How to address your Consultant?
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General clinical
How to address your Consultant?
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Throughout my medical training so far, I have always addressed the consultant physicans as Dr and the consultant surgeons as Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms, whichever was appropriate. This has been the case since I
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Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » How to address your Consultant?
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 23/12/2011 3:54 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 23/12/2011 |
I'm a 4th yr medical student and in hospital I always call consultants Dr... or Mr/Ms... while I call HOs, SHOs, SpRs by their first name. Some HO,SHOs call the senior SpRs Mr/Ms which I follow. Personally I think it is impolite to call a consultant by their first name and if they asked me to call them by their first name I'd be reluctant and explain I'd feel more comfortable addressing them by their title because I don't know them personally. It might be different if i worked closely with them and we had a good rapport but i still think i would try to carry that same politeness everywhere I went.
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 23/12/2011 9:44 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 16
First: 10/1/2009 Last: 30/1/2013 |
We had a conversation about this at work today. All the junior docs call the consultants by Dr X. Yet the ANP (and some of the more senior nurses) call them by their first names. This extends to our attitudes towards the consultants. Whereas the ANP and some nurses are happy to tell the consultants when they are out of order or rude or making a decision they don't agree with, the juniors tend to take all the c**p that they give. For the juniors it respect comes automatically, but the consultants have to earn it from nurses. I do wonder why this is, and if it will ever change.
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 15/3/2013 2:03 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1444
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 21/5/2013 |
This subject has cropped up in a recent BMJ article by Oliver Ellis.. http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f1450 He writes: "I’ve recently been experimenting with 'Boss'. It does make me sound a bit like a doomed henchman in a 1980s action movie but has the advantage of having just one syllable and being a bit less stuffy. What patients and doctors call each other is a different matter. Many patients prefer to use surnames. You could probably argue that it is a matter of clinical indication: that keeping a bit of gravitas with some patients can improve the therapeutic relationship. But when patients aren’t in the room, why can’t our interactions catch up with the rest of the world?" He concludes that being on first name terms is easier and in line with a modern world "It’ll make work a nicer place, and it might make medicine better." |
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 15/3/2013 8:51 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2947
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 29/4/2013 |
I have served in the armed forces and like the respect of titles. It is not subservient. It is elegant and functional. I note now when soldiers in uniform come to consult me, few call me Sir. Once it would have been unthinkable not to. Times are a changing and I think we are all the poorer for it. We are breeding a race of egalitarianism but where responsibility is still not equal and never will be. Johnny is as good as his master except when there is bleeding or no blood pressure or a bill has to be paid. As for Australians calling one another "Mate" this is common but not universal. It is a class statement generally. It may be both a term of endearment and derision or just neutral. It is our intrinsic attitude which produces the extrinsic manifestations. One may call a professor by his title but by you actions and body language it is plain that this honorific use is mere lip service. P.S. No one washes my feet with expensive ointment. Odysseus
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 15/3/2013 11:16 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2044
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
I've been working with an ex-serviceman, now an ODP who was an Army Medic (that is, paramedic), serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. I call him not only by his first name but by a diminutive of that name, like Johnny. He calls me, Sah! We discussed this one day, and he said it's just natural to him from his training. Because I'm a consultant, I'm an officer, and addressed as such. But I asked, in an emergency, how do I know who is calling me Sir? No probs, he said, in a tight military group, there are many grades of Sah! and you (the officers) know who you are. You (he said) are SAH!, the one in command. Other junior officers will have different Sirs, that they recognise, from mine to a slower, falling intonation one that is for the most junior officer present. A fascinating insight into a tight tribal group! Clealry it works in the British Army, although I've seen videos of American trauma medics being taught to use thier military practice of first names to make sure that the right person gets the message. Maybe I should be happy to be called John in theatre or trauma, just as long as it's "John, Sah!" John |
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 16/3/2013 6:59 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 959
