Do you call your patients by first or last name?

[HappyNurse2005]

Is your pt "Mr Doe" or "John" to you? I ALWAYS call my pt's by last name. Mr or Mrs whatever. Of course, I'm 24, and 99.999999999% of my pt's are older than me. It's a respect thing to me. Not that calling by first name is disrespect, but I don't know...It just never occurs to me to call them by first name.

Though, I do occasionally call older ladies "honey".

So what do you call them?

[lpnstudentin2010, LPN]

Yes, children I would always call by their first name. Of course, on my floor, a cardiac surgery PCU, we don't really get children. I had a 19 year old who still lived at home w/ mom, and I am older than her (24), so i asked her if she wanted be called Jane or Miss Doe, and she said jane.

Ya I am 18 and i think it would be wierd to be called ms. kirpas

[zig]

Always say Ms. or Mr. , you are not their friend. This is a business relationship. If a patient asks you to call them by their first name, then it's ok to do so. NEVER call anyone sweetie , honey etc. (especially the elderly)

[steelcityrn, RN]

Its always Mr., Mrs or Miss until I am told otherwise.

[mshultz]

They tended to refer to me in the third person when I was in the hospital ("His parents are here", "He has pictures!" (referring to the pictures the doctor gave me of my EGD). In the scheme of things, what they called me was not important. I did not call anyone by name, either, as I was introduced to about a dozen people, had no written information, no way to take notes, and with 20/300 vision, no way of reading name tags.

In retrospect, I should have introduced myself, but it is a strange situation when someone who may already know your name introduces himself (or herself).

I thought the way they introduced themselves was funny. The first thing the trauma team in the ED did was to uncover me, so I was naked. Then they all gave their first names. They never asked for any information from me until they were done treating me. When I was then taken to the Critical Care Unit, the first thing the nurse did was to uncover me (so I could slide across to the bed). She was going to write her first name on the whiteboard, but could not find a marker.

Trauma care (which was excellent) has to come before social niceties.

Michael

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Groucho Marx

[Alex3]

This thread has made me think .... In my placement, the majority of the nurses use 'sweetie, love, honey, darling'... and I find myself using these names too. I will stop doing this now. Can't believe I got into the habit - oops! Livning and learning.

[Fun2, BSN, RN]

This thread has made me think .... In my placement, the majority of the nurses use 'sweetie, love, honey, darling'... and I find myself using these names too. I will stop doing this now. Can't believe I got into the habit - oops! Livning and learning.

I think it's a matter of where you live on the 'sweetie, etc' stuff. I live in Texas, and down here in the South, many people use those terms.

It's natural, and not rude at all, and in no way reflects whether or not you're being professional.

So, if y'all ever get to Texas, be ready to be called sweetie, honey, love or darlin' in the hospitals, restaurants or stores.

[Lucky84one]

I'll call a patient by their first name if they are between 18-35ish. After that its by last name unless otherwise noted. I prefer them to call me by my first name. And the use of sweetie or honey, thats only appropriate for young children.