Expanding the Tip Jar to Clinicians

By Terri Tilliss, RDH, PhD

In February, readers of Dimensions of Dental Hygiene received an email from Executive Editor Kristen Pratt Machado with a link to a guest commentary that appeared in the Baltimore Sun.¹ An ophthalmologist opined about whether the tip jar should be expanded to include healthcare professionals.² The author, Eric Dessner, MD, noted that people tip many types of workers to acknowledge good service and show gratitude. He points out that it is time to reconsider “who has been left out in the cold” and specifically refers to nurses and dental hygienists. Dessner adds that he feels a stronger sense of gratitude toward his dental hygienist, who “spends an hour scraping away tartar from the base of my teeth,” than he does toward hotel bellmen, bartenders, and servers.²

* References can be found in the original article via the link below.
Read Article