to wonder why consultants comment on people's personalities?

[EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon]

Not a TAAT but I just read a post on a different thread that mentioned someone experiencing this, and it reminded me that I've heard about it several times over the past couple of years.

In 2023 I fractured my shoulder and as it wasn't a straightforward fracture I was referred to a consultant, who wrote in one of this reports that I was a 'very pleasant lady'. While that was nice to read, it baffled me a little as I didn't see the relevance.

Then a friend of DH's said a consultant had referred to him as a 'pleasant gentleman'. (Different part of the country, no chance it was the same person.)

Then another friend said she'd been referred to as a 'lovely lady' when seen for stomach problems.

Don't get me wrong, compliments are always nice. I just find it a bit strange in a health context. 🤔 I've wondered whether it's some sort of code for 'cooperative patient' or something along those lines, but then I can be a bit of a cynic at times.

Has anyone else experienced this, or does anyone know why it's done?

😆

Yep, I get this all the time from my twice a year consultant! 'It was an absolute pleasure dealing with Mrs Typewriters today, she is a very affable and pleasant lady.' And 'Lovely to see Mrs Typewriters again, it's always a pleasure...'

I thought it was just me, like I was extra special and so lovely. 😆 Now I feel a bit blue that I'm not necessarily his favourite!

😂

Yeah I guess it is to paint a picture of a particular patient. But when someone is not nice/awkward/rude/aggressive I wonder what they put then? 🤔

Someone saying a patient is very good looking (as a pp claimed further back) is very odd. Why on earth would a medical professional put that in a report?! I have my doubts about that one!

What in the ever loving fuck?

I've just remembered something from when I was at my second A&E visit in agonising pain and the triage nurse wrote AP on my slip to give to the urgent treatment centre. I wondered what it meant so googled it as it didn't fit with why I was presenting. Turns out it means anxious patient. OF COURSE I'M FECKING ANXIOUS, I AM EXPERIENCING PAIN WORSE THAN CHILD BIRTH! I was fuming about it. The clinician I saw fobbed me off and sent me home with Zapain which did absolutely feck all. They definitely use acronyms and I felt like the clinician was then biased about me because of what the nurse had written. She was so dismissive. I've now ended up having surgery anyway.

Because they take so much abuse- I work for the NHS & often we get handovers of verbally abusive patients. So it's only fair the nice ones are recognised as well. Plus it helps in managing content in appointments.

I doubt very much you were judged or dismissed in any way because of this. It most likely meant they had a different approach in dealing with your situation.
I've a feeling that AP could quickly turn to Abusive Patient if that's not what it already meant!!

Agreed @LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway 🤭

@DollydaydreamTheThird - yes I'm a nurse and old enough to remember the days of rude notes & letters.

Gallowayan has provided some examples of commonly used acronyms. I also remember FLK (funny looking kid) and Acopia (inability to cope at home). There was another one for people who had a mental health crisis whenever their bills were due, but it's escaped my memory.

For those wondering, "well informed" isn't always complimentary. It can be code for "has looked on Google and thinks they now have a medical degree".

I have been a dr for over 20 years, and in that time have looked back over notes and letters made decades before I saw the patient. I have never seen a doctor's letter that described the patient as "good looking", and would consider that this was a significant outlier to usual practice, so no I have never come across this before.

If I saw a doctor use this phrase (even if they were a fellow consultant) I'd be discussing with them how unusual this wording was, and potentially opening themselves to significant issues: imagine that a patient accuses that dr of inappropriate touching, and people go back through those letters to find what appears to be some sort of pervy rating of patients' attractiveness, which could be spun as selecting victims.

I have seen inappropriate descriptions of patients in older notes, but these were inappropriate in a negative way "this feckless woman has got herself pregnant again", but have never seen a patient described as "good looking".

When I was a student in the 90s, our tutors/consultants were talking about the phrases that used to be used in letters and how they are no longer acceptable.

Presumably you have seen this description - are you a healthcare worker?

Honestly haven't seen notes of NFN or FLK since the 90s.

And even then it would be in old paper notes.

Generally we aren't using paper notes any more and if we do, nobody is trawling that far back.

When I had cancer I was repeatedly referred to as a “wonderful lady”

I was a sobbing wreck throughout so not sure when that shone through

Don't forget UFK - ugly fat kid

That's terrible. I really don't think people who are unwell or in pain should be categorised as 'anxious', surely everyone experiences some degree of anxiety when experiencing distressing/worrying symptoms. I bet it gets written on women's notes far more often than men's too.

It can be really helpful to know whether someone used to be pleasant, and then is later abrupt. Not just for MH issues.
I once had that experience with a lady who was get chatty and pleasant one day, and then a few days later was quiet and abrupt. I insisted on getting her reviewed and she was admitted that day by the MET with pending sepsis. The admitting team later told me I had probably saved her life. She had an severe infection and would have passed away alone at home within the next few days.
Descriptions matter!

Absolutely not me. I'm as docile as they come even when my body is ravaged by pain fuelled adrenaline🤣 I work in the NHS myself and know there is a lot of abuse. They definitely meant anxious. I also appreciate that my local hospital is chronically underfunded and under staffed, and the staff are overworked and still exhausted from the pandemic. Although I recognise and appreciate all this, it still smacks when you genuinely are at the lowest point in your health to date and it feels like noone cares. Prior to these episodes I'd not been to A&E for years and years so it's not like I was an anxious hypochondriac that was there every week. My exchange was a symptom of the NHS being on its knees. This is the absolute tip of the iceberg of the failures I've experienced with this health issue. It saddens me. I hope Labour are going to do more to sort things out.

I don't think you'd be wrong there @EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon It felt terrible to me anyway.

No shade, @DrunkPuppy but “well-informed” is normally code for “has googled and now thinks they are an authority” and it usually means the opposite! That said, I don’t think that’s always the case.

I’m a medical secretary and every doctor has their own dictating style. One of my bosses will never comment like this whereas another one is very effusive. Just depends on the doctor. Normally it’s a good thing. “Interesting” unless you have a rare medical condition isn’t usually as complimentary 😂

I've had "very pleasant lady" on my consultant notes. I also think it's code for something. Just hope it isn't a way of calling me a pain in the arse.

Quite the opposite

I'm glad you said this.

I've seen a consultant 4 times. First three, no 'personal descriptives', so as I am indeed very polite and pleasant I assumed she just didn't write like that. And thank god!

But, per the last clinic letter, it was apparently 'very nice to see me again'. I did wonder if that meant that actually DID think I was an arse the first few times, but now I shall believe it just references the fact that the treatment is indeed working!

"people go back through those letters to find what appears to be some sort of pervy rating of patients' attractiveness, which could be spun as selecting victims"

Context is key. Its quite standard to comment on a patients appearance if there is a social or clinical need to do so. Euphemisms are used because reports are often read by the patient and non medical professionals like police, teachers, social workers etc. "good looking" in this context means "the patients looks healthy, typical, well groomed"; it doesn't mean "I find this patient sexy".

Quite funny as the poster who asked is definitely not a doctor or any kind of medic.

Its not just medical professionals who view these reports which is the point I've made three times now!

What does that have to do with you sneeringly calling a doctor a "doctor?"