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Can we talk Doctors? A Discussion on the Academic Title

Can one be called a Doctor, no matter the setting, if they have a Doctrates?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 55.6%

  • No

    Votes: 2 11.1%

  • Depends on the setting

    Votes: 6 33.3%
  • Total voters
    18
Dezaad said:
I said "Socially". As in, outside of "Professionally". In any "Social" setting, everyone should be introduced without professional titles. Etiquette generally says different, and I completely disagree.
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I know you said socially but first introductions are first introductions. And even socially, there is a difference between meeting for pizza and beer after shooting hoops and meeting a stranger at a high end restaurant. Theres a spectrum, and frankly you are making me think about etiquette more than I need to.

Growing up I was friends with an actor from a popular TGIF show. Nobody cared about etiquette and frankly it would have freaked us out. She's been hit with my piss. :lol:
 
US Conservative said:
I know you said socially but first introductions are first introductions. And even socially, there is a difference between meeting for pizza and beer after shooting hoops and meeting a stranger at a high end restaurant. Theres a spectrum, and frankly you are making me think about etiquette more than I need to.

Growing up I was friends with an actor from a popular TGIF show. Nobody cared about etiquette and frankly it would have freaked us out. She's been hit with my piss. :lol:
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Whether meeting for pizza or meeting at a high end restaurant, everyone should be introduced as "Mr.", "Mrs." or "Ms.", unless the person you are meeting is the leader of the free world, and even then I am not certain about it.

But, I think I compartmentalize my social and professional worlds more than most people do.
 
Dezaad said:
Whether meeting for pizza or meeting at a high end restaurant, everyone should be introduced as "Mr.", "Mrs." or "Ms.", unless the person you are meeting is the leader of the free world, and even then I am not certain about it.

But, I think I compartmentalize my social and professional worlds more than most people do.
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I dont know if you do or not, but I dont see things as being so structured. This isn't victorian england, I live in southern california. I know things are more formal back east.
 
Outside of a medical setting I'd have no issue with a person with a PhD in something other than the traditional one regarding medicine being referred to as "Doctor".

IN a medical setting however I don't care if you're a Nurse with a PhD in Nursing, an accountant in the hospital with a PhD in Economics, or a janitor with a PhD in Philosophy....within a medical setting only medical doctors should be called "Doctor" for the sake of clarity within that professional work environment.

Someone who coaches rec league teams or offers "life coaching" to people can be called "Coach". However if they're primary job is working inside the HQ or a football or basketball team as an administrative employee in no way, shape, or form should people feel they need to refer to them as "coach" in that setting. Why? Because within that setting "coach" has a very specific meaning and implication as it relates to the work being done in that building.

After 30+ years training in Martial Arts my father earned the rank of "Professor". However, if he took over as head of campus security on a college I would suggest it'd be wrongful to be referring to him as "Professor" because within that environment there's an expectation and meaning to that word that he doesn't fit.

When you're in a medical setting, people are using the word "Doctor" to describe the profession, not simply a degree. Your not in a hospital looking for a Doctor and expecting Sheldon Cooper and his PhD in Physics to show up. Within that setting...absolutely, only the traditinoally thought of MD Doctor should be called Doctor. As a Patient I would be FURIOUS if someone introduced themselves as "Doctor" so-and-so to me as they began to work on or around me, and then later discovered that they were not an MD.
 
Zinthaniel said:
No, this has nothing to do with Obamacare so retract your claws.

I have for a very long time, as have many others, referred to physicians as "Doctors". However, as a college student who is now more aware of degree and the titles that come with them - I now know that a Doctor isn't necessarily a "Doctor" and a "Doctor" is not always, technically, a Doctor.

