On Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 8:02 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > I should note an informal but important caveat: In many (most?) teaching > hospitals, the term "Doctor" is used by and around patients to refer to the > role and function, not the degree. So a 4th year medical student doing a > clinical rotation, who has not yet earned their degree, is usually referred > to as "Doctor" by both patients and nurses (at least when the latter are in > the presence of patients). This no doubt it in the service of the ongoing > mystification of patients, so that they ascribe god-like powers to anyone > treating them. >
I would be less cynical and replace mystify with reassure. I have done wilderness first aid courses, where wilderness means at least one hour from ambulance access, and we were taught that the first thing to do with a patient (after putting on latex gloves) is to look the patient in the eye and firmly and calmly say, "I'm here to help you." The purpose is to reduce fear and stress. I could see a similar situation in a hospital setting where a patient, upon being told that he is talking to a med student and not a physician, stiffens up, refuses to cooperate, and loudly and repeatedly demands to see a real doctor. That doesn't help the patient and it doesn't do any good for the confidence of the med student, either. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
