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How would you respond to someone if they said to you "You're not a real doctor"? I'm sure many optometrists get that comment...
How would you respond to someone if they said to you "You're not a real doctor"? I'm sure many optometrists get that comment...
How would you respond to someone if they said to you "You're not a real doctor"? I'm sure many optometrists get that comment...
I've never heard it to my face from other health care providers but it is much more common in this area and it has gotten back to me from patients on more than one occasion that a doctor I made a referral to ran me down. There is very little that you can do about this. Writing letters doesn't help, making phone calls (whether pleasant or angry) doesn't help. That attitude will never change. The only thing you can really do is not send those doctors any more patients.
How would you respond to someone if they said to you "You're not a real doctor"? I'm sure many optometrists get that comment...
an omd in MY OFFICE told the staff and pts that od's are not real docs.
an omd in MY OFFICE told the staff and pts that od's are not real docs.
Perfect."Then why are you here?"
"No...but I stayed at a holiday inn last night!"How would you respond to someone if they said to you "You're not a real doctor"? I'm sure many optometrists get that comment...
"No...but I stayed at a holiday inn last night!"
Look...check your ego on this. this is a good time to tell the patients what we do. Don't get mad because it makes you look silly. They came to you already..so they must trust you. Close the deal, give them excellent care and they will come back and tell thier friends.
Good way to put this. I had someone ask if I was the doctor, b/c I know I look young.
What was the damage?now this I do get. I do look young, but I prove to them I know my stuff.
I've stopped counting how many times I've heard... "Now, what does this dilation do..?? I've never had this done before ?? " From THIRTY YEAR OLDS wearing contacts for ten plus years !!!
I'm going to the dentist tomorrow.. I'm definitely bringing the superbill home. (just curious)
What was the damage?
If they do, you might want to get a second opinion on the refractive Rx they give you. Call me paranoid, but I just have a hunch.I had no copay.. so they didn't give me a superbill But, just so it feels like my office .... next time I go in I'm going to ask if they honor coupons from Visionworks.
If they do, you might want to get a second opinion on the refractive Rx they give you. Call me paranoid, but I just have a hunch.
If they do, you might want to get a second opinion on the refractive Rx they give you. Call me paranoid, but I just have a hunch.
Damn it, Jim, I'm an optometrist, not a doctor! (an homage to Dr. McCoy). Isn't anyone who holds an earned doctorate, whether professional or academic, a doctor? This includes PhDs in English, art hx, EdDs, pods, dentists, pharmacists, optos, and...shudder...even LAWYERS!
A "doctor" is one who holds a doctorate, not a profession or occupation. An MD or DO, no matter what the public erroneously believes, is just another "doctor" out there. An MD or DO is a physician, and in the US and Canada, physicians happen to hold professional doctorates.
So, an OD is a real doctor by virtue of degree, right? Case closed.
Anyone who holds a professional doctorate, an academic degree (PhD, etc...), or an honorary degree (Doctorate of Humane Letters, etc ) is a "Doctor".
I think the problem comes about because American's seem to have merged the meaning of the word "Doctor" with that of "Physician".
A "Physician" is defined as:
"a person who is legally qualified to practice medicine; doctor of medicine."
So the term Physician is only applied to MD's.
Whereas "Doctor" is defined as:
"1 a : a person who has earned one of the highest academic degrees (as a PhD) conferred by a university b : a person awarded an honorary doctorate by a college or university
2 : a person skilled or specializing in healing arts; especially : a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian licensed to practice his or her profession"
Which can certainly be applied to any member of the allied health professions that maintains a doctorate in their respective field.
It's the colloquialization of the English language that has created this ignorant problem.
You may be correct in the states you have practiced in, but this is not true for all states. In some states, such as Washington, we are referred to as Optometric Physicians in the RCW's (laws governing the practice of optometry). Whether or not we should be called that is a debate for another thread. The truth is, I find all of this funny. I could care less if I am called doctor. I know that my patients come to me because they trust me with the health of their eyes. That's enough of an ego boost for me.We have to put "optometrist" in the name if we use "Dr." Well, at least this is true of all the states I've practiced in. We are certainly "Doctors of Optometry" but not "Doctors."
Personally, I like to think of OMDs as surgical technicians. I got that from Tom Miller.
You may be correct in the states you have practiced in, but this is not true for all states. In some states, such as Washington, we are referred to as Optometric Physicians in the RCW's (laws governing the practice of optometry). Whether or not we should be called that is a debate for another thread. The truth is, I find all of this funny. I could care less if I am called doctor. I know that my patients come to me because they trust me with the health of their eyes. That's enough of an ego boost for me.
The state does not grant me the right to be called physician, because I am not a physician. Washington does not, however, require an optometrist to qualify the term doctor.What does your law say about the word doctor? That's the question: Not "optometric physician." Notice that you can't be called a physician? It's an "optometric physician" because the state won't grant you the right to be called a physician. So I would not doubt that you can't be called "doctor" either.
The state does not grant me the right to be called physician, because I am not a physician. Washington does not, however, require an optometrist to qualify the term doctor.
The state does not grant me the right to be called physician, because I am not a physician. Washington does not, however, require an optometrist to qualify the term doctor.
Anyway... Like I said... All states are different... But are you sure you can put "Dr. Ben Chudner" on your advertisements and no one will question it?
