"Sir or Ma'am" when addressing physicians?

[nurs4kids]

Just curious to the general opinion of fellow nurses. Raised and practice in the south, but ran into a funny debate this past week. While I was raised to say ma'am and sir, it is not my practice to do so when addressing doctors at work. Maybe because I'm older than most of them or perhaps it just isn't customary? I'm not sure.

The debate arose as another coworker and I listened (and cringed) to a nurse on the phone with a doctor. A well raised (by southern standards) 24 year old, he seems to amost be excessive with the, "yes, sir..yes, sir...yes sir" in his telephone conversations. He's a great kid (I only pray mine will turn out so well) and when we mentioned to him he may want to tone down the "sir's" he was visably offended. We tried explaining that he was setting himself up to be "run over" by being submissive, but he didn't buy that--said if he got run over it'd be because he allowed himself to be run over, not because he was being respectful (he may have a point?).

Most of our physician's are not from the south and most that we deal with are residents, so they are also very young.

All this left me pondering what is the PROFESSIONAL standard for addressing physicians?

Food for thought...

[OCNRN63, RN]

I call them whatever they want to be called (some have requested I call them by their first names)...but if they don't have a preference, I'll default to Doctor or Mr./Ms. X. I also hand disrespect right back to them.

At my previous job, I called just about all the docs by their first names. There was one, however, who I really didn't like. I always addressed him as "Dr. *****. I used a special sort of inflection when I said "Doctor," which was my backhanded way of being disrespectful.

I know, it was petty.

[mazy]

I hate it when people call me ma'am. Makes me feel elderly and dowager-like. But I think that is a woman thing.

It's different with men though.

[OCNRN63, RN]

When I speak privately to a physician (over the phone, in a work area, during multidisciplinary rounds), I call them by their first name. When I speak to the physician in front of patient/family OR when I refer to the physician, while speaking to patient/family, I call them Dr. So-and-So.

That reminds me of something that happened several years ago. I was at the bedside with a resident who I'd worked with for a while. We always called him by his first name. Anyway, in the course of the conversation, I just called him by his first name.

Later on, he said to me "I'd appreciate it if you called me "Dr. *****" in front of patients and not by my first name." I felt sort of bad, because he was right; it was just involuntary. He didn't make a big deal out of it, though. He was a pretty nice guy.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

"sir" or "ma'am"? i usually call them by their first names unless they're doing something stupid that needs to stop immediately. as in "are you sure you really want to push that propofal through the femoral arterial line, doctor?" or "are you sure you really want to defibrillate that artifact, doctor?" if i'm talking to a patient about them ("dr. imaflamingdonkeybutt may have told you that you were allowed to smoke in bed here in the icu, but he's incorrect about that") i call them doctor.

in my old hospital, it was standard for the attendings to bring the brand new residents around, introduce them to the experienced icu nurses and say "this is ruby. if she tells you something, listen. if you don't listen and you go ahead and do something stupid, i will hear about it and you won't want to be you." they weren't introduced to the inexperienced icu nurses in quite the same manner, so they knew who to listen to.

"sir" or "ma'am" may be a southern thing, and although i currently dwell south of the mason-dixon line, i am a yankee (or to quote my late sister-in-law, a "damned yankee") through and through.

[DizzyLizzyNurse]

I would never call a doc sir or ma'am. I call them Dr Whatever. I am always polite, but I was taught we are equals.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

Doctor is appropriate enough. I don't like using sir or ma'am to address doctors. There is one nurse I know of who does this, and it annoys me, because she sets herself up to be trampled over. And she is often trampled over. She is from the same ethnic group as I am, but she is a recent immigrant from the country that my parents came from. It's the way she was raised.

[healthstar, BSN, RN]

Both...are ugly words to say! When people call me ma'am...my heart skips many beats lol

[babyNP., APRN]

With the docs I know and work with, I call them by their first name and they'll even answer their phone, "This is __" and use their first name. When discussing with parents or introducing, I always say, "This is Dr. so and so." With outside specialty services, I generally use ma'am/sir simply because I don't know what else to call them, lol! Or sometimes get into a bad habit of, "Oh, hello. Are you genetics?"

[JDZ344]

Very few people where I live say Sir and even less say Ma'am.

If you were brought up saying Sir or Ma'am then I don't see a problem, and I agree with your co-worker.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

Never used sir or ma'am . It is not done, or almost never, where I am from . If it is , it is sometimes in a mocking way. Where I work I mostly deal with residents who are my age or a little bit older so that would be weird to me. I have seen some nurses use it who use it with everyone and 1 was ex military from the south, and the other was from the south.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I have never called a colleague "sir" or "ma'am". Attendings, I'll call "Dr. soandso" but if it's an attending I knew as a resident/fellow, a fellow or a resident, I call them by their first name. If it's in front of a patient or I'm referencing the doctor in speaking to the patient, I call them "Dr." I don't think I've ever used the word "sir" in my life. I'm from the Northeast.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

The most annoying with the "first name doctors" who I do not really know is when I page the random dr on call for say plastics and someone calls back saying, " hey, this is mike". Who, what? and I try to think who the hell is mike when he says," I was paged about Jones" then it all comes back to me.