To want 'Dr' on my name badge?

[sallysparrow157]

Following a chat with my non medical friend - I'm a doctor and very aware that the general public don't really know what our job titles mean any more (FYs and STs). My past two jobs I have had to specifically ask to have Dr myname on my name badge as well as the generally meaningless st6 or 7.
Of course I introduce myself as 'my name, the children's doctor on the unit today' but my ID badge is so people know what I am as well as who I am. If I had not pushed for it I would be wearing a label saying 'myname st7' and nothing else which means sod all to anyone who matters (ie the people I care for and their families)

OP, you have touched on one of my hobby horses! Have had to spend quite a bit of time in hospital over the past couple of years visiting sick relatives and I absolutely hate the fact that doctors no longer wear white coats so you don't know who to approach to ask questions - basically the doctors are indistinguishable from the nurses and admin staff. Except if you look closely the doctors are usually wearing a stethoscope. But that's it. A proper ID badge saying "Doctor" is the very least they should be offering.

What is the difference between a Mr and a Dr? I have a consultant Mr X and another consultant in a diff spec Dr Y.

I also need the badges to be bigger, and youd have thought that in the eye dept they would make them much bigger with huge font as I'm foreever asking random people things that they wouldnt have a clue about as I've no idea who they are.

YANBU

Most people (lucky feckers) are unused to hospitals & find the whole experience of being in one very unsettling. Anything - like Clear And Proper Labelling Of Staff - that helps demystify (& thus render less stressful) the experience can only be a good thing. The system of colour-coded scrubs some hospitals have in place can be quite useful.

Other people in/from the current system will know what your lettering-numbering means but to (pretty much) anyone outside it (including other medics, as we've seen here!) you might as well have a series of hieroglyphics on your badge.

cafecito: I was essentially A Trick Question in a PACES exam recently. I genuinely thought one of the candidates I encountered on my way out might cry when I told them my actual DX meant there wasn't anything for them to find on examining me.

I wouldn't mind colour coded scrubs. I'm in them most of the time anyway, which confuses people as so are the midwives.

OYBBK Mr/Miss/Ms is used in surgical specialties, technically you can use it once you have completed all your postgrad Membership exams so it doesn't necessarily denote a Consultant, it could be a senior Registrar. Medical specialties stay as Dr regardless of exam status/seniority.

We refer to everyone as first names, incl consultants unless we're in front of patients and then they get referred to as Mr such and such or Miss such and such. Other doctors tend to get referred to as the docs or the medical team - because I rarely recall surnames.

Oh and we (midwives) can scrub in theatre and do all the handing of instruments and stuff and also work on the wards.

And we only ever call the Band 7 'sister' if we're being sarcastic, but that's just our place, I'm sure it's different elsewhere.

A dear old friend is a Dr in a hospice and I've never dared ask if she confusses people.

She's a lovely, slightly hippy, veggie with wild long curly hair, who is just the least Doctory (if there is such a word) looking person in the world.

My DDs certainly forget she's a Dr. she doesn't remind them of the smart suited GP's (male and female) they normally see.

Thanks Vinegar - that makes a lot of sense :)

Can I have a NOT Dr. badge. Apparently I have the face of a Dr. I'm really sorry everyone I can't help you, my degree is in English lit.

sallysparrow I agree with you,having title and specialty on the name badge is helpful.
I was in paeds A & E a few months ago.The paeds reg was wearing blues and her badge did not have a title,she could have been anyone.
I qualified in the days of PRHOs and SHOs and now I'm a GP FY etc doesn't really mean that much!
It's funny though,the non-titles badge thing has been going on for years,I was looking through DHs old name badges the other day for some Dr stuff for a school nursery toy hospital and none of the photo id badges had the title Dr on,just X Y specialty trainee but they still wore white coats then.

nursing ID,s are just as confusing as Drs - we tell each other apart from the colours of our uniforms, which gets very confusing if you happen to visit another hospital where the uniforms are different! Yes we have badges but they are not always noticeable, and the job titles on them are not always clear. I've just changed jobs and am feeling a bit clueless about who everyone is, this can't be ideal for patients!

Why don't doctors just wear name badges saying

Joe Bloggs, consultant oncologist

or similar, that patients will understand?

And, why don't people in hospitals just call each other by their first names?

I have never understood this. We are all adults. I find it so weird that my consultant introduces himself as Mr X and then calls me 'Revolting'. It's not even offensive, just weird, like being back in primary school and having the headmaster round on a classroom visit.

Much prefer registrars who are my age, normal, and introduce themselves as 'Paul' or whatever.