So here is a thread on a nursing site regarding their right as a nurse to refer to themselves as a Doctor if they have earned, through rigurous study and invested time, a doctrates in Nursing Practice ( A degree that allows them to act in some capacities as a physician)

Can you be called "Doctor" with a PhD in Nursing? - pg.5 | allnurses

An articulate quote from one Dr. Nurse -



Now this is a MD forum discussing the same topic. Skim through it if you like but the overall sentiments there are - "No only we physicians get to be called 'Doctors'"
Doctor of Nursing Practice? | Student Doctor Network

Now the title Ph.D predates the academic established field of Medical Practice. Being a Doctor of any field and referring to yourself as a Doctor was thing before physicians stepped into town. From what I can gather physicians in America, since outside of the US physicians are often referred to as just that physicians, started referring to themselves as Doctors to gain more repsect for a field of study that at the time wasn't being as respected as it should be.

Though physicians are skilled, vital, and educated people - I don't believe they have the right to monopolize the title Doctor, especially when many physicians do not have a Doctrates in the first place. Granted as language has evolved the word Doctor now includes physician as a definiton, but I don't believe that addition in meaning should trump the original and still applicable meaning of -



In a nutshell if you have a Doctrates in Economy - You are a doctor.
If you have a doctrates in English Literature - You are a doctor. And you have every right to refer to yourself by your earned titled.
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One caveat would be calling yourself "Doktor" in Germany before you have had it state approved.
 
Ben K. said:
Fair enough outside of a hospital or in any setting a person may expect to come across a medical doctor.

People have expectations in context...and litigation issues surrounding proclaiming yourself as something regarding consent.
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I find it cool to use the title as a nurse, especially it it is in literature. Let the patients ponder your changing the bed sheets.
 
joG said:
I find it cool to use the title as a nurse, especially it it is in literature. Let the patients ponder your changing the bed sheets.
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Most Nurses with a doctorate are either in administration or work are nurse practitioners, neither is likely to be changing sheets, or frankly working with inpatients who need sheets changed.
 
US Conservative said:
Most Nurses with a doctorate are either in administration or work are nurse practitioners, neither is likely to be changing sheets, or frankly working with inpatients who need sheets changed.
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Pity actually. 'Would be a neat opener.
 
We have plenty of non-MD doctors called Dr. at the hospital I work at with no problems. It is simple, if a person comes up and asks the person a question that the person with a PhD cant ethically answer then they explain that. If they can ethically answer then they have every right to answer.
 
Zyphlin said:
Outside of a medical setting I'd have no issue with a person with a PhD in something other than the traditional one regarding medicine being referred to as "Doctor".

IN a medical setting however I don't care if you're a Nurse with a PhD in Nursing, an accountant in the hospital with a PhD in Economics, or a janitor with a PhD in Philosophy....within a medical setting only medical doctors should be called "Doctor" for the sake of clarity within that professional work environment.

Someone who coaches rec league teams or offers "life coaching" to people can be called "Coach". However if they're primary job is working inside the HQ or a football or basketball team as an administrative employee in no way, shape, or form should people feel they need to refer to them as "coach" in that setting. Why? Because within that setting "coach" has a very specific meaning and implication as it relates to the work being done in that building.

After 30+ years training in Martial Arts my father earned the rank of "Professor". However, if he took over as head of campus security on a college I would suggest it'd be wrongful to be referring to him as "Professor" because within that environment there's an expectation and meaning to that word that he doesn't fit.

When you're in a medical setting, people are using the word "Doctor" to describe the profession, not simply a degree. Your not in a hospital looking for a Doctor and expecting Sheldon Cooper and his PhD in Physics to show up. Within that setting...absolutely, only the traditinoally thought of MD Doctor should be called Doctor. As a Patient I would be FURIOUS if someone introduced themselves as "Doctor" so-and-so to me as they began to work on or around me, and then later discovered that they were not an MD.
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Don't make assumptions. PhD is a doctorate, anyone who has one can be called Doctor, particularly in their professional environment.

MDs don't have monopoly on doctor, if fact they're the ones who usurped it in the first place. Perchance they should address themselves more accurately as MD to avoid confusion with other professional doctor titles.
 
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