To sign up at the surgery as ‘Dr’

[Chocolatebutton43]

I got my PhD two months ago, moved to a new place and signed up to a new doctor’s surgery and dental practice.

Filling in the forms, I got a bit carried away with my new title and ticked the ‘dr’ box! I’ve been doing it a lot lately for silly little things partly ‘cause I’m just happy to have finished and passed my degree and also because I relish that I am no longer defined by my marital status.

But, I now need to visit the surgery and I feel like an idiot. The form also had occupation so the doctor will know I’m not a medical doctor. Is he/she going to think I am a total prat for using Dr outside my work and at the doctor’s surgery of all places? Cringe

Agree.

(Plus, some nurses have PhDs, just to complicate matters.)

*fall I'll

Agh autocorrect. I mean ill!

IME medical professionals are much more understanding about the difference between a medical doctorate and a PhD than the general population. They tend to be pretty respectful of the title and have no problem with you using it.

You earned it, you're entitled to use it in whatever setting you choose.

You earned that dr. Of course you should use it , congratulations

You have worked hard to be one a Dr. Now enjoy using the title. Congratulations.

@SarahAndQuack

(Plus, some nurses have PhDs, just to complicate matters.)

This one is interesting, I assume nurses aren’t allowed to refer to themselves as dr such and such at work? Which by this thread they should absolutely be, but it would cause huge confusion with patients, nurses could even be accused of false representation.

It does annoy me a little that, according to this thread, medical profession are more respectful to people who have a phd and people are treated differently because of A qualification.

I have been accused of jealously and Bitterness on this thread (which I am not, I just happen to have a different view) but surely this is snobbery and elitism at its height?

When you take a step back and look at it, it is odd that you announce your academic qualifications every time you meet someone, if they aren’t relevant to the situation.

Congratulations! I would use it.

I'm a first year PhD student and I've warned DH that I'll use my title for everything when the time comes, including a "Dr & Mr Amusedbush" sign for the front door

You earned the title - use it! I know a couple where both have the title of Dr but only one is a medical Dr, both use it on all their correspondence but in conversation it is funny that people make assumptions that both are medics - one is a Dr of philosophy.

I'm seriously considering a doctorate just so I can be Dr not miss or Ms! I'd rather be identified by my achievements than my age or relationship status!

WELL DONE - USE IT WITH PRIDE

When you take a step back and look at it, it is odd that you announce your academic qualifications every time you meet someone, if they aren’t relevant to the situation.

How is it any more odd than using Mrs to announce your marital status?

When you take a step back and look at it, it is odd that you announce your academic qualifications every time you meet someone, if they aren’t relevant to the situation.

And yet we readily accept that women should announce their marital status, whether or not it's relevant to the situation but that men have no need to announce theirs. For me, having a PhD got round that. I don't use the title except when people ask for a title. So most of my acquaintance don't know about it, but if I have to fill in forms etc. then I use the title Dr. My marital status is none of their business but they can know about my qualifications if they want to.

I come from a family of academics. When people call and ask for Dr xxx on the phone, we have to ask which one they mean. It makes us laugh.
You earned your title, nothing wrong with using it (and I don't have a PhD)

@peppertra

When you take a step back and look at it, it is odd that you announce your academic qualifications every time you meet someone, if they aren’t relevant to the situation.

How is it any more odd than using Mrs to announce your marital status?

I agree, the whole title thing is unnecessary and antiquated.

It feels tied to a different era when people wanted to announce the were sir or lord or whatever.

I never use people’s titles in a work setting, it’s a minefield. And the ones for women which change according to marital status are insulting and sexist.

I just happen to have a different opinion on the use of dr. Clearly I am the only one😂😂😂

@Ideasplease322 - I imagine nurses who work on wards might not use 'Dr' from their PhD because it might be confusing (I don't know).

But IME a lot of nurses with PhDs have them because they are in the field of academic research into nursing, so they would use them and it's relevant - they'll be Dr Smith, who is head of the research group on [insert subject] in nursing, say. In that context it'd be more weird not to use the PhD title.

You’ve earnt it, you should use it - congratulations!
DP is doing a PhD and I am looking forward to being Dr and Mrs and taking photos of him in the bonnet I sometimes consider doing a PhD too, but we have the same first initial so then we wouldn’t know who post was addressed to if we were both Dr P Pan...

[quote SarahAndQuack]@Ideasplease322 - I imagine nurses who work on wards might not use 'Dr' from their PhD because it might be confusing (I don't know).

