Hello, my name is...’ NHS ‘patient-friendly’ badges - with pronouns

[Pronoun]

My manager is getting us new name badges for NHS work. The ‘hello, my name is’ campaign is meant to be for the benefit of patients; some are marketed as being specifically dementia-friendly.

I was surprised to see that there is the option to include pronouns on the badges. As these are meant to be for patient benefit, I feel a bit uncomfortable with these. My feeling is that people just want to know your name, to have a proper, friendly introduction, and to be treated as a person, so they don’t feel like an anonymous ‘case,’ or struggle to know who has been looking after them. I feel these pronoun badges run the risk of making interactions about the HCP rather than centring the patient. Am I wrong to feel this way?

RedHoodGirl

My understanding is that the intention of putting pronouns on badges is that it puts patients who might be trans at ease - it’s not about the wearer. That by the doctor or caregiver offering up their own pronouns, that it makes it easier for patients to declare theirs, should they so want?

But would a nurse or a doctor refer to a patient in the patient's presence as "she / he" etc.?

Thinking on my fairly limited but recent experiences in hospital when one hcp was discussing my case with another hcp in front of me they said things like the patient has been given../Dido told me me.... They didn't call me "she"

Behind my back they might well have said the nightmare in bed 3 but I don't really care.

RedHoodGirl - "My understanding is that the intention of putting pronouns on badges is that it puts patients who might be trans at ease - it’s not about the wearer. That by the doctor or caregiver offering up their own pronouns, that it makes it easier for patients to declare theirs, should they so want?"

My expectation is that the impact will be to make the 99% of patients who are not trans distinctly uneasy. So, on balance, a massively bad idea.

Pity the poor NHS staff who, having quite enough to contend with dealing with Covid-19 and the threat of dying from it themselves, face the prospect of having to answer puzzled questions about these stupid badges - and distressed patients coming out of sedation only to call out their feckin' Pronoun Badge bollocks!

(It's bad enough that most in-house NHS badge-making machines use a typeface such that they seem incapable of printing "Therapist" as clearly just a single word - not joking!)

Oh god, vomit vomit vomit.

I hate it that this shit is happening.

Refuse to play the game then. Thankfully I've not been asked but then anyone who knows me understands that my 'response may offend' if asked. Absolute twaddle.

I’m sure that was exactly what DR Kate Granger had in mind when devoting what was left of her life to the “ my name is” campaign
It was about the patient not the person wearing the badge

Oh good god.

I work on an NHS Ward. By badge is bright yellow & simply says “Hello my name is Fred” (not Fred, but you get the picture). No pronoun required.

Are we also to give patients the option to have pronouns on their ID wristband?

We've been 'encouraged' to put our pronouns in our email signatures (large, complex, trying-to-the-right-thing-but-not-sure-what-that-is, third sector type organisation.

I'm not going down that route. I'd sooner lose my job than get involved in that sort of bollocks

That's a terrible idea. Since they will be requested by people who take that kind of thing seriously will patients still be treated the same if they get it wrong?

Thinking on my fairly limited but recent experiences in hospital when one hcp was discussing my case with another hcp in front of me they said things like the patient has been given../Dido told me me.... They didn't call me "she"

Behind my back they might well have said the nightmare in bed 3 but I don't really care.

Equally, for the (thankfully) few times I have been in hospital, I referred to all of the doctors and nurses as “the doctor”. “The doctor said XYZ” or “the doctor came round earlier and made sure I was okay”. I’m sure they are very nice people and I’m aware they have names (and, in 2020, public pronouns) but it was the furthest thing from my mind to remember their names and make sure I referred to them by name when waking up and recovering from an operation and I’m sure they didn’t mind.

I saw a young man in scrubs last year who has a badge saying pronouns 'they/them'

I can't imagine anything worse than being in hospital, ill, scared, likely in pain and having to worry about someone's fucking pronouns. I found it infuriating and I honestly question whether someone who is so concerned about things like that really belongs in healthcare.

I'd like to know what Dr Kate Grainger would have had to say about this.

She left us a brilliant legacy, she taught us all that when you are unwell and vulnerable knowing the name of your caregiver really matters.

