To wonder why we always call doctors by their last name

[Loveandpeace56]

In any other profession this wouldn’t be the case. Even teachers do often refer to themselves by their first names but with a doctor this would never happen.

Never called a teacher by their first name, they usually use their first names in emails but so do doctors in letters.
It's just one of those things. Don't police go by their surname? So do teachers and I'm sure there are others.

I think it is quite common to use people's surname when referring to them in a professional capacity. For DH by referring to his first name ( which I do not think he would mind) it could just get confusing.He works in a typically large hospital and has a common/traditional first name so everyone would get confused as to which Dr was being referred to 😁.

Actually let's turn the thread on its head.

To wonder why doctors, physicians and surgeons, all to often use a patients' first name what expecting the patient to use their title.

Apologies for typos.

"For DH by referring to his first name ( which I do not think he would mind) it could just get confusing.He works in a typically large hospital and has a common/traditional first name so everyone would get confused as to which Dr was being referred to 😁."

But that would be exactly the same for someone with a common surname.

@RosesAndHellebores

Actually let's turn the thread on its head.

To wonder why doctors, physicians and surgeons, all to often use a patients' first name what expecting the patient to use their title.

I'm trying to think, but I really don't think most of the drs and nurses have been to have called me anything. I'm usually opposite them so they don't need to use my name.

Because it’s Doctor Surname. It’s respectful, polite and maintains useful boundaries between doctor and patient.

Why do we all have to be so chummy nowadays? I don’t want to be on first name terms with DS’s teachers when he starts school- I’ll be sticking with Mrs/Mr/Ms X as that’s politer and keeps a good distance.

@Gwenhwyfar not even to make sure you are the correct patient and they aren’t discussing somebody else’s problem with you in breach of GDPR and data protection rules.

Absolutely VestaTilley but it has to be mutual and I can’t remember a single occasion when one of the children’s teachers ever used my first name. It got more informal once they hit 6th form but mutually so.

It's really a very minor 1 minute issue in a consultation for all this angst

Walk into waiting room doorway
'Mrs Wotsit' if no response then perhaps 'Joan Wotsit' in case more than one Mrs Wotsit.

Patient comes into consulting room
Hello Mrs Wotsit I'm Dr X one of the GPs/ respiratory consultants/ registrars
'What is the issue you'd like to discuss' or 'your Gp has referred you about your piles..'

No need for further use of names.

But it isn’t minor when it isn’t you DouglasRossi. It’s about ingrained sexism and a misplaced patriarchal hierarchy that only exists still in medicine.

I can't think of any doctor/teacher/banker/ tradesman ever calling me by my first name, it's always Mrs. Surname

It's only at work that people tend to call me by my first name, and I introduce myself as first name - surname.

Perhaps it’s a London/Surrey centric thing?

I dont mind if they use my first name or surname. Some people feel more comfortable using dr x.... likewise I will call them Mrs/Mr Y unless I am invited to call them otherwise. Often though we need to use first name/second name to make sure its the right patient.

How is it sexist and patriarchal when half the Drs expecting Dr surname are female and half the patients apparently being rudely called by their first names (not by me) are male?

That doesn't hold up

You may feel it's about upholding a power structure. I would say it's upholding a boundary.

It's one of many reasons I don't work privately because if someone is paying I expect there is a different expectation and it's not one I'd like. I do see myself as providing a service but not one where I am required to grovel or curry favour and nor is the patient. Equal respectful discussion absolutely fine. Expectation that I am providing some kind of luxury pampering experience like a massage or a hotel stay then no.

My Dr is "first name", known him for a long time, he calls me "first name" too. I think when you first meet someone Dr or Mr or Mrs is the correct term, however, if you then develop a closer working or patient relationship it is fine to change to a more casual approach.

My personal pet hate is customer services people, can I call you "first name" - no you bloody can't, I am not your mate.

@Diverseduvet

Because the title Doctor comes before the surname, not first name. So its always Dr.Jones not Dr.Josh

Hi everybody! Hi Dr Nick!

When I was at uni (my native country, medical setting), we were all referred to by surname. No Mr/Ms, just surname. Higher-ups were Dr/Mr/Ms/Professor.

Can't say I'm bothered by it, it was just normal and certainly nothing I'd be offended by or consider 'pompous' 🤷‍♀️

DougRossiIsBoss or should I say Dr Rossi , I have heard the same female Dr call Mr Jones and I have been the next patient and called as Roses Hellebores. I think it does underpin the patriarchy and undermines equality between the sexes as well as between two stakeholders.

I somehow can’t imagine our old family Dr ever calling my grandmother Marina. Possibly because she predated the NHS and possibly because she was not his subordinate: as a woman, as a farmer and as the person who paid his bills. Yet she was always exceptionally respectful of him and his profession. I am afraid when somebody thinks they may address me as their subordinate I lose respect for them.

The first time I met my GP, about 16 years ago, she introduced herself by her first name only. We have always called each other by our first names. We get on well and I think of her more as a friend and I think it's reciprocated. We don't meet socially outside the surgery.

I think there is wide variation across professions, rather than doctors being singled out.

Whichever profession, I tend to use whichever name is given to me and try to keep the same as how they're addressing me if they've given me their full name. Even within the same place, this differs.

I don't tend to mind whether I'm called by my first or last name as long as people don't continue to mispronounce it after being corrected (worse when they were pronouncing it right until I spell it or they see it written and start calling me a similar English name over my own as if I can't pronounce my own name), don't try to shorten my name while I'm expected use their title, or keep using the wrong title.

I agree with previous poster that the Miss/Sir thing with teachers is very odd and unbalanced, possibly because I wasn't raised with it. I have to keep reminding my DDs to tell me which teacher they're talking about as I don't know one Sir from the next and I don't get calling someone you know only by their title - that to me feels weird as I'd only think to do that with a stranger.

I did have a gas engineer recently use Madam which I thought was a nice way for him to handle the difficulties of not knowing the titles of random women like me who are already a bit stressed out by boilers dying.

Calling in a man - easy, Mr X. Calling in a woman? You generally wouldn't know if they're Miss, Mrs or Ms, and people take enormous offence if you get it wrong. Thank god all my patients are too young for it to apply. Change the ludicrous outdated travesty of a woman's title depending on her marital status, and you'll see the difference shrink enormously.

I introduce myself as Dr full name. If you want to tell your gp who you saw, or ask them to refer back to me, or to anyone but me, or contact my secretary, or even complain about me, you need my surname. It would be cowardly to hide behind the near anonymity of just a first name.

So surely then @nocoolnamesleft the thing to do is to call in the man as John Smith rather than affording variable respect in accordance with title.

And you can't assume a man is Mr. He may have earned the right to call himself Dr at his viva, (unlike most medical Drs for whom the title is honorary), he may be Reverend, Major Brigadier or even Sir. Likewise a woman may be Professor, Dr, Colonel, Lady, Reverend, etc.

In any event one's title should be clearly stated on the notes should it not? On the front cover next one's name?

"I introduce myself as Dr full name. If you want to tell your gp who you saw, or ask them to refer back to me, or to anyone but me, or contact my secretary, or even complain about me, you need my surname. It would be cowardly to hide behind the near anonymity of just a first name."

Dr First Name would work in a GP practice surely. This is how many local doctors were known when I was growing up.

"And you can't assume a man is Mr. He may have earned the right to call himself Dr at his viva, (unlike most medical Drs for whom the title is honorary), he may be Reverend, Major Brigadier or even Sir. "

Those people can still be called Mr.