- Joined
- May 11, 2013
- Messages
- 7,570
In the hospital setting I love the white coats all the docs wear, it said right up on the left or right, don't remember (lucky me no operations since 2012) Jane Smith, M.D., altho I wouldn't confuse an physician from a nurse since nurses uniforms are different, but lab techs do wear white coats, some of them do anyway.
And yup @missy , do no harm. My SIL the pediatric cardiologist always had her sick little ones call her Dr Jane, of course she always had a steth on her neck too, she dealt with very very sick children, she was focused, but now she's seeing the world, and I'm happy for her. It is very tough to have 2 kids 1 step kid, a husband who didn't work due to layoffs and parents that were ill, plus be on call for a heart transplant team, I get it and I so admired her ability to focus on what we were doing at any moment, that is awesome.
I want to be on even footing with ANY professional I need for my health or my life, my feelings really date back to the 50s and 60s when physicans were gods, and did harm to my grandmother and almost to my mother (but lucky mom, I stepped in).
I do not feel comfortable with a physican who walks in the the room and says: Hi Kate I'm Dr Smith, nope doesn't fly for me, but I am a socialist Missy - okay not a full blown one per se, but I am opposed to an American hierarchy class system as a whole, understand it exists but have always believed we should do less homage and more discussion when it comes to health, my taxes, my investments, etc. just who I am.
A woman or a man came into a room my age now in the 50s and 60s I had to stand up, truth, my mother said we had to, and I still do it if there is an ancient one (80s and above) who come into a room, the way I was raised, respect for the elderly. I can go into a store today and a service person can says "Dude can I help you?" no lie, when we have a society where we value physicians more than a person who is desperately seeking refuge I stand up and have to speak. No one uses Mrs. Jones today, my mother called all of my school friends mother's Mrs something if she was not friends with them. I respect anyone and in particular the medical profession that devotes so much time to education, I'm down with a very good salary, I'm also down with medical school being government paid because it takes the onus off the physican to pick a higher paying specialty they may not have wanted but they owe 500K after all their schooling. But I'm not an anarchist yet (j/k), i'm a 1960s power to the people woman though.
xoxoxo
And yup @missy , do no harm. My SIL the pediatric cardiologist always had her sick little ones call her Dr Jane, of course she always had a steth on her neck too, she dealt with very very sick children, she was focused, but now she's seeing the world, and I'm happy for her. It is very tough to have 2 kids 1 step kid, a husband who didn't work due to layoffs and parents that were ill, plus be on call for a heart transplant team, I get it and I so admired her ability to focus on what we were doing at any moment, that is awesome.
I want to be on even footing with ANY professional I need for my health or my life, my feelings really date back to the 50s and 60s when physicans were gods, and did harm to my grandmother and almost to my mother (but lucky mom, I stepped in).
I do not feel comfortable with a physican who walks in the the room and says: Hi Kate I'm Dr Smith, nope doesn't fly for me, but I am a socialist Missy - okay not a full blown one per se, but I am opposed to an American hierarchy class system as a whole, understand it exists but have always believed we should do less homage and more discussion when it comes to health, my taxes, my investments, etc. just who I am.
A woman or a man came into a room my age now in the 50s and 60s I had to stand up, truth, my mother said we had to, and I still do it if there is an ancient one (80s and above) who come into a room, the way I was raised, respect for the elderly. I can go into a store today and a service person can says "Dude can I help you?" no lie, when we have a society where we value physicians more than a person who is desperately seeking refuge I stand up and have to speak. No one uses Mrs. Jones today, my mother called all of my school friends mother's Mrs something if she was not friends with them. I respect anyone and in particular the medical profession that devotes so much time to education, I'm down with a very good salary, I'm also down with medical school being government paid because it takes the onus off the physican to pick a higher paying specialty they may not have wanted but they owe 500K after all their schooling. But I'm not an anarchist yet (j/k), i'm a 1960s power to the people woman though.
xoxoxo
The only people who ever call me doctor are/were my patients. I always introduce myself first name last name in any other situation. And I prefer when adult people call me by my first name in social and other non professional situations.
I have friends who use the doctor title when making appointments and such but I never do that. To me it feels pretentious in a way but I get why they do it. They feel they get better service when using the doctor title. And maybe they do but it's not something I feel comfortable with. I worked hard for my degrees (4 years post college plus a year plus residency) but other than professional life I prefer being called by my first name no title and that includes Ms/Mrs/Dr.
FWIW I used to work in a hospital and everyone called me doctor last name. As @cmd2014 writes it is important for patients to know who we are and it is also comforting to them to know we are professionals who can help them as experts in our field. Which is what the title doctor conveys. And yes there are strict laws governing what we can and cannot do in each health field profession. Built in safety for patients. Remember first "do no harm" and hopefully leave each person a little better (or a lot better) health wise than when we first encountered them.