Wherever I've worked, we always call doctors 'Dr So and So'. I've never been anywhere where they are called by their first name. They call nurses by first name.
I'm old-fashioned in this way. I feel that MDs deserve this respect. I'm in no way groveling and generally enjoy all the doctors I work with, especially the more seasoned, experienced ones. Some of the younger ones have yet to develop into interesting people, and tend to lack great social skills.
I also address my children's school teachers by Mrs or Mr and their surname, even if they try to get on first name basis. I come from a different generation where people were more formal. When I was a girl one did not address any adults but your parents' close friends by their first names.
Is this changing in some places and how do you feel about this subject?
Those of you who say you address a person with a PhD as Doctor... how do you address a nurse w/ a PhD?
As Dr. Soandso. Until they tell me to use a different form of address. My experience with PhD nurses was in nursing school.
Where it gets tricky is when the PhD is earned after you have taken one or more classes from them, and are used to calling them by their first name. As a newly minted Dr, they are often torn between embarrassment and being thrilled by the title................so it's always fun to do a little teasing, depending on their sense of humor, of course. :wink2:
It did bother me at first, due to the obvious inequity of it all. But now I just grudgingly accept it. On my Med-Surg floor, our unit clerk has been there for 38 years and still addresses all the doctors by Dr.Lastname, and in return she's Linda. There seem to be differences at teaching hospitals, but here it's universal- we call them doctor so and so, but identify ourselves and are called by our first names. In my view, we're all mature adults, but I've realized I'm not going to change such entrenched habits, so I just go with it.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I guess that since I have been calling them doctor all of my life, it is not unusual for me. Now, working as a nurse and witnessing that some of them seemed to have graduated from a school advertized on the back of a matchbook...well...I have trouble, but I still follow tradition.
My father is a doctor. And I've worked with most of his doctor friends/interns/collegues, some of who have known me since I was a baby. Some of his interns I've known since THEY were babies. And I went to high school with others that I work with. When I am at work, and my father comes to round. I call him "Dr.Lastname" And all those people (doctors) who I know by their first names when I am not at work, I call "Dr.Lastname" while at work. Nurses or doctors who know that Dr.Lastname is actually my father (I do not share this, but it gets around, my father, in Dr. mode, is one of those that some nurses come here to rant about) will come and ask me to "Page your dad for me." And I do, but when he calls, I address him as "Dr.Lastname" and I tell the person who paged that "Dr.Lastname" is on the phone. My husband calls my father "Dr.Firstname" all the time, even at home. Dad thinks it's funny.
It is a sign of respect, and I understand that "respect must be earned", but when you get the MD, or PhD, you HAVE earned the respect. You have earned that title. It may be at that point that respect can be LOST, but I feel it has already been EARNED. Almost as if the "Mr." or "Mrs./Ms." has been removed and replaced with "Dr."
I'm not a fan of Mr. and Mrs. (Last Name) but we usually do Mr/Mrs (first name). I guess I'm in that in-between mindset between that formality and today's more casual attitude... With doctors, I think "Doctor First Name" is OK if there is a good relationship there (as in- if the doctor has said that it's OK to use their first name- at work I'd always use that first name along with their title)- if not- it'd be (Doctor Last Name). I also find that calling someone alot younger than I am "Doctor Last Name" just makes me want to giggle... It IS a matter of respect- but part of that respect is definately earned... IMO significantly more life experience puts one on more of a peer position than an authoritative one- even if their medical knowledge and training should be respected regardless.
Wherever I've worked, we always call doctors 'Dr So and So'. I've never been anywhere where they are called by their first name. They call nurses by first name.
I'm old-fashioned in this way. I feel that MDs deserve this respect. I'm in no way groveling and generally enjoy all the doctors I work with, especially the more seasoned, experienced ones. Some of the younger ones have yet to develop into interesting people, and tend to lack great social skills.
I also address my children's school teachers by Mrs or Mr and their surname, even if they try to get on first name basis. I come from a different generation where people were more formal. When I was a girl one did not address any adults but your parents' close friends by their first names.
Is this changing in some places and how do you feel about this subject?
I belong to the old fashioned camp. I always address an MD as Doctor. Even in my current position as a school nurse, my teachers and administraters are Mr./Mrs. so and so, even if I have a personal friendship with them. I think this annoys my AP, who I have become good friends with, but it is just habit! My veterinarian is also a close personal friend (has come to our house for ballgames) and I still call him Dr. ___. They earned that MD/DVM/etc. and deserve to be addressed that way. It is just how I was raised!
Of course, I am the type that always says "yes sir/m'am", even to people younger than myself or in what some might call "lower" positions. Sure, on a personal level people have to earn my respect based on their behaviors, but each person deserves some level of respect just for being a human being!
We are very informal in our ER - any moonlighter asking to be called "Doctor" by the rest of us, will be called "DOCTOR" by the rest of us. Including the other doc. That being said, in the room with a patient, if I need to ask a question, it's "doctor XX...". Then they choke down a smile and call me 'Mrs. O'Myacin' or 'Nurse O'Myacin'. The older folks seem comforted by the formality sometimes.
We always called the physicians by their first name, and I would feel very odd calling people I work with by their title. Also, my husband is a professor at a medical school, and even in front of students I would NEVER refer to him as "doctor". That is pretentious and ridiculous in my opinion. I think too many people put too much stock in titles. My father was a teacher at the school I went to (middle school), and I had him for 3 classes. I always called him "dad". In fact, many kids in my grade started calling him "dad" because they thought it was funny.
I'm curious if there are any regional traditions at play here. I live out West, which I think is considered less formal, but I've never run into this first name basis out here.
I think it is more dependent on individual hospitals. I am in the midwest, and at some hospitals here the physicians are always "dr.". It may be coincidence, but the hospital where we called them by their first name had zero tolerance for physician aggression toward the nurses. It was a much more respectful environment than any other place I've worked.
At my hospital it's common practice to call the doctor's by their first names. I don't know if this is something our doctors are taught to encourage when they are hired on, because even when they answer their phones they'll be like "this is joe," as opposed to "this is Dr. Smith." I like the first name calling, and I do feel it helps doctors and nurses be on more of a level.
I recentally spent a day in a Cystic Fibrosis clinic and was surprised when one of their nurses told me that it is recommended by the national CF foundation that healthcare workers respond to each others by first names. The nurse said the reason for this reasoning was to encourage md/rn to be teamplayers, plus they felt it encouraged the patients to see both roles as relevant in the team.
missjennmb
932 Posts
So here's my question...
Those of you who say you address a person with a PhD as Doctor... how do you address a nurse w/ a PhD?