Last Name

[J ROD]

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When we all get to be physicians, would you all like to be called by your last name like on House, M.D.?

I kind of like it. Like Smith get over here; instead of hey John or Dr. Smith your patient is coding....

 

[Jolie South]

you could always join the military. people will definitely call you by your last name there.

 

[vadd0]

My first name is probably faster to say because it has two syllables verses three. Although it's still a bit away before I have to worry about that.

 

[rama kandra]

I think you can generally tell people what you'd like to be called in any profession.

 

[Bacchus]

I won't be using my last name...it will scare patients away.

 

[Charles English]

you could always join the military. people will definitely call you by your last name there.

yup. a little over fours years of people calling me by my last name...most didn't even know what my first name was. i think i will take the 'Dr.' in front of things in the future... too many memories.... *shudders*

but yeah, let me know years from now...i'll call you whatever you want as long as you get yer A** over here when i do... yuk yuk yuk

 

[Captain Fantastic]

I insist that I be called "Captain Fantastic" by everyone. I think it sets the appropriate tone.

 

[fizzle]

I don't want to be called "Doctor." It sounds pretentious for me for some reason, even if I am one. What's wrong with just my name?

 

[Insulinshock]

I think I will demand to be called by my freshman football nickname given to me by the senior football players (it was a tradition of sorts at our HS) back in the day.

"Dr. Buttw*ore"

no joke .. it sounds similar to my last name so thats where they got it from, and even i though it was amusingly creatively sick.

 

[Tired]

It depends what situation you're talking about:

When you are a resident, you will call your attendings "Dr. _____" unless they insist otherwise. You will be called by your first name, or if in a surgical field, by a rude offensive nickname.

With your fellow residents, you will likely go by first names or nicknames. I recommend initially calling your senior residents "Dr. ______" but that won't likely last, except maybe with the Chiefs.

When you introduce yourself to patients, it is crucial that you introduce yourself as "Doctor". Patients don't want to be your friend, they want to have confidence in you. Introducing yourself with you title will make your role clear, and inspire trust from your patients. Nurses will introduce themselves by their first name, and will likely also wear scrubs and white coats. You don't want to be confused with a nurse. I highly recommend you call your patients "Mr. ______" or "Ms. _______" to be proper.

Personally, I refuse to go by first names with nursing and allied health. On the other hand, I recognize that introducing yourself as "Doctor" is considered somewhat pretentious. I introduce myself by my last name only. What you do is your business, but I tend not to like to get too friendly with them.

And remember, only a douche registers at hotels and restaurants as "Doctor".

 

[Jolie South]

It depends what situation you're talking about:

When you are a resident, you will call your attendings "Dr. _____" unless they insist otherwise. You will be called by your first name, or if in a surgical field, by a rude offensive nickname.

With your fellow residents, you will likely go by first names or nicknames. I recommend initially calling your senior residents "Dr. ______" but that won't likely last, except maybe with the Chiefs.

When you introduce yourself to patients, it is crucial that you introduce yourself as "Doctor". Patients don't want to be your friend, they want to have confidence in you. Introducing yourself with you title will make your role clear, and inspire trust from your patients. Nurses will introduce themselves by their first name, and will likely also wear scrubs and white coats. You don't want to be confused with a nurse. I highly recommend you call your patients "Mr. ______" or "Ms. _______" to be proper.

Personally, I refuse to go by first names with nursing and allied health. On the other hand, I recognize that introducing yourself as "Doctor" is considered somewhat pretentious. I introduce myself by my last name only. What you do is your business, but I tend not to like to get too friendly with them.

And remember, only a douche registers at hotels and restaurants as "Doctor".

That was a very helpful response.

 

[RoyBasch]

When we all get to be physicians, would you all like to be called by your last name like on House, M.D.?

I kind of like it. Like Smith get over here; instead of hey John or Dr. Smith your patient is coding....

Heh if you join a sports team they will call you by your last name 😀
-Roy

 

[funkydrmonkey]

No one can pronounce my first name or my last name... too many Q's without U's...so it does not matter...

 

[Forthegood]

Doesn't matter if they call you by your first name or not... if you are a prick to work with, they will think your pretentious either way.

And it sounds easy to be friendly and nice to everyone now... but really Tired is the only one here who knows how easy that actually is. I'll bet its more difficult than we expect with the fatigue, frustrations, insurance companies etc.

 

[Rooni]

After years of getting called bizarre things by telemarketers, I've come to the conclusion that nobody can pronounce my last name. I'll probably end up getting called "Mac" by anybody who prefers last names.

 

[Myuu]

No one can pronounce my first name or my last name... too many Q's without U's...so it does not matter...

Pfft, your first name's not _that_ hard. 👍

Unless I'm saying it wrong...

 

[variablistic]

I'm not sure what I'll end up going by. My last name has a few too many a's for most people to pronounce correctly after about the 20th try.