Revolting as a GP I don't like being called by my first name unless they are friends outside of work.I introduce myself as Dr Potty and don't want them to call me Beatrix,it just feels wrong and too familiar.But then I would call you in as Revolting Peasant and then call you Mrs Peasant (or correct title),I would not call you Revolting.

But I like all staff and colleagues to call me Beatrix.I've worked in places where the receptionists have called me Dr Potty and that is too formal and uncomfortable.For me it's just about professional boundaries.

Fair enough Beatrix. It just feels odd to me. I mean, I have a professional relationship with my solicitor and I call him by his first name. And with my students, and they all call me by my first name.

I think it probably is the only situation where I'd use titles.

But then, all medical staff (and call centre staff, etc etc) just call me 'Mrs Peasant' anyhow, regardless of the fact that it isn't my title, so I just end up opting for Revolting anyhow, since Mrs pisses me off so much.

#firstworldproblem

I introduce myself by my first name

Re. badges saying "Consultant Oncologist" etc, that's exactly what the thread is about... Technically we don't have SHOs, Registrars etc any more we have Specialty Trainee 1-7 - so the OPs badge would say - accurately - Specialty Trainee 7 or ST7 but that means diddly squat to most people. Mind you how many really understand what an SHO or Registrar is either? Some posts on MN seem to make out that a Registrar is pretty much akin to a medical student rather than someone like the OP with approx 10 years' postgrad training.

Meant to add re the first name thing, I do know some Consultants who usr their first names with patients but they are rare. I don't know what I'll do when I get to that stage.

I know some of our patients know our docs by their first name but most don't. They do however use an 'affectionate' nickname for at least one of them behind his back
In the team ( I am admin) we use first names but if talking to the patients or outside agencies I will use full names and titles. I think that's the professional way to do it. Who wants to be told that Simon will be right with you to assess your condition? You want to know that Dr or Professor X is on their way.

YANBU!

If I were a doctor, I would probably have "doctor" embroidered on all my clothes. Major accomplishment.

As a medical consumer, I find it so awkward not knowing if I'm seeing a doctor or nurse. I'm forced into a position of appearing as though I don't trust the nurse's judgement (which I do), but if someone is saying something to you about your condition you want to know whether it's the nurse or the doctor.

I'm on first name terms with nearly all the Drs apart from anaesthetists. They're always Dr whoever.

Likewise all the anaesthetists call me "sister".

The other Drs call me by my first name.

I am a radiographer and we are about to get black scrubs with 'Radiology' embroidered on the left hand above boob area. I am very excited about this . I am going to ROCK black scrubs.

Sorry OP, I was just excited about my new uniform. YANBU and thank you for explaining the new system, I remember when specialist regitrars were introduced [old gimmer emoticon].

I also work in a general area but can 'scrub up' for the procedures we do where the doctor is inserting something into a patient (oo er and all that). I call doctors DR so and so, nurses Nurse Surname and sisters Sister (not jokingly). I utterly, utterly hate being called nurse probably as much as nurses hate hearing me called that but I am female and in a hospital therefore must be a nurse whatever it might say on my badge.

I would love black scrubs. Slimming yet hides blood/poo/gore.

YANBU

I hate going to minor injuries / A&E and not knowing whether the person we are seeing is a nurse or a doctor.

Colour coding uniforms is all very well but if you don't know the hospital you don't know the code!

I have actually contemplated buying special detergent for keeping black clothes black so they stay lovely It's the 'Radiology' in yellow thread that just makes them perfect though. I am going to swank about like I'm in ER.

Chasingdogs: 'Yes, I'm thinking of you, nervous medical person whose hands were shaking as they stuck a camera up my nose and down my throat I genuinely had no idea that tubes going through your nasal cavity could hurt that bloody much.'

Just wondering Chasingdogs - did they spray the local anaesthetic spray first and wait a few minutes....because if not that is probably why it was so bad.
I had one done recently whilst in A&E and the senior person doing it tried to persuade me the local anaesthetic spray wasn't necessary/told me people don't like the smell BUT I INSISTED and found it bearable though not pleasant. How many others have been naively talked out of it by our wonderful NHS I wonder? Grrr!

ON name badges it should be DR - First Name- Surname and whatever other weird reference point they want.

I really don't like it when some apparently 13 year old junior introduces themselves as "Dr" but then refers to me by my first name. I'm in hospital regularly for an IV treatment, I find it intensely stressful and I don't want to be patronised.

I usually refer to my consultant by his first name - he was at medical school with my husband! I know my dh, who has been a GP for 15 years, always introduces himself by his first name. A patient of his we met recently referred to me as "Mrs Doctor"! Now that was a step too far!!