Do you work with any that ask you to do this? Does it weird you out at all?
I'm a pretty laid back person...like sometimes "check-a-pulse" laidback. :wink2: I'm also pretty self confident and I'm not scared of doctors. But I guess I had it ingrained into my head at some impressionable stage in my life that they're addressed as "Dr So and So". I didn't realize how deeply this penetrated my fragile psyche until a few years ago when my Sis started dating a vet. I called him Dr H, even when we were all out in a social setting and taught my Kiddo to do the same. (I quit when I found out he was a Red Wings fan...came up with a different name that I won't post here! LOL! But I made the Kiddo continue to call him Doc for the longest time. It eventually evolved into Uncle Dr H. )
Anyway, so now I'm working in an ER, and even though I'm a probie RN, I've worked there for over a year. We have a bunch of great docs...talented, respectful, the whole shibang. I'm very lucky and I know it. Some of our doctors have started asking us to call them by their first names, and I kinda feel uncomfortable doing it. I mean, they went to school for a loooong time to earn that title. At first, I just thought that it was because they were younger docs and less formal...but then I realized they weren't that young, I was just older. I don't think it's a big formailty thing, and it's not like I'm adressing them as my superior. It's just a title for an impressive feat that they accomplished, and I think they earned it, and my respect.
I do it, or at least try to remember. I refuse to do it in front of patients though. Gets my lots of eye rolls, but hey...I have my standards. Not many, but the ones I do have, I stick to. But it just feels weird. So I was wondering if this was common in other areas, or if my docs are even more laid back than I am? :chuckle
I think it's kind of sad that the hospitals have largely lost any sense of professional etiquette. Everyone calls each other by their first name. We call the patients by their first name, regardless of their age or position. I have had retired Generals and former politicians, and some 19yo new-grad CNA comes in the room calling them "Bill" and "John".
Personally, I hate it when I start on a new ward or at a new hospital, and nurses immediately call me by my first name. It's inappropriate. I'm not your friend, and I'm not one of your regular coworkers. I'm a new person in what is supposed to be a professional environment, and the appropriate thing to do is call me "Dr. Tired" until I ask you to call me by my first name.
Similarly, I have no desire to call you by your first name. But of course, I don't really have a choice when that's the only thing on your name tag. I would like to call you "Mr. _____" or "Ms. _______", but since all you decided to put on your tag is "Mike" or "Brandi", you haven't left me much to work with. I have to resort to "ma'am" and "sir", which causes a lot of quizical looks. But since using the title "Nurse Mike" or "Nurse Brandi" is often taken as "talking down" I don't have any other options.
(And as a side-note, why is using "Nurse" as a title considered condescending? Isn't it a title that's supposed to be used with pride? It makes no sense to me.)
I get called by my first name in most places, and I call most nurses I work with by their first name. But I accept this situation mostly out of resignation. It's really not particularly polite or appropriate.
And when I'm a 75yo retired physician admitted to the hospital for my third heart attack, the first 25yo nurse or resident who calls me by my first name is going to get a serious butt-chewing.
Thank you for that! I appreciate the perspective - and I would hope that people would be respectful enough to choose to call everyone by the title/name that they felt best.
It's interesting - after this thread, I spoke with my husband who thought that my work environments (where most physicians are called by their first name) are unique. So perhaps my take is skewed by the nature of pediatrics. My previous experience in psyc/SA was also very different in that everyone was called by a title and their last name for boundary reasons.
By the by, I introduce myself as "Nurse Kristen" - and choose my first name because my last is a mouthful that is hard for kids to say. :)
The only way I'd find the title "nurse" disrespectful is if it is accompanied by finger-snapping or similar. But that's just me!
I think it's kind of sad that the hospitals have largely lost any sense of professional etiquette. Everyone calls each other by their first name. We call the patients by their first name, regardless of their age or position. I have had retired Generals and former politicians, and some 19yo new-grad CNA comes in the room calling them "Bill" and "John".
Personally, I hate it when I start on a new ward or at a new hospital, and nurses immediately call me by my first name. It's inappropriate. I'm not your friend, and I'm not one of your regular coworkers. I'm a new person in what is supposed to be a professional environment, and the appropriate thing to do is call me "Dr. Tired" until I ask you to call me by my first name.
Similarly, I have no desire to call you by your first name. But of course, I don't really have a choice when that's the only thing on your name tag. I would like to call you "Mr. _____" or "Ms. _______", but since all you decided to put on your tag is "Mike" or "Brandi", you haven't left me much to work with. I have to resort to "ma'am" and "sir", which causes a lot of quizical looks. But since using the title "Nurse Mike" or "Nurse Brandi" is often taken as "talking down" I don't have any other options.
(And as a side-note, why is using "Nurse" as a title considered condescending? Isn't it a title that's supposed to be used with pride? It makes no sense to me.)
I get called by my first name in most places, and I call most nurses I work with by their first name. But I accept this situation mostly out of resignation. It's really not particularly polite or appropriate.
And when I'm a 75yo retired physician admitted to the hospital for my third heart attack, the first 25yo nurse or resident who calls me by my first name is going to get a serious butt-chewing.
Have you tried introducing yourself when first encountering new coworkers? As in "Hello, I'm Dr. TiredMD"? This seems a friendlier way of getting your preference across than correcting someone when they use your first name. (Not that you said you did - but you should be addressed in the way you prefer)
I certainly wouldn't mind being addressed as "Ms. Baglady" by most of the physicians I encounter now - especially since many of them are now younger than my son. The name on my badge is dictated by the hospital policy, not personal choice and in many places it is considered a security issue - especially in areas such as ER or psych where patients may be more likely to inappropriately try to contact a nurse outside of the hospital.
I hope you do "practice what you preach" and address your older patients especially with the respect their years have earned. I say this with the memory of my grandmother very politely but thoroughly dressing down the young doctor who brushed her off and tried to address my father concerning the condition and treatment of my grandfather - the man she had been married to for over 60 years. He got quite a lesson that age and senility are not synonymous!
I do call my patients who are my elders my their last name. I at times ask my younger ones what they want to be called, however, I'm expect my younger patients to treat me w/ respect as I am their elder (even though I'm mid 40's, which is old to a 19 yr old). My badge says my first name b/c of hospital policy for security reasons. I have patients who are crazy and you'd be surprised the info they can get, even if not offered, so I like using my first name on my badge. (my last name is also a mouth full). I prefered it when I was in the military and we used each others rank. For both patients and staff. No problem there, at least not for me.
) 
kristenncrn
138 Posts
Thank you for that! I appreciate the perspective - and I would hope that people would be respectful enough to choose to call everyone by the title/name that they felt best.
It's interesting - after this thread, I spoke with my husband who thought that my work environments (where most physicians are called by their first name) are unique. So perhaps my take is skewed by the nature of pediatrics. My previous experience in psyc/SA was also very different in that everyone was called by a title and their last name for boundary reasons.
By the by, I introduce myself as "Nurse Kristen" - and choose my first name because my last is a mouthful that is hard for kids to say. :)
The only way I'd find the title "nurse" disrespectful is if it is accompanied by finger-snapping or similar. But that's just me!
Thanks for giving me more to think about...