How come people don't refer to a PharmD as "Dr. ___"?

[Girlinthewindow]

I'm curious, because PharmD is a doctorate degree and MDs, DOs, PhDs, PsyDs, ODs, DDSs, etc. are all doctorate degrees, yet I never hear anyone using the title Dr. toward pharmacists in neither retail nor clinical settings.

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[PCOM_Pharmacy_2015]

In retail, customers usually don't respect the Pharmacists. In hospital or clinical settings, we don't want to make patients confused. It would be weird if a nurse who has a PhD introduce to the patient :"Hello, I'm Dr. X, your nurse". The same to Pharmacist

 

[Girlinthewindow]

I figured that most pharmacists didn't have doctorate degrees in the past until the big PharmD push, and it sorta stuck.

 

[TechthenpharmD]

you don't call a lawyer DR. So&so, same goes with pharmacist. It's the nature of the profession. Only time you would refer to PharmD's and JD's as doctor is in a academic setting.

 

[ACE Rx]

In retail, customers usually don't respect the Pharmacists. In hospital or clinical settings, we don't want to make patients confused. It would be weird if a nurse who has a PhD introduce to the patient :"Hello, I'm Dr. X, your nurse". The same to Pharmacist

I do not see where this is a problem. When you encounter a dentist or an optometrist in a hospital/clinical setting, do they introduce themselves to the patient as: "Hello, I'm Dr. X, your dentist/optometrist or just Dr. X?" I don't see people getting confused here.

 

[Cauris]

you can if you want. but you will just look pretentious and people will laugh behind your back.

if you really want to be called "dr.", become a physician or earn a ph.d

 

[KidPharmD]

I have never asked anyone to be called Dr.

However, when I was a retail pharmacist, it was fairly common for people (older people) to do it anyway. Lots of patients also called me "doc."

In the hospital, it is confusing as "Dr." usually equates to physicians. Even the NPs we have are rarely called "Dr." even if they have a DNP.

My students do call me Dr at first because they are taught it is respectful to address their professors as such. However, that has a lot more to do with the traditional use of the word "doctor" (as it applies to PhD's for example) than it does with a desire to point out who has a Pharm.D.

 

[Mur7ay]

I'll definitely being using it when I graduate

 

[Girlinthewindow]

I shadowed a pharmacist recently who also has a PhD, and she is called called Dr. by her peers, but none of the other PharmDs are called Dr. That's what got me to ask this question.

 

[afuen031]

In the hospital where I shadowed all the nurses and staff referred to the clinical pharmacist as Dr.

 

[ACE Rx]

Where I work, no one really cares about the Dr. title. With patients, MDs and PharmDs are addressed as Dr. X and identified by their roles. Aside from patients, we just address each other as X.

 

[Jibby321]

I'll definitely being using it when I graduate

This made me laugh.

 

[Cauris]

This made me laugh.

He's no different than the ******s in my class calling themselves "future dr."

 

[Mur7ay]

This made me laugh.

Lol

 

[Jibby321]

He's no different than the ******s in my class calling themselves "future dr."

We have those too. Lol

 

[PharmLife4Me]

.

 

[WhiteSnows]

I am called doctor at where I work. It depends on where you work.

 

[Cauris]

Regardless of the profession and who calls who what in the end they all have the same level of education. Physicians = 4 years = MD ; Pharmacist = 4 years = pharmD; dentist = 4 years = whatever they are called; optometrist = 4 years = blah blah blah.

So in reality, each profession has it's own expertise and ARE ALL QUALIFIED TO BE CALLED DR. If a nurse has a PhD, then she is entitled to be called Dr. as well and to tell her that he/she isn't is a false statement. Once the old BS degree pharmacists die off the newer pharmacist generation will be called doctors as well as they obtain residencies and provider status. If anyone laughs at you for being called a Dr or calling yourself one, just show them the PharmD and ask, what does this stand for and walk away. Should shut them up pretty quick.

What MD program is only 4 years? A Caribbean grad who doesn't match? To say physicians and pharmacists have the same level of education is laughable. A nurse with PhD referring herself as a Dr. is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[Girlinthewindow]

What MD program is only 4 years? A Caribbean grad who doesn't match? To say physicians and pharmacists have the same level of education is laughable. A nurse with PhD referring herself as a Dr. is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I thought medical school is only 4 years (not counting residency -- just like how we don't count pharmacy school residency)

 

[Cauris]

I thought medical school is only 4 years (not counting residency -- just like how we don't count pharmacy school residency)

Pharmacists can practice w/o residency, physicians can't.

 

[BeLikeBueller]

The biggest reason is because most pharmacists are humble people and don't get a kick out of being called "doctor." Also, as was stated earlier, it can be very confusing in a healthcare setting (particularly for the elderly) to refer to a pharmacist as "doctor so-and-so." In healthcare, people generally don't think of the practitioner by the level of their degree, but rather by their profession. (doctor, nurse, pharmacist, social worker, etc.)

 

[desklamp]

What MD program is only 4 years? A Caribbean grad who doesn't match? To say physicians and pharmacists have the same level of education is laughable. A nurse with PhD referring herself as a Dr. is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I don't see the obsession over Dr. vs. Not-a-doctor for PharmDs. It shouldn't be required by anyone to call a pharmacist Dr. So-and-so, but the patient confusion issue is often mitigated by wearing name tags that very clearly denote "Pharmacist", "Physician", "Nurse" and using proper introductions. And it really shouldn't be a hot topic at all if students choose to call their PharmD professors "Dr." in an academic setting.