The HCPs pronouns really are irrelevant to the patient. Fair enough if this badge is to be used at the Tavistock, but, for a diabetic clinic? A dementia ward? A cancer ward? Really, if trusts can't make it all about the patient then they need to have a wee think about their muppetry.

Can you imagine being in pain and scared and referring to someone by the wrong pronoun? Would the medical staff stop performing potentially live sing treatment to reprimand you because you could have hurt the feelings of someone who wasn’t there!

So as a patient, feeling ill, worried, in pain I am required to remember whether each member of staff dealing with me prefers to use pronouns at odds with the rules of the English language and use their specified words when speaking to another member of staff even though they are not present? What is the penalty if I revert to generally accepted use of speech? Is my care going to be adversely affected?

I would enquire as to how pronouns benefit the patient, when they’ve ill and to add something to worry about and think about.
Sex-based pronouns are biologically accurate and in my own opinion, the only appropriate ones to use. Why stress ill patients out about inaccuracies that validate badge wearers gender identity based on sexist stereotypes?

FFS that is ALL about the badge wearer & nothing to do with patient welfare

This

It’s ALL about the 1% of badge wearers who make the fuss.

And this

No vulnerable, ill, worried or petrified person should be in the slightest bit concerned that they may not be validating the people who are supposed to be medically treating them.

And this.

My understanding is that the intention of putting pronouns on badges is that it puts patients who might be trans at ease - it’s not about the wearer. That by the doctor or caregiver offering up their own pronouns, that it makes it easier for patients to declare theirs, should they so want?

Do you really think that @RedHoodGirl? That this is something that a sizeable minority let alone a majority of dementia patients want / need to take into consideration?

My trans friends find this as unfathomable as I do.

They are kind, reasonable, sensible people who understand that for the vast, vast, vast majority of dementia patients this isn’t something that needs to be addressed in the grand scheme of things.

Bloody hell. This does as much damage to the trans community as it does to the people who are vilified for calling this out as an unwarranted use of resources.

Why not sex and gender, plus natural hair colour, whether any limbs are prosthetic and blood group.

my badge will therefore say:

“Hi! My name is Paw and I’ll be giving you your bed-bath today! Womanfemaleredtoothdunnodoesitreallymatterohiseehowitcouldinanemergency“

I mean it's so ridiculous, and patently not true.

If it's to make trans people feel at ease, send one fucking memo saying, btw, if you're treating a trans person, please use their preferred pronouns.

I mean they've done it with names, for goodness sake.

It became fashionable to call people by their first name. And plenty of people took exception to it. So now you are asked.

Shall I call you Susan or would you prefer Mrs Jones?

It's a piece of piss. You don't have to announce it, from everybody, to everybody.

When I'm with you, call me by my name. Calling someone by their pronouns when they are with you is rude.

Behind my back, do what you like. Don't be dictated by a badge 🤷‍♀️

Hello, my name is Ali, I'm your Nurse for today. What would you like me to call you?

Nice to meet you Fred, how are you feeling?

No pronouns required.

From an infection control point of view alone, that's ridiculous.

Any Thai or Sri Lankan staff, they're going to need a bigger badge.

Agree its not patient centred and I too would be concerned about being punished for a mistake if treated by a person with a pronoun badge. So much of gender ideology seems to be about control and punishment of the "out group".

If I were a trans patient, I wouldn't want the people treating me to have additional tricky things to remember as they go about their 12 hour shifts with barely a toilet break. I would want them to use their mental energy not making any mistakes with my care.

I will not, ever, announce my pronouns.

I've seen the increasingly common signature line in my workplace which tells me something along these lines is probably coming: 'why I announce my pronouns and why you could too'. This is followed by a URL to a site trumpeting the message that 'it costs you nothing'. Nothing at all, that is, but my own autonomy and the sacrificing of my own comfort to benefit others: the message that's been put out to women in general since time immemorial.

It's a big, fat 'No' from me. I choose my battles carefully these days but as far as I'm concerned this one's a hill to die on I'll strenuously resist this with everything I have.

As a woman, it potentially costs me everything.

Bloody hell. I'm right behind the Hello my name is campaign (Kate Granger was a hero of mine), but adding bloody pronouns? Way to confuse patients and families.