 

[JStephens]

Ill likely go by my first name. My last name will have the patients running in fear. :-/

 

[Lukkie]

No one can pronounce my first name or my last name... too many Q's without U's...so it does not matter...

don't lie - your last name is patel.

 

[UofM527]

When we all get to be physicians, would you all like to be called by your last name like on House, M.D.?

I kind of like it. Like Smith get over here; instead of hey John or Dr. Smith your patient is coding....

I mean, I have no idea how things will eventually work out...but am I the only one here who is almost surprised by the fact that someone seemingly hasn't had this experience yet?? I'm pretty sure my last name has been what most people have called me for half my life...if it happens again it won't be THAT cool

 

[Abulcasis]

I insist that I be called "Captain Fantastic" by everyone. I think it sets the appropriate tone.

"Captain Fantastic, there's an emergency in room 203"

 

[JackInTheBox]

I won't be using my last name...it will scare patients away.

What is it, Kevorkian?

 

[Abulcasis]

I won't be using my last name...it will scare patients away.

Would that matter with a pretty face like yours?

Ooo yeah, I went there 😎

 

[rowerlauren]

I already get called by my last name and other nicknames of it all the time... despite my last name being more difficult and longer than my first name.

I won't mind sticking to it at all.

 

[HeatherMD]

I don't really care.. I wouldn't want to be addressed as just "doctor" though.

If I go through with family medicine I would like to be no a first-name basis with my patients.

My last name can be used as a first name also, and people mix the two ALL THE TIME, so I'm used to hearing it as well

 

[armybound]

I wouldn't want to be called just my last name. Dr. Bound would be fine. With anyone who's a physician or whom I am casual with, my first name will be fine. As mentioned before, I'll introduce myself as Dr. Bound to patients, but probably not anyone else, unless responding to a page ("This is Dr. Bound, I was paged?")

I know more doctors who get mad when you call them Doctor ___ than when you don't. Most seem to prefer their first name.

 

[variablistic]

I wouldn't want to be called just my last name. Dr. Bound would be fine. With anyone who's a physician or whom I am casual with, my first name will be fine. As mentioned before, I'll introduce myself as Dr. Bound to patients, but probably not anyone else, unless responding to a page ("This is Dr. Bound, I was paged?")

I know more doctors who get mad when you call them Doctor ___ than when you don't. Most seem to prefer their first name.

I've noticed that the surgeons I work with generally call each other by their first names, but the nurses address them as Dr., unless they're a resident, at which point, it's their first name and nothing else. It's a rather interesting dynamic. Nobody cares calling the resident "John" but god help you if you call Dr. Bound, "Army."

 

[Oxygen206]

Someday I will have an Asian last name (probably Chan) but I am completely white...it'll probably lead to some strange looks from people when a white lady comes in saying, "Hi, I'm Dr. Chan.."

 

[Jolie South]

Someday I will have an Asian last name (probably Chan) but I am completely white...it'll probably lead to some strange looks from people when a white lady comes in saying, "Hi, I'm Dr. Chan.."

part of the reason why I didn't change my last name. . .

me - one of the whitest people you'll ever meet
my husband's last name - very, very African

I'd get some weird looks I'm sure. 🙂

 

[Oxygen206]

part of the reason why I didn't change my last name. . .

me - one of the whitest people you'll ever meet
my husband's last name - very, very African

I'd get some weird looks I'm sure. 🙂

haha that would be awesome!

I was just always worried about asian people wanting to see an asian doctor and coming to see me and being like, "you no Chinese! You fake!"

Or the other way around, patients not wanting to see me for fear of an accent

Only problem is I can't wait to get rid of my last time...it's so...so...JEW. Ugh.

 

[Flushot]

It depends what situation you're talking about:

When you are a resident, you will call your attendings "Dr. _____" unless they insist otherwise. You will be called by your first name, or if in a surgical field, by a rude offensive nickname.

With your fellow residents, you will likely go by first names or nicknames. I recommend initially calling your senior residents "Dr. ______" but that won't likely last, except maybe with the Chiefs.

When you introduce yourself to patients, it is crucial that you introduce yourself as "Doctor". Patients don't want to be your friend, they want to have confidence in you. Introducing yourself with you title will make your role clear, and inspire trust from your patients. Nurses will introduce themselves by their first name, and will likely also wear scrubs and white coats. You don't want to be confused with a nurse. I highly recommend you call your patients "Mr. ______" or "Ms. _______" to be proper.

Personally, I refuse to go by first names with nursing and allied health. On the other hand, I recognize that introducing yourself as "Doctor" is considered somewhat pretentious. I introduce myself by my last name only. What you do is your business, but I tend not to like to get too friendly with them.

And remember, only a douche registers at hotels and restaurants as "Doctor".

Very helpful, although could I clarify one thing?

When you introduce yourself to a new nurse, you just say your last name and no more? Could they confuse this with your first unless they see your badge/coat?