Healthcare workers switching dialect with older white patients?

[Poit]

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Maybe this is just a Midwest thing, but has anybody noticed how healthcare workers switch to that Sarah Palin, Little-House-on-the-Prairie dialect when working with older white patients? "I don't want to be rushing you out of here" suddenly becomes "I don't wanna be rushin' ya outta here, don't cha know, you betcha". I don't want to talk like that.

 

[ortnakas]

So, don't?

I've never observed this.

 

[radsisrad]

Truly fascinating OP

 

[evilbooyaa]

OP creates just the best threads ever.

Idk if you're trolling or what, OP.

And no, never noticed that.

 

[Mad Jack]

Maybe this is just a Midwest thing, but has anybody noticed how healthcare workers switch to that Sarah Palin, Little-House-on-the-Prairie dialect when working with older white patients? "I don't want to be rushing you out of here" suddenly becomes "I don't wanna be rushin' ya outta here, don't cha know, you betcha". I don't want to talk like that.

5 years plus of school and premed. Countless hours. Board studying for months. Sweat, blood, and tears...

All of that and this is what you have chosen to post

Look upon your works, op, and feel shame

 

[Save a life]

I have actually seen this before. The attending switched to a southern dialect with certain patients. She said that certain patients appreciated it and she was from Louisana and that’s how she spoke when she lived there.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

OP creates just the best threads ever.

Idk if you're trolling or what, OP.

And no, never noticed that.

Really? I do it myself at times.

 

[Poit]

5 years plus of school and premed. Countless hours. Board studying for months. Sweat, blood, and tears...

All of that and this is what you have chosen to post

Look upon your works, op, and feel shame

This hit home. I'm just a bored 4th year with nothing to do but play Halo, write my novel and post on sdn. After I posted this, I trudged into the bathroom, leaned over the sink, stared at myself in the mirror and muttered, "Why? What have you become?".

 

[thegreengreatdragon]

I definitely do this and not just with patients.
I talk with a very unremarkable, run-of-the-mill American accent. However, I grew up in a weird place: my hometown is an affluent university town where most people talk like me; however, you drive out of town in any direction about 15 minutes, and you hit rural areas where everyone talks with a definite drawl. I switch between the two effortlessly and subconsciously. When I meet someone with that drawl (or really any drawl), or, often, as OP says, older white people, my accent changes, as does my manner to a certain extent.

 

[deleted645092]

I don’t really notice any change with specific patients but I have noticed that we all take on this weird louder than usual voice and articulate our words more precisely than is necessary in general when speaking to patients, especially hospitalized ones. Nobody is innocent of it either.

 

[Poit]

I don’t really notice any change with specific patients but I have noticed that we all take on this weird louder than usual voice and articulate our words more precisely than is necessary in general when speaking to patients, especially hospitalized ones. Nobody is innocent of it either.

Oh yeah, this too. The exaggerated volume for anybody who looks like they might be older than 50. Maybe this is what makes the "HOW ARE YA FEELIN' TODAY" even more noticeable as they come flying out of every room I walk by.

 

[JustPaws]

There's a term for this I believe "Code-switching: process of shifting from one linguistic code (a language or dialect) to another, depending on the social context or conversational setting." (Britannica.com)
NPR has a great podcast/segment about it in all kinds of situations

 

[Chibucks15]

Oh yeah, this too. The exaggerated volume for anybody who looks like they might be older than 50. Maybe this is what makes the "HOW ARE YA FEELIN' TODAY" even more noticeable as they come flying out of every room I walk by.

orrr maybe lots of older people of all races tend to be a little more hard of hearing so it makes communication easier. You're looking into something that isn't there...

 

[deleted645092]

orrr maybe lots of older people of all races tend to be a little more hard of hearing so it makes communication easier. You're looking into something that isn't there...

If you pay attention to it you’ll see that it’s every patient, not just the elderly.

 

[Goro]

Maybe this is just a Midwest thing, but has anybody noticed how healthcare workers switch to that Sarah Palin, Little-House-on-the-Prairie dialect when working with older white patients? "I don't want to be rushing you out of here" suddenly becomes "I don't wanna be rushin' ya outta here, don't cha know, you betcha". I don't want to talk like that.

My mom was an antiques dealer, and drove all over the country to find merchandise. And sure enough, when she was in New England, her NY accent disappeared and became a New England one, and when she was in the South, she started sounding like Paula Deen. In the Midwest, she sounded like your typical Hoosier farmer.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

You know it’s funny... I’m not from the south, but I magically switch into “y’all” when talking to patient families. For some reason, I’ve seen that particular accent soothe them and connect with them. No idea why.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[MCATISEZ]

It’s normal for some people. I often switch my accent when I’m talking to my family or those with what would be my native accent.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Lexdiamondz]

There's a term for this I believe "Code-switching: process of shifting from one linguistic code (a language or dialect) to another, depending on the social context or conversational setting." (Britannica.com)
NPR has a great podcast/segment about it in all kinds of situations

Exactly this.

The vast majority of people code-switch to some degree. Due to differences in regionalisms, generational slang, etc for the most part we don't talk the same way in a professional context that we do in a private or casual context, we don't talk to our peers the way we talk to our elders, and we generally tend to talk to people from our home region differently and with a stronger local accent than we do people from outta town.

 

[deleted407021]

It’s not that dramatic a difference, but being in the south I might let a little more twang seep into my voice when trying to build rapport with some old country boy from Colquitt County, or whatever.

 

[Bacchus]

I do this, not just with my elderly patients. Growing up Pennsylvania Dutch, I will often catch myself using this dialect with patients whom have a heavy accent. My regular dialect is hard to describe but influenced by 8 years of living in PHL.

 

[Psai]