How To Address Other "Doctors"

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
D

DetroitRocket

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
Messages
33
Reaction score
1
Members do not see this ad.
There are so many health professions that now offer doctorates, that it seems confusing in a hospital setting. There are DPT(physical therapy), OTD(occupational therapy), PharmD(pharmacy), DNP(nursing), Au.D(Audiology), (PhD/PsyD)Psychology......

My question is, do I address all of these people as doctor? If I call a physical therapist "doctor" in front of a patient, isn't it confusing for the patient?
 
DetroitRocket said:
There are so many health professions that now offer doctorates, that it seems confusing in a hospital setting. There are DPT(physical therapy), OTD(occupational therapy), PharmD(pharmacy), DNP(nursing), Au.D(Audiology), (PhD/PsyD)Psychology......

My question is, do I address all of these people as doctor? If I call a physical therapist "doctor" in front of a patient, isn't it confusing for the patient?
Click to expand...

Anyone with a doctorate has the right to be called a doctor, although common practice dictates that none of these people would be referred to as 'Dr,' save maybe the psychologist
 
If an individual has earned a doctorate, it is appropriate to address him/her as "Doctor" unless (s)he specifically requests that you do otherwise.

As for patient confusion, certainly it would be appropriate to explain the difference should the need arise. However, if you acquire the habit of habitually butting in after Dr. Smith introduces himself and saying, "Dr. Smith is a doctor of psychology, not a medical doctor like I am," you can bet that you will not win many friends among Dr. Smith and his acquaintances. 🙄
 
DetroitRocket said:
There are so many health professions that now offer doctorates, that it seems confusing in a hospital setting. There are DPT(physical therapy), OTD(occupational therapy), PharmD(pharmacy), DNP(nursing), Au.D(Audiology), (PhD/PsyD)Psychology......

My question is, do I address all of these people as doctor? If I call a physical therapist "doctor" in front of a patient, isn't it confusing for the patient?
Click to expand...

So what's your point? So what if the patient is confused? As long as each person is doing his or her job as described it shouldn't matter at all.
 
DetroitRocket said:
There are so many health professions that now offer doctorates, that it seems confusing in a hospital setting. There are DPT(physical therapy), OTD(occupational therapy), PharmD(pharmacy), DNP(nursing), Au.D(Audiology), (PhD/PsyD)Psychology......

My question is, do I address all of these people as doctor? If I call a physical therapist "doctor" in front of a patient, isn't it confusing for the patient?
Click to expand...

Even Dr Dre gets to be called "doctor" so why not.
 
I agree, they have earned the right to be called doctor. However, I have known many PhD's that do not want to be called doctor. That is in academia though, so I don't know if it applies. I don't think it really matters for the patient as far as confusion goes. If the need arises, as said before, the difference can be explained.
 
DetroitRocket said:
There are so many health professions that now offer doctorates, that it seems confusing in a hospital setting. There are DPT(physical therapy), OTD(occupational therapy), PharmD(pharmacy), DNP(nursing), Au.D(Audiology), (PhD/PsyD)Psychology......

My question is, do I address all of these people as doctor? If I call a physical therapist "doctor" in front of a patient, isn't it confusing for the patient?
Click to expand...

Usually Dr. ___________ works.
 
lol at Dr. Dre
 
As more and more programs start to offer doctoral degrees in healthcare related fields this debate is not so cut and dry. There is a fair number of individuals who believe that in a hospital or clinical setting no one other than a medical doctor(MD, DO) or doctors of dentistry should be referred to as "Doctor." There was even a House Bill proposed to prohibit anyone other than medical and dental doctors to refer to themselves as doctors in any situation that may mislead a patient. Some people interpret this bill as stating that in a hospital when patients are constantly being talked to by many different clinicians to avoid confusion only medical doctors should refer to themselves as doctors. I am not sure what happened to the bill, but I am sure this issue will continue to spark debate as more and more doctoral degrees make it into mainstream medicine.
 
Anyone who have earned a doctorate degree earned the right to be called a 'doctor' in this country.
 
My last 3 OB/gyns have been NPs. Something I didn't realize until late in my relationships with them. And even once I realized it - since I couldn't figure out what the hell else to call them I just continued to act like I thought they were doctors. They never seemed to care - I'm sure it happens a lot.
 
alwaysaangel said:
My last 3 OB/gyns have been NPs. Something I didn't realize until late in my relationships with them. And even once I realized it - since I couldn't figure out what the hell else to call them I just continued to act like I thought they were doctors. They never seemed to care - I'm sure it happens a lot.
Click to expand...

