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

@PeigiSu

I’m a medical doctor and if you came to see me I’d probably ask what you were a doctor of and then say something along the lines of “Oh a proper doctor!”

I only have MB ChB and MRCP, nothing doctoral level. Wouldn’t think it odd at all!

I've had that exact conversation in medical appointments more than once!

Medic What type of doctor are you?
Me Oh, I'm not a real Dr. I have a PhD in X
Medic No, no - you're the proper doctor!

Quite a few GP software programmes don’t actually display the patient’s title when you click into the notes, so there’s a good chance they’ll not actually notice, other than perhaps the admin staff doing your registration.

Anecdotally, I’ve found over the years that some professions always announce their job when attending medical appointments - nurses and teachers spring to mind.

I use Dr quite often. Not sure why other than I earned it!

@CheetasOnFajitas
To clarify, I know that passports don’t have titles on them. But you do have to give a title when you book your ticket so the passenger manifest does state one.

My passport says “The holder is Doctor Oubliette Bravo” on the observations page.

[quote CheetasOnFajitas]@SarahAndQuack I don’t think they believe anyone memorised their passports, they think the passport details are on a list. Which they are, indirectly, in that the ticket details are on a list and your passport and ticket have to show the same name.[/quote]
But if you read the thread, you will see that people are saying exactly that - that it's on their passport, and that's why it happened.

I've already pointed out - your UK passport does not include your title in your name; it'll be 'Dr' tucked away in the observations section.

People genuinely do claim that their passport had 'Dr John Smith' as the name and that's why the airline called them up.

If you believe the stories, this happens with so much regularity a PhD holder can barely leave the ground without someone insisting they perform CPR and an emergency surgery.

As others have pointed out, in an emergency you want a medic (who might well be a nurse).

I simply don't understand the issue about women's titles. I am married therefore my title is Mrs and I am pleased to use it and it is a statement of fact. Good grief I'm even perfectly happy to be called Mrs His name Roses. Before I was married I was Miss and I was pleased to use it. DD is Ms because she's 22 and thinks it more appropriate - entirely her choice and right.

I would use it
Dr lizard yes I like it

You are entitled to call yourself 'Dr' .You earned the right, well done!

I've already pointed out - your UK passport does not include your title in your name; it'll be 'Dr' tucked away in the observations section.

Did you read my post at 22.43 where I said that I know this?

No, sorry, I missed that.

@OhTheRoses

I simply don't understand the issue about women's titles. I am married therefore my title is Mrs and I am pleased to use it and it is a statement of fact. Good grief I'm even perfectly happy to be called Mrs His name Roses. Before I was married I was Miss and I was pleased to use it. DD is Ms because she's 22 and thinks it more appropriate - entirely her choice and right.

I think with 'Dr' the issue is that people often assume a Dr must be a man. I doubt you get that with Mrs or Ms or Ms.

@OhTheRoses

I simply don't understand the issue about women's titles. I am married therefore my title is Mrs and I am pleased to use it and it is a statement of fact. Good grief I'm even perfectly happy to be called Mrs His name Roses. Before I was married I was Miss and I was pleased to use it. DD is Ms because she's 22 and thinks it more appropriate - entirely her choice and right.

Ok so you don’t understand, and?

As others have pointed out, in an emergency you want a medic (who might well be a nurse).

That was me who pointed that out. I think you are getting too hung up on people saying that their passport says doctor so they have been called upon during a flight. What they mean is that the cabin crew had information that said they were “Dr X” so they were called upon. That is correct but, as I said upthread, cabin crew do not always use the manifest as the ONLY way of identifying medically trained professionals on board and so I agree with you that this must happen less than the urban myths would have us believe. They do use it sometimes though, hence my medical doctor friend being approached. But they won’t hold it against a person who has a Dr title but is not a medical doctor, and simply says so clearly to allow them to resume the search by other means.

Use it and enjoy it! But...

Titles are on the manifest (passenger list), it’s nothing to do with memorising passports. The title is the one given when buying the ticket (you know how your ticket will say something like Jones S/Ms)

It does happen. Or did. Many years ago DH was asked to help on a plane because he had booked the ticket under his (then) newly-acquired title. He had to explain that he wasn't a medical doctor, but since there was noone else he helped anyway based on his limited medical training from being in the Territorial Army... (his main contribution was helping to calm the passenger down and finding her pills.. :) )

On another occasion we found ourselves trapped in an apparently unsaleable house, at a time when the property market had collapsed and we desperately needed to move to another part of the country. After weeks of no viewings, there was a sudden flurry of interest from one particular estate agent who, we later discovered, had been referring to our house in front of clients as "the doctor's house"... so keep that one in mind for future reference!

