#MyFirstNameIsDoctor: Why it matters, and what you can do
What’s the right approach when a patient, uninvited, addresses you by your first name? Natalie Strand, MD, had been thinking about the best way to handle this sticky situation for some time. Recently, she tried it out on a patient and shared her approach in a tweet:
So proud of myself!
After introducing myself as Dr. Strand to a patient, he looked at my name badge and said- oh, so Natalie.
,Usually I’m stuck feeling afraid to rock the boat...
Not today!
“Yes, but I go by Dr. Strand at work! “
I finally said it!!!
— Natalie Strand (@DrNatStrand) October 11, 2019
There was an awkward moment with the patient, Dr. Strand acknowledged, “but we moved past it.”
Asserting one’s hard-earned status despite a societally ingrained desire to please or to avoid confrontation can be difficult, she acknowledged, but it’s worth it. Put simply, she said, “I want to be called Dr. Strand.”
The importance of this issue can sometimes be hard for male colleagues to understand, said Dr. Strand, who practices outpatient interventional pain medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Ariz. “The people that have privilege – they don’t see it as privilege. And that’s not anybody’s fault. That’s just the reality of it, because that’s the norm. … That’s why putting a name to microaggression and microinsults is so powerful, because once you name it, then you can respond to it.”
Beginning from a point of mutual professionalism is a good place to start, Dr. Strand said in an interview. She always begins by addressing her patients by their surname and waits for patients to invite her to call them by their first names. “The most professional approach is the best first step,” she said. When she has a longstanding relationship with patients and she knows that trust and mutual respect have been established, she may also invite first-name familiarity.
“Patients don’t do this to be mean,” emphasized Dr. Strand, adding that, particularly with older patients, “they are trying to be sweet.” That’s part of the difficulty in finding a gentle but firm way to bring the relationship back to a professional footing.
Judging by the responses she’s gotten from other female physicians, this delicate situation, and the best way to ask for professionalism with patients, is a common struggle. Many of her female peers have said they’ll consider adopting her approach, she said.
“Male physicians are our allies,” said Dr. Strand. “The needs of the patients come first. This isn’t about power; it’s not about holding a power differential against the patient. It’s about having a culture of mutual respect, and being seen as a physician. Not as a female physician, not as a male physician. Just being seen as a physician, so you can act as a physician.”
Whether they come from patients or peers, said Dr. James, who adroitly called out the physician reviewer who asked for her by first name, “These microaggressions are uncomfortable to address at the time they occur – but they are teachable moments that we should all take advantage of. Usually, a gentle correction, such as, ‘I prefer to be addressed as Dr. James while at work,’ is sufficient.” However, she added, “sometimes, a firmer ‘I feel disrespected when you address me by my first name to colleagues and patients’ is needed.”
This article was updated 10/15/19.