Well, of course they didn't care. But I think as a patient I would. I have a lot of respect for nurses and other health care practitioners, but I still don't think it is correct to mislead the patients.

If in the whole time you visited them they never corrected you, then, that's misleading.
 
You can't really call anyone with a doctorate 'doctor.' JD's are never called doctor, and I think they may even be prohibited by the board from calling themselves doctor (heard that from someone who's mom is a lawyer, not sure if it's true).

My mom has a pharmD, and she never calls herself doctor nor does anyone else she knows with a pharmD.

All I know is PhDs and MDs and DOs and DDSs or DMDs are called doctors and the first of those is never really referred to as doctor without their name following.

What is common with everything else? Do people with those degrees call themselves doctor?
 
You can't really call anyone with a doctorate 'doctor.' JD's are never called doctor, and I think they may even be prohibited by the board from calling themselves doctor (heard that from someone whose mom is a lawyer, not sure if it's true).

My mom has a pharmD, and she never calls herself doctor nor does anyone else she knows with a pharmD.

All I know is PhDs and MDs and DOs and DDSs or DMDs are called doctors and the first of those is never really referred to as doctor without their name following.

What is common with everything else? Do people with those degrees call themselves doctor?
 
hra87 said:
You can't really call anyone with a doctorate 'doctor.' JD's are never called doctor, and I think they may even be prohibited by the board from calling themselves doctor (heard that from someone who's mom is a lawyer, not sure if it's true).

My mom has a pharmD, and she never calls herself doctor nor does anyone else she knows with a pharmD.

All I know is PhDs and MDs and DOs and DDSs or DMDs are called doctors and the first of those is never really referred to as doctor without their name following.

What is common with everything else? Do people with those degrees call themselves doctor?
Click to expand...
I know someone with a PharmD who calls herself doctor. It never even occured to me that that might be incorrect. Is it typical for them not to call themselves doctor? How odd. I figure they have more of a right to calling themselves doctor than others who may call themslves that in a clinical setting.
 
baylormed said:
Well, of course they didn't care. But I think as a patient I would. I have a lot of respect for nurses and other health care practitioners, but I still don't think it is correct to mislead the patients.
Click to expand...

Well of course its not right to mislead patients. They never mislead me, they introduced themselves by first and last name. Then I didn't know what to call them and went with doctor.

As a patient I can't say I care. MD or NP the person is going to give me my annual, prescribe my BC and answer any questions. Same difference in my mind.

I guess I've just never been big on titles. A guy chewed out one of my coworkers because some titles were wrong on some letters and I couldn't help but giggle. Anyone who honestly cares that much has some self-esteem issues (I'm not saying you or anyone here does - but a lot of people, especially professors, do).
 
Personally I never address anyone other than physicians and psychologists as "doctor" in a clinical setting. But then again I fully intend to introduce myself with "Hello, I'm Steve -------------, I'll be the physician handling your case", so my opinion might be off because my point of view is a little skewed. :laugh:
 
DropkickMurphy said:
Personally I never address anyone other than physicians and psychologists as "doctor" in a clinical setting. But then again I fully intend to introduce myself with "Hello, I'm Steve -------------, I'll be the physician handling your case", so my opinion might be off because my point of view is a little skewed. :laugh:
Click to expand...


It's not too skewed, me don't thinks. I haven't seen any of the docs where I work introduce themselves as I'm Dr. Blah Blather.

I got weirded out the other day because a doctor I hadn't met yet, who wasn't wearing a white coat, walked up and said, "Hi, I haven't met you. I'm Larry." Not knowing he was a doctor, I shook his hand and said, "Hi Larry, I'm ____." Later, I found out he was a doctor. :scared: :laugh: That's why he looked at me weird.

I guess there will be a premed hanging soon. 🙁
 
It's not too skewed, me don't thinks. I haven't seen any of the docs where I work introduce themselves as I'm Dr. Blah Blather.
Click to expand...
A lot of the ED and ICU docs I've worked with do that, as do many of the FP docs I've seen. I'm not sure why.

