If someone knows how I can [barney fife] “nip this in the bud” [/barney fife], please tell me, but y’all: I am NOT a doctor.
I am a respiratory therapist AND I work in the ER.
We have some real MD’s on our board, and I never want them to think I am trying to pass myself off as a doctor. THEY put in much more time than I did getting their degrees and I respect that a WHOLE BUNCH!
Now, I do run into some elderly patients in the ER, who call me “Doc” and they too, get told what I do but for some reason, that’s what they want to say to me and any of the male nurses I work with, so other than correcting them everytime, I don’t know what else to do.
I just want to set the record straight.
Should I preface every medical post or thread with IANAD?
Would that solve the problem?
I appreciate the compliment, however, but if you’ll take the time to read some of my posts/threads, you’d realize “there’s no way this guy’s that smart!”
In thinking about it a little further, I came to the conclusion that it’s a bit arrogant of me to expect people to know that, when I write about medical stuff, so I incorporated it into every post with the sig line. In those that I choose not to use the sig line in, I will add the IANAD.
Here lately I have been having problems getting the “Big Picture”.
Sorry!
Bill
ATTN: IANAD…If anything in this post makes you go HUH?, report it, okay? Reason is below…
My** Alzheimer’s **Blog is at http://wheretobud.blogspot.com/
Quasimodem: my take is that “IANAD” and notes of that type are only necessary where it might looks like you are claiming medical expertise. They mean “this is what I think, but I don’t know for sure.” Linking to your blog wouldn’t qualify in my opinion, so you don’t need it in your sig. “I see men and women in my ER” (from your other thread) is a discussion of your experience, not a claim of that kind. So you might want to say that you aren’t a doctor, but it doesn’t require the “IANAD” tag.
For what it’s worth, I never assume someone is a doctor unless they either explicitly say so, or are slithering on the hull. That goes for experts of any stripe really.
I was thinking your concern was going to be about patients at work calling you Doc, and coworkers giving you grief about it. Glad that’s not the case!
Well, just explain what you do. No need to overstate, just tell them your practical experience. I am not a doctor, but I help treat and diagnose patients with Respiratory problems everyday.