Oh, and these days, with army training well out of date and despite being employed in the academic sector, he's just plain Mister Stropp on aeroplanes!

@OhTheRoses

I simply don't understand the issue about women's titles. I am married therefore my title is Mrs and I am pleased to use it and it is a statement of fact. Good grief I'm even perfectly happy to be called Mrs His name Roses. Before I was married I was Miss and I was pleased to use it. DD is Ms because she's 22 and thinks it more appropriate - entirely her choice and right.

Really? You’re happy to be called Mrs Bob Roses? I thought that died out with Dickens.

It seems to me that we need some sort of "Has Medical Knowledge" type title, like "mDr" or something. Something that excludes non medical people, but encompasses people who do not technically have "Dr" as a title but do have medical knowledge--registered nurses, surgeons, dentists. I think all three of these should have some kind of official title, esp since nurses in the modern age do more and more of the work which would have done by doctors in previous times.

@CheetasOnFajitas

As others have pointed out, in an emergency you want a medic (who might well be a nurse).

That was me who pointed that out. I think you are getting too hung up on people saying that their passport says doctor so they have been called upon during a flight. What they mean is that the cabin crew had information that said they were “Dr X” so they were called upon. That is correct but, as I said upthread, cabin crew do not always use the manifest as the ONLY way of identifying medically trained professionals on board and so I agree with you that this must happen less than the urban myths would have us believe. They do use it sometimes though, hence my medical doctor friend being approached. But they won’t hold it against a person who has a Dr title but is not a medical doctor, and simply says so clearly to allow them to resume the search by other means.

I'm sorry - I'm clearly skimming too much as it's late.

I have to say, though, people really do believe this is an issue in the way I say it is. I have heard so many stories, you wouldn't believe! And invariably the line is 'my friend so-and-so had 'Dr John Smith' on his passport and they saw it and called him in an emergency, and he was so embarrassed, and OMG it was awful'.

They know it's not true, and they make up the story, and you can tell it's not true, because they've scrambled the details. No one's name in their UK passport comes up as 'Dr John Smith' because that's not how UK passports do titles.

It's only an issue in that I think people re-tell these fibs because they think it is a subtle way of snubbing anyone who (like the OP) gets excited about having done a PhD. It is a very British thing, this anti-intellectualism, and it's nasty. I never get why people can't just say 'ooh, lovely, congrats!' or ignore it.

Not at all. You are a Dr. You may well have studied longer than a doctor. People should appreciate there are medical doctors and people with doctorates

Agreed @SarahAndQuack

I'm old and back in the day it was never the done thing to call yourself Dr if it was a PhD. Unless you worked in academia, where it was used for work purposes only.
But times change...

It is your official/formal title now, it’s perfectly fine to use it wherever you would put a title.

Conversely mine is not on my medical records (I never got round to updating it) but usually after I’ve asked a couple of questions I will get the ‘are you medical?’ question and inevitably I have to explain. It does get better explanations, because it is a quick way to convey a certain level of education. I do have a couple of medic friends who refer to me as a ‘real doctor’ which is nice.

I don’t currently use it at work, because I’ve recently moved sectors. I sort of think I should though because I’m immensely proud. I will often say to anyone who asks that what it really says about me is that I wasn’t ready to leave the safety of university at the end of my first degree, and whilst that is true, it was also bloody hard work and does represent many things. It shows I have tenacity, that I can organise my research, and that I keep going to achieve a goal. It’s a very personal journey and you should use your title with pride.

Of course not!! It's your degree and you're entitled to use it! Congrats.

@MerylStropp why are you quoting from my post as if to suggest that I said this never happens? I’ve now posted about three times saying that I know it happens, and even described it happening to my friend! My point was simply that it is not the passport that the airline are getting the title from.

I'm an academic and know a lot if PhDs.

In my experience, my male colleagues wouldn't be worrying about this. They just do it and no one ever suggests they shouldn't...

It's your title. Personally I'm 'Professor actually' 😂 ... only usually used in situations where people are being condescending.

I'm interested that a couple of people have suggested this is something that's a changing convention (Dr becoming more acceptable to use). I wonder if it is, or if it's just that having a doctorate is becoming much more common/it's more common to have a doctorate and not be a working academic?

My dad's in his 70s (only just!) and I know none of his PhD cohort thought it was in any way odd to use 'Dr' outside academia, but the tiny number of women students occasionally got some push back. What was more common, in his memory and my mum's, was for a workplace to actively ask you to use 'Dr' because they felt it lent cachet. I suspect that would be much less common now.