the group suggested that they go around the room, describing their daily routine and habits. Several people spoke about too much food and drink, being lazy and other physiological offenses. Then one egregiously overweight member declared, "I eat moderately. I drink moderately. I exercise frequently."

Really!" exclaimed the leader.

"And there's nothing else you'd like to add?"

"Well, yes," admitted the overweight member, "I also lie extensively."

CURTAIN CALL

John B. Curtis is sometimes credited with inventing chewing gum in 1848, though he admitted his idea came from watching American Indians chew tree sap. Curtis' big seller (relatively speaking) was a spruce-flavoured gum, but he was always producing and testing new flavours. Doing so killed him. Curtis died from asphyxiation caused by a lump of gum that became stuck in his throat.

Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.