To wonder this about medical doctors?

[ilovebreadsauce]

Do your friends who ate medical doctors seem able to hold a conversation for more than 5 minutes without mentioning something about being a doctor? I have noticed this with every single one I know. Why?

Does everyone have friends who are medical (or other) doctors? I've clearly failed in the friendship stakes, I don't know any, weirdly thats made me feel a bit inadequate

I don't know anyone who eats doctors

Yes of course.

I know lots of medics as I lived with lots when they were students. I’ve also known some through school parents etc. I don’t find they talk about their profession much at all.

Yep. But I always feel bad if I casually mention something which could be medical eg I’m not sleeping well I wonder if it’s perimenopausal, I end up with medical advice, when I was just mentioning to a friend that I’m a bit tired.

My friends who are doctors try not to mention it, as then they find they get a ‘oooh, maybe you can give me advice about bunions/ bad back/ strange rash’.

Yes absolutely. I find the doctors I know hardly ever mention their jobs except in a general 'urgh crazy week at work' way.

No they don't.

With a few drinks inside them, they have related tales of weird and wonderful objects people have claimed to have 'fallen' on. 😂

I know someone who tells everybody her BFF is a Dr .it goes like this. "I had lunch with "Carol" yesterday she's a GP . nobody asked! but personally i don't know any Dr's but it seems friends love talking about them.

All the doctors I know try not to mention it at all as people start asking inappropriate questions about their health.

I'm not a GP, I'm not a dermatologist, why do you think I can help, or even want to know about your rash?

The doctor I know rarely mentions it, his mother, however, tells everyone from delivery drivers to checkout operators.

I know a few doctors and no they don't bring it up in conversation very often. Not any more frequently than someone working in computers, law, finance or teaching might mention their field of specialist knowledge anyway.

What does seem to happen unreasonably frequently is that at a party someone else will bring up the subject, either to trot out their own plans for reformation of the NHS or to get a quick medical consultation about something they can't be bothered to graple with their GPs receptionists enough to as a GP about.

I flatshared with a hospital consultant years ago and he never mentioned his job and with new acquaintances rarely mentioned it depending on the situation. The reason being he said was saying that he was a consultant seemed to give almost everyone a green light to ask relentless questions about anything medical, plus “could you just look at this mole/rash/boil on my back and tell me if I need to see my GP,” or start telling him about their medical problems and the medication they are on and ask his opinion. He got so fed up of it.

Other way round - I have to try really hard not to bombard them with my medical questions! FWIW I'm a teacher, school is essentially my whole life, I talk about it A Lot.

Me neither!

My Dr friends don’t bring it up much but I ask anyway as I’m interested. It takes over your life so kind of hard to ignore. Like having a kid.

No, the doctors I know don’t do this.

Yes. Im friends with 4 of them.
I'm probably more likely to mention it than them

I don’t think anyone does.

I have a few friends are doctors, just like my other friends work isn’t really mentioned unless something funny has happened.

The one I’m married to mostly talks about politics,food,and rugby 😂

Seriously yes he offloads about the stress at work, but he needs to do that.

I have to literally prise anything about work from my husband. It’s stressful and he wants to avoid talking about it. To be fair a lot of it sounds bloody awful so don’t blame him.

Medical students do, but the doctors I know have grown out of it.

Totally agree with this. I've known many doctors for decades, since university, and they hardly ever mention it. Why would they? Talking about work is quite boring.

Yes, it’s the ones you mix with I think. Quite unusual in my experience. Of course if there are two or more people in the same profession/ shared circles at an event, then they may share some ‘shop talk’ at some point; but it seems odd otherwise.

Or could it be an older generation of doctor thing? I think that the special status and respect accorded to the medical profession by society has largely evaporated and it’s more generally accepted that they are like any other profession with people of varying ability and quality. That said, I think many remain genuinely grateful for the sacrifices made by medical and related staff during the Covid years.

I know several doctors in our neighbourhood and you can have conversations without them ever mentioning they're doctors!