I guess there will be a premed hanging soon.
Click to expand...
I doubt that. :laugh: I think it was an honest mistake and if he introduced himself with his first name, he shouldn't expect you to address him with anything else. :laugh:
 
DetroitRocket said:
There are so many health professions that now offer doctorates, that it seems confusing in a hospital setting. There are DPT(physical therapy), OTD(occupational therapy), PharmD(pharmacy), DNP(nursing), Au.D(Audiology), (PhD/PsyD)Psychology......

My question is, do I address all of these people as doctor? If I call a physical therapist "doctor" in front of a patient, isn't it confusing for the patient?
Click to expand...
OP, you can't ever go wrong by asking the person what they would like to be called. I always ask people to call me by my first name when they call me doctor. (I am a PhD.) In a clinical context, I do not think it is appropriate for anyone to call me doctor since I'm a medical student. But even in other contexts (for example, when I teach), I always ask people to call me by my first name because I prefer that. I think that in general PhDs are more likely to go by their first names than by their titles in comparison to MDs. It's a very different culture, as someone else already mentioned. There is definitely still a part of me that starts looking around for the REAL doctor whenever someone refers to ME as "Doctor." :laugh:
 
etf said:
in england surgeons are referred to as "mister". that's cool.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's sort of random. My uncle was mentioning how a British surgeon was introduced as 'doctor' at a conference, and how the surgeon had a fit. He wanted to be called 'mister' and not be given the 'lowly' title of 'doctor.'
 
undrcovrgunner said:
Yeah, it's sort of random. My uncle was mentioning how a British surgeon was introduced as 'doctor' at a conference, and how the surgeon had a fit. He wanted to be called 'mister' and not be given the 'lowly' title of 'doctor.'
Click to expand...
"That's Sir Jack Pomposity, you cheeky twit.....get it right or don't speak to me. In fact don't even look at me." :meanie:
 
I think that in general PhDs are more likely to go by their first names than by their titles in comparison to MDs. It's a very different culture, as someone else already mentioned.
Click to expand...

Actually I've seen more PhD's (particularly in the biological sciences, sociology and history) throw hissy fits over not being addressed as doctor than I have physicians. Granted, it's anecdotal and only my opinion, but the only people who I think are more likely to whine when someone forgets to point out they have earned a doctoral degree are chiropractors. :laugh:
 
One of my friends I met about a year and a half ago told me his dad was a doctor.

Took me a few months to figure out his dad was a pharmacist :laugh:
 
Here's another one:

In elementary school, I had a substitute teacher who we always referred to as Dr. ____.

He was a chiropractor.
 
AlphaQUp said:
One of my friends I met about a year and a half ago told me his dad was a doctor.

Took me a few months to figure out his dad was a pharmacist :laugh:
Click to expand...

That's what I mean when I say misleading. People know what you are thinking when they say "doctor" and they let you believe it.

When I talk about my dad's profession I say "he is a dentist". I never say "he's a doctor" even though it's technically true, because I know what people are going to assume by the word "doctor."
 
AlphaQUp said:
Here's another one:

In elementary school, I had a substitute teacher who we always referred to as Dr. ____.

He was a chiropractor.
Click to expand...

Yet he was working as a substitute teacher. Isn't being a chiropractor decently paid?
 
In the real world (post residency), if you are an MD, almost everyone save for very senior surgeon-types gets addressed by their first name so the issue is really moot.
 
Do you all think an optometrist should be allowed to call him or herself Dr?
 
They can have "doctor." I always wanted to be called "your majesty" anyways.
 
Jacks Mannequin said:
They can have "doctor." I always wanted to be called "your majesty" anyways.
Click to expand...
👍 What's funny is I got yelled at by my fire chief for telling the two exchange students who were joining the department that they had to address me as "Your excellency" because I was their immediate superior. Apparently they didn't realize I was joking about that.......now I wasn't kidding about the blood oath in German where they swear personal allegiance to me above all others. :meanie:
 
Ladyfingers said:
I agree, they have earned the right to be called doctor. However, I have known many PhD's that do not want to be called doctor. That is in academia though, so I don't know if it applies. I don't think it really matters for the patient as far as confusion goes. If the need arises, as said before, the difference can be explained.
Click to expand...

my bf told me how one nurse in his hospital (he's a first year resident) refused to respond to him when he called her nurse. He finds out later that apparently the lady has a PhD in Music or something, and therefore is adamant on being called Dr ____ and would not respond to anything else. I guess people just have superiority complexes.
 