But IME a lot of nurses with PhDs have them because they are in the field of academic research into nursing, so they would use them and it's relevant - they'll be Dr Smith, who is head of the research group on [insert subject] in nursing, say. In that context it'd be more weird not to use the PhD title.[/quote]
I can absolutely understand people using their title in a work setting where the qualification is relevant.

I am getting a big piled on here, and I’m not sure I am explaining my point very well.

It may also be a cultural thing, I work in a setting where a phd is not required, and I am in Ireland. If someone contactless insists on their title being used and brings it up repeatedly there is a lot of eye rolling.

I think I will bow out now, I seem to have come across as an arse.

Well done again op on your achievement, it’s really impressive and I am sure you are glad all the hard work is over.

People can have really funny reactions to PhD-doctors. My personal opinion is that it should only be used in work contexts to avoid misleading others. This is mainly driven by the fact that I have a very annoying relative who insists being referred to as 'Doctor [first name]' even though her work isn't to do with her PhD at all. Also probably because at least 30% of our friends have PhDs...

But I took it too far with my DH when I put 'Mr' instead of 'Dr' on our wedding invitations - he thought I'd done it on purpose as he knows how I feel about people using 'Dr' outside of work unless they are medical doctors, but I really hadn't! Felt terrible when he pointed it out (after they'd all been sent!).

I was just responding to you asking about nurses with PhDs, @Ideasplease322. I wasn't making any sort of value judgment.

I get why someone who bursts into every meeting with 'I am DOCTOR - did you get that, DOCTOR Smith' might come across as a total utter arse. And I don't exactly go round the local pub introducing myself as Dr Quack.

But the OP is just talking about putting her name down on a form.

@SarahAndQuack

I was just responding to you asking about nurses with PhDs, *@Ideasplease322*. I wasn't making any sort of value judgment.

I get why someone who bursts into every meeting with 'I am DOCTOR - did you get that, DOCTOR Smith' might come across as a total utter arse. And I don't exactly go round the local pub introducing myself as Dr Quack.

But the OP is just talking about putting her name down on a form.

Sarah, sorry it was more a general comment to the thread after the nurse reference.

I suppose it’s as the conversation evolves I got jumped on for referring to a colleague who constantly reminded everyone. I was called jealous and nasty (or words to that effect).

As I said it’s an achievement op should be proud of.

I just don’t see how it’s it’s relevant outside a work setting. I am also not advocating the use of titles that describe women’s marital status. I think I have been misunderstood on this thread, some very strong views.

I was entering into the spirit of what I thought was a conversation, but clearly have offended some.

I have a PhD and use "Dr" all the time! Why not, I bloody earned it!? Sadly I think I am treated with more respect because of it. Doctors will treat you more like an equal and properly discuss risks etc, and say things like "well studies have shown x but there's a lack of evidence of y..."
I also like that it's gender-neutral and has no reference to my marital status!

I didn't change my surname when I got married, and the midwives had me down as "Mrs Smith", which is my mum's name, and looked very odd! In fact a maternity receptionist asked me a medical-ish question the other day, and I just said "oh sorry I'm not a medical doctor", but then I did actually answer the question because it was related to my PhD field!

YANBU, use it with pride, so much better than the marital status indicating titles.

Hate it when I have to put a title when filling out a form in English though at least I rarely have to do that, living abroad. Why on earth does an online shop, for example, need to know my title?

• although I'd only use Dr where a title is normally used. So if someone calls me "Mary Smith" I wouldn't say "actually it's Dr Mary Smith", because that's really wanky, but if someone calls me "Mrs Smith" I'd say "Actually it's Dr Smith".

I've also started selecting "Mr" if the only options are miss/mrs/mr
but I'm awkward...

I don't think most of the calling-out is about you, it's about the poster who was belittling nurses and suggesting you'd have to be desperate to want treatment from one in an emergency.

I don't really see where you think people are cross with you TBH.

In purely practical terms, the reason you sometimes get people putting 'Dr' on stuff that doesn't seem 'work-related' is that work and life don't separate neatly. So I have Dr on my bank accounts because very occasionally people want your title for work to match up with your title for getting paid (usually no one cares, but occasionally ...). And then that means I have Dr on bills because it gets copied across from the bank. And so on and so on.

It's not because I love swanning in to the bank brandishing my title, it's just because that's life.

If someone asked me to put my title down for something, usually that means it's a sufficiently formal situation that I'd put down Dr because that is my title. But I don't think that means you have to go around making an arse of yourself.