First: 15/7/2011 Last: 21/5/2013 |
In response to "Re: How to address your Consultant?": I've been working with an ex-serviceman, now an ODP who was an Army Medic (that is, paramedic), serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. I call him not only by his first name but by a diminutive of that name, like Johnny. He calls me, Sah ! We discussed this one day, and he said it's just natural to him from his training. Because I'm a consultant, I'm an officer, and addressed as such. But I asked, in an emergency, how do I know who is calling me Sir? No probs, he said, in a tight military group, there are many grades of Sah! and you (the officers) know who you are. You (he said) are SAH!, the one in command. Other junior officers will have different Sirs, that they recognise, from mine to a slower, falling intonation one that is for the most junior officer present. A fascinating insight into a tight tribal group! Clealry it works in the British Army, although I've seen videos of American trauma medics being taught to use thier military practice of first names to make sure that the right person gets the message. Maybe I should be happy to be called John in theatre or trauma, just as long as it's "John, Sah!" John Posted by John D John it might be easier if you carry a swagger stick and grow a handlebar moustache. As a patient I want to call my treating Doctor 'Doctor' or 'Mr' or 'Mrs', I think they have earned it and I am not their mate or chum and want them to treat me as a patient. This is respectful and keeps the relationship as it should be. When I work closely with Drs on cases invariably we use first name terms but when I refer to the Doctor to someone else I always call them Dr Smith or Prof Crippen. Equally when I am consulted I do not expect anyone to call me by my first name or as 'mate'. It is not because I like to feel important, I want a professional relationship. The only exception to this is that my wife can call me a whole range of names, all of which I must accept as she is the Commandant of our home. Kirked (Ps John Inbox) |
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 16/3/2013 11:05 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1
First: 16/3/2013 Last: 16/3/2013 |
I don’t think it matters so much what you are called, as how you are called. A title used can be done with sarcasm and disrespect, or a first name can be used with huge respect and appreciation. I have never really minded what I was called, as long as the attitude behind it was acceptable. That said, I have never been very keen on patients calling me by my first name. Two reasons really: examining someone, I think it is more comfortable for both of you if there is a measure of formality. Secondly I notice in the ER that patients who read my name badge and picked up on my first name were usually seeking inappropriate prescriptions. There was just this little correlation. Conversely, in psychiatry, I was always very touched that some of the most disadvantaged patients would make an effort, no matter how unwell they might be, to pronounce and remember my quite difficult surname. I know this was their expression of appreciation. As for colleagues, that has not gone so well. I always called my consultants by their title, unless directed otherwise. But I remember a medicine weekend on call as an SHO. Some bloke rang up from the ER to send us a patient. In the spirit of cheery camaraderie at the beginning of a long shift, I said, “ok, seems reasonable, send them up ... and no crap referrals from you guys this weekend eh?” The frosty silence and further information told me I was speaking to the consultant not a fellow SHO as I thought. But really, seriously, he was called Jessie for goodness sake. How was I supposed to know? This is Blighty after all, not the colonies. Aside from gross professional gaffes, caused by informality, I don’t see that formality and respect go hand in hand at all. Respect needs to be earned and is a function of who someone is - not their title. I think it is for this reason that colleagues will use titles. Whether it be from junior to senior, younger to older, or less experienced to very experienced. The degrees are earned, and the title continues to be thereafter. |
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 16/3/2013 2:16 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 339
First: 17/12/2011 Last: 15/5/2013 |
Consultants generally addressed by their Title 'Dr ' , 'Mr' or 'Professor' unless I know them well. Some time 'Sir ' seems more appropriate. I think that 'Sir' is probably a hang over from my Public School boarding days. When I was a part time Prison Medical Officer I was called 'Boss' by the inmates and the Prison Officers were called 'Officer'. But what to call female Consultants? What is the female equivalent of 'Sir'. 'Mam' may be OK for HRH, but sounds wrong for a female Consultant , especially when they are younger than I am. So I suppose I should continue to use their title . Is there a female equivalent of 'Sir' other than 'Mam' ? |
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Re: How to address your Consultant?
posted at 17/3/2013 4:39 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2947
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 29/4/2013 |
Monsieur et Madame = Sir and M"am. It is all to do with your ego and whether you have mastered the beast which is always driving us. We must learn to tame him and put him on a leash lest he maul us and others. He has such an insatiable appetite and wrecks fences and chews chains. Few learn he exists. But he does. Not a nice dog, really. Odysseus
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