Absolutely sure. This is the whole reason behind the federal legislation to require allied health professionals to clarify their degree when using the term doctor. I have only practiced in three states (one that had this requirement already), but I am sure if only 2 states do not require clarification there would be no issue. Therefore, I assume that there are several states that do not have this requirement to qualify the term doctor. Obviously, they are the states you have not held a license in.Anyway... Like I said... All states are different... But are you sure you can put "Dr. Ben Chudner" on your advertisements and no one will question it?
The law you are referring to is actually one of the WAC's and it relates to indentification at an office location. It does not actually prohibit an optometrist from using the title doctor without qualifying it with optometry, optometrist, doctor of optometry, optometric physician, etc. Furthermore, the term eye doctor would qualify as a similar phase. I believe the point of the legislation is to make sure that the public knows that we treat conditions of the eye and not to point out that we are not MD's. Optometrists in Washington may use the term doctor without qualification on any advertisements, letterhead, Rx pads, etc.Does this mean you cannot get away with using just the word "doctor"? Looks like you have to put "doctor of optometry."
Hey guys,
I am a year 4 medical student planning on nephrology....I was reading this post as I am encouraging my wife to pursue optometry as a career other than nursing....I guess maybe I am alone in respect for your field. However, some people truly are confused by the "doctor" designation. I have seen it with numerous DOs in the hospitals.
I wish all the best in the future-
After 27 Years (if you count Med School) in this business, the pecking order over who "is a doctor" and who is one "depending on who you ask" still strikes me as silly and affected as it did as a student. I have always looked some what askew at physicians (Usually M.D. but often enough D.O.s) who grasp this man made "cloak or title" that (particularly in their own minds" sets them apart from the herd. Often with the fervor and intensity Saints in the Middle Ages embraced Roman Catholic dogma.. For some guys that identity means oh so much. It sets them apart from the rest of the lemmings.) It has always appeared to me that folks want to be (or at least want to be perceived to be), one rung higher on the **** pile than the rest of the herd. I guess that basic "Truth" of human nature doomed Communism about the same time the ink was drying on Karl Marx's Manifesto. It's the same line of thinking that motivated some members of the Enid Oklahoma Country Club (back i the early 80s when I was there on clinical rotation as an Osteopathic Medical student), to comport themselves with a lofty patrician air that would have worn well on a member of the House of Windsor or a Romanov.)
In the Movie "Barry Lyndon" the offscreen commentator says somethig to the effect that the charactors thus depicted lived and died in the 18th and 19th Centuries in England and Ireland. "Kings and Queens, Lords and peasants, they are all equal now." When all of us make that sad last jouney to "Boot Hill" with that long faced padre at the rear droning on out of the New Testament, from that point on I doubt the "doctor" thing will mean a hell of a lot..LOL anyone will much care if a guy was or was not called "Doctor". Sorry for the rant, I came upon this topic after a considerable abount of Scotch so of course had put in my 2 cents in with a post which has little to do with the thread. God bless...all here.)
I'm a Glenfiddich man myself, I find the 12yr has a headier "peat" then the 18yr. Thanks for your interesting contribution.
After 27 Years (if you count Med School) in this business, the pecking order over who "is a doctor" and who is one "depending on who you ask" still strikes me as silly and affected as it did as a student. I have always looked some what askew at physicians (Usually M.D. but often enough D.O.s) who grasp this man made "cloak or title" that (particularly in their own minds" sets them apart from the herd. Often with the fervor and intensity Saints in the Middle Ages embraced Roman Catholic dogma.. For some guys that identity means oh so much. It sets them apart from the rest of the lemmings.) It has always appeared to me that folks want to be (or at least want to be perceived to be), one rung higher on the **** pile than the rest of the herd. I guess that basic "Truth" of human nature doomed Communism about the same time the ink was drying on Karl Marx's Manifesto. It's the same line of thinking that motivated some members of the Enid Oklahoma Country Club (back i the early 80s when I was there on clinical rotation as an Osteopathic Medical student), to comport themselves with a lofty patrician air that would have worn well on a member of the House of Windsor or a Romanov.)
In the Movie "Barry Lyndon" the offscreen commentator says somethig to the effect that the charactors thus depicted lived and died in the 18th and 19th Centuries in England and Ireland. "Kings and Queens, Lords and peasants, they are all equal now." When all of us make that sad last jouney to "Boot Hill" with that long faced padre at the rear droning on out of the New Testament, from that point on I doubt the "doctor" thing will mean a hell of a lot..LOL anyone will much care if a guy was or was not called "Doctor". Sorry for the rant, I came upon this topic after a considerable abount of Scotch so of course had put in my 2 cents in with a post which has little to do with the thread. God bless...all here.)
who cares? If I wanted to be a "real doctor" I wouldve gone to med school. I wanted to be an optometrist. I am offended by people in our profession who want so badly to make us into MDs that they try to push confusing terms like Optometric physician etc.. It just annoys the crap out of me. If you wanted to be called a physician you shouldve gone the MD route. That is like a cardiologist for my father introducing himself "I am Dr Klim..I am part of the cardiac surgery team". No M(*@#erF@#@er you are a cardiologist. Why are you trying to mislead people? Be proud of what you trained to be. So annoying...
who cares? If I wanted to be a "real doctor" I wouldve gone to med school. I wanted to be an optometrist. I am offended by people in our profession who want so badly to make us into MDs that they try to push confusing terms like Optometric physician etc.. It just annoys the crap out of me. If you wanted to be called a physician you shouldve gone the MD route. That is like a cardiologist for my father introducing himself "I am Dr Klim..I am part of the cardiac surgery team". No M(*@#erF@#@er you are a cardiologist. Why are you trying to mislead people? Be proud of what you trained to be. So annoying...