Ken,
There is no simple answer to your question. You're asking a group of educated human beings why respect is important to us. Is there a true answer to this question? No. Why? Because we are all different, from different backgrounds, ethnicities, races, cultures, schools, states, etc. We all have some things in common, and perhaps our desire to be respected is one of them.
Professionally, each one of us wants to feel we made the right choice by selecting the profession we did. We spent a great deal of time and money to prepare for a career in health care. We want others to recognize our efforts by acknowledging the importance of what we do and what we did to get to do what we do.
No matter how mature we think we are, each one of us compared ourselves to others, our significant others to others, our schools to other schools, our grades to other students' grades, our possessions to the possessions of friends, and the prestige of our careers to the careers of others. It's human nature to compare. In the OD surg residency post, I made reference to the jealous child syndrome. This is no different.
When I was in medical school, I thought my you-know-what didn't stink and I thought I was in the best profession. The girl I was dating left me for a guy who finished his MBA from some Ivy school and was making six figures. I was humbled quickly. Some flunky with a mere master's (and non-science related at that) is making six big ones while I'm studying pathophys and pharmacology with no social life, no money, etc. Then I heard about his new BMW while I drove my broken down Camry around campus. Yeah, comparison is natural and so is seeking approval.
The biggest trend I see on SDN is "doctoritis". Every single one of these professions (allo, osteo, dental, opto, vet, pharm, pod, psych, and now PTs and audios) want to be doctors. These kids want that title, that white coat, and by God, that will make them respected by others. WRONG. If you want the respect and admiration of your patients/clients/co-workers, friends, colleagues, peers, whoever, you must earn it. You do this by taking pride in your work and doing it well. You achieve respect and admiration by treating all people the way you wish to be treated. You don't get respect by belittling other people or their chosen professions. You don't respect by being a pompous tool calling yourself Dr. So-and-so to everyone, appending your degree after your name everywhere, and wearing your white coat into the store to impress others. Be nice to people, act like you would normally act around everyone (with some social adjustments).
Just go to other forums (fora) on SDN. Do a search under "doctor" or "real doctor" and see what you get.
-- Are ODs real doctors?
-- Can PharmDs be called Dr.?
-- DPTs calling themselves Dr..
-- The DNP "dr nurse"
WHO CARES? SO FREAKIN WHAT? If it's not your career, why do you care? Is that title so freakin important? Is that why some of you are going into opto or med or dentistry, so you can be called Dr.? You can buy a doctorate online for 100 bucks and not go through years of misery if that's all you want. NOBODY CARES about your title!
The next trend you see on SDN is "HOW MUCH MONEY WILL I MAKE!" Well, if you're going into a profession, you should have an inkling of your student loan debt, the length of your educational requirements, and your projected post grad income. It shouldn't be a shock to some that dentists make a heap right after D school, pharms make a good living right out of school, and vets make jack squat 10 years after being in practice. I don't care if you're an MSPT or DPT, a PT will not make much money in life. I don't care if you have a PhD from Harvard in clinical psych, most psychologists will never earn as much as a psychiatrist who went to the University of Bangalore and got an MBBS. So what? How much money you make, or could make, should not be the reason you are doing what you're doing. It's part of it, but if that's your only reason...then...you will fail.
Another trend: who's profession is superior? Of course, the allos think they are God because in the US, we put medicine up on the top of the health care hierarchy. For all of you med students, did you know in most countries in Europe, a physician is considered to be a mere "body mechanic" and not a true doctor? Only in the US and Canada are physicians given God-like status. Surgeons look down on PCPs and IMs. Everyone in the medical community looks down on psychiatry. Osteos are close behind the allos and put down pods and dentists. Newsflash DOs -- it's harder to get into most vet and dental schools than it is most osteo med schools. Optos put down pharmacists and call them pill counters; psychologists call the psychiatrists pill pushers; chiros are quacks; optos are dial spinners and techs, etc. It's true. Look around and you'll see it. Putting down profession A does not uplift profession B.
I stopped going around puffing myself up and stroking my ego with the Dr. title about a year after my residency. I was at an expensive restaurant with my girlfriend and I had reservations for "Dr. S". When my table got called, a well-dressed guy and his wife behind us laughed and said, quite audibly, "arrogant prick". It made me think: he's right. At that time, I was just another customer -- who cares what my title is when I'm out to eat?!? So, after that, unless I was at work, I was just Zack. Later, when I hit 30 or 31, I stopped insisting my patients call me Dr. It actually makes them feel more comfortable if I'm just Zack (well, except for the older patients who feel more comfortable with titles).
Here on SDN, you really see this ridiculous quest for status and respect. Get over yourselves -- whether you're a med student, an OD student, or a practicing whatever. You have a doctorate, are well-educated, and you are smart. Does this make you better than the garbage collector, waiter, or receptionist? Do you really think your title impresses people? I got news: no one will give a rat's a$$ that you have MD, DO, DDS, DVM, OD, or JD after your name when they call to collect on your student loans, when you go to pay your parking ticket, when you call customer service about your down cable, or when you're the patient.
Your white coat will never make people like you if you're rude, arrogant, or insensitive. Your keen clinical skills will seem irrelevant if your patients perceive you as cold and uncaring.
True respect is not extrinsic; it is intrinsic and it comes from your heart and soul, not your bank account, gross income, location of your clinic, number of your degrees, or length of your white coat. Whether you work in a strip mall or university-based teaching hospital, the respect you want to earn is the respect that's sincere and genuine, not superficial.
So, before I end this lengthy diatribe, regardless of who you are or what you do, get over yourself and be a gentle, down-to-Earth, sincere person and treat your patients with kindness, friendliness, and RESPECT. They are human beings, not diagnoses. They are people with families, lives, and dreams just like you. They are not dollar signs or room numbers, they are not ICD codes or DSM-IV mutlaxial codes.
I went to medical school at Michigan State Univ (College of Human Med not Osteo Med). MSU is big rivals with University of Michigan. It was sort of a thing around MSU that many of us only went to MSU because we couldn't get into UM. Personally, I never cared about this, but many students did. One day in one of my classes, the professor overheard this girl talk about wanting to transfer to UM Med School and made some comment about how much better UM grads are perceived. The professor looked at her and said "Tell me, Ms. Jones, if you're in an MVA and sustain critical injuries and get rushed to a hospital, are you or your family going to stop the trauma surgeon and say, 'BTW, doc, where did you go: MSU or UM', or will you just hope and pray that whoever operates on you went to medical school and knows what he/she is doing?" The girl stared blankly. The point he was making, who cares where you went, what your degree is (MD, DO, DVM, PharmD, OD, AuD), in the end, what really counts is your professional skills and your personal qualities; that is what gets you respect.
Respectfully,
Zack