DropkickMurphy said:
Actually I've seen more PhD's (particularly in the biological sciences, sociology and history) throw hissy fits over not being addressed as doctor than I have physicians. Granted, it's anecdotal and only my opinion, but the only people who I think are more likely to whine when someone forgets to point out they have earned a doctoral degree are chiropractors. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Well, my degree is in physical science (chemistry), so maybe it's different than other fields. I don't know. But I can tell you that at my med school, I call most of the (biological science) PhD instructors by their first names, but only a few of the MDs.
 
amathew said:
my bf told me how one nurse in his hospital (he's a first year resident) refused to respond to him when he called her nurse. He finds out later that apparently the lady has a PhD in Music or something, and therefore is adamant on being called Dr ____ and would not respond to anything else. I guess people just have superiority complexes.
Click to expand...

Always be suspicious of people that feel the need to announce their title in a context that doesn't require it.
 
the PI I work with prefers her first name. Usually, when a student addresses a prof, they call them just that - prof.

I noticed that lots of profs call each other "doctor" when referring/talking to each other with students around. The students then pick up the habit. But as stated above, those with PhDs, MDs, etc deserve to be called doctor. Although I prefer the first name basis.

*btw, QofQuimica, I just now realized what your avatar means. I always glance at it when you post and was always a little confused and didn't quite understand it, but I just realized 30 seconds ago what the hell was going on. Its very clever.
 
baylormed said:
That's what I mean when I say misleading. People know what you are thinking when they say "doctor" and they let you believe it.
Click to expand...

To make it even more misleading, he also mentioned how his dad did his residency at such and such hospital.

Who knew pharmacists could do a residency?
 
This is an interesting discussion...I have a PharmD and am currently a resident (yep, we do have residencies and fellowships, as mentioned above =-) ) When I see patients in clinic, I introduce myself by my first name followed by, "I'm one of the pharmacists here." I think I would do this regardless of which degree I had simply because I am more comfortable without the title (and I agree that it can be confusing to patients!) Sometimes patients ask about my degree/training and I just explain what a PharmD /resident means, and emphasize that I am a pharmacist. The only people to ever refer to me as "Dr" (other than friends joking around) are students. As a resident, I do some teaching/precepting and the younger students refer to everyone as "Dr." Although it does feel weird, I can understand why in an academic setting it is sometimes preferred (we grade them, etc.)..though I would rather use my first name all of the time...
As for my colleagues, I have seen PharmDs mostly use their first names (can only really think of 1 or 2 that use "Dr.") Whenever I am introduced to other professionals (physicians, pharmacists, etc) with a doctorate, I refer to them as "Dr." so and so until asked to do otherwise just in case. Most often I am told to call them by their first name.
 
Law2Doc said:
My bad. (Although it's no worse than the suggestion of calling all surgeons "mister"). Let's go with the Bobbie Sue/Billy Bob tandem instead :laugh:
Click to expand...

well, when i'm a hot-shot surgeon i'm going to insist that people call me "hey you". only acceptable alternative would be "hey you there", and only if they are pointing to me as i am in a group.
 
When addressing these other "doctors", you can call them doctor and then follow it with a little chuckle. Or, you can call them "doctor" while using your hands to make the "quotation marks" gesture. LOL.
 
gary5 said:
When addressing these other "doctors", you can call them doctor and then follow it with a little chuckle. Or, you can call them "doctor" while using your hands to make the "quotation marks" gesture. LOL.
Click to expand...
HA. That is priceless.

Honestly though. In the hospital, patients confuse people for doctors if they are wearing a scrubs or a white coat, long or small. Calling other folks doctor in the clinical setting would add another layer of confusion. Honestly,I don't care what my patients call me, but a lot of trust is given when the title "doctor" is thrown around in the hospital,and it should be used carefully.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
Messed up Address
Replies
1
Views
339
wysdoc
wysdoc
P
Help with how to address one of the OHSU prompts
Replies
0
Views
969
pleasehelpme12
P
D
The "other" essay
Replies
11
Views
905
CDaFutureDocMan
C
jakewagmin
Should I address the dip in my GPA?
Replies
6
Views
626
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
pinkbowbunny
How to shadow a psychiatrist?
Replies
2
Views
443
LizzyM
LizzyM
Top