Despite countless self-introductions as Ms. [my last name here]. I have found that patients will call me basically "whatever the heck they want to." Usually Dr. [my first name] or simply my first name. Despite repeated corrections, they persist. I no longer bother to correct them anymore. However, today I heard the oddest phrase.
Patient's wife: "We were at dinner, but I told the family that we had to go see Tom's shrink nurse". A "shrink nurse", really?! "Oh, we mean that affectionately." Of course.
I hate being called by Mr. (last name). When I flew for the airlines, I would hate people calling me Capt. (last name). I have a first name, and I prefer people to call me by it. I think it makes things much more personal and people seem to appreciate me dealing with them on a personal level....they always leave with a smile on their face. I'm not a FNP yet, but when I am, I won't change how I like people to call me. I still will use my first name.
I get called doctor five seconds after telling them I'm an np. I think it's just bc I'm a dude. I live In a pretty simple area and one of the lady doctors I work with gets called nurse all the time.
Around 80% of the patients I see call me "the PA". Even when I have stressed repeatedly I am an NP. Around 5-10%, call me "baby girl", "my child" or "honey" as in "baby girl, my head hurts really bad."
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
Mama. Hey Nurse! That nice lady who helps us. Any name that begins with the correct first letter of my name. Eg Mary, Marian, etcetera. My name begins with M but isn't any of those names, lol!
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Pilot2FNP
49 Posts
I hate being called by Mr. (last name). When I flew for the airlines, I would hate people calling me Capt. (last name). I have a first name, and I prefer people to call me by it. I think it makes things much more personal and people seem to appreciate me dealing with them on a personal level....they always leave with a smile on their face. I'm not a FNP yet, but when I am, I won't change how I like people to call me. I still will use my first name.