{"id":909,"date":"2014-03-26T18:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/adc\/?p=909"},"modified":"2014-03-25T23:25:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T22:25:03","slug":"whats-in-a-name-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/adc\/2014\/03\/26\/whats-in-a-name-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s in a name?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/adc\/files\/2014\/03\/20140320-145928.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full\" alt=\"20140320-145928.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/adc\/files\/2014\/03\/20140320-145928.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A guest post from\u00a0@tweediatrics.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, a discussion surfaced on Twitter regarding the use of \u201caffectionate\u201d names with patients. It started from this, tweeted by an A+E consultant in the UK:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColleague disciplined for calling a 90 yr old lady &#8216;my dear&#8217; &amp; &#8216;darling&#8217;. She had no issues with them. Are we being too PC? #overreaction?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>So how many of us, as paediatricians, have committed the same alleged faux-pas; use of overly-familiar names to imply or foster a closeness with our patients? Is it really a problem if we do, or do the same rules not apply to the young as they do the elderly?<\/p>\n<p>Confession time; I\u2019m a serial offender. The younger the child, the more likely I am to use something other than what\u2019s on their birth certificate.<\/p>\n<p>A scandalously-unscientific poll of paediatricians showed a range of names: darling, sweetie, chap, champ, tiger, cutie, poppet, mate, buddy, kiddo, young man\/lady, dude, mister, gorgeous, little man, big man, maggot(!), pickle, sausage and munchkin all made appearances.<\/p>\n<p>So it seems that many of us will use an affectionate name, tailored to the child\u2019s gender and age. Timmy may not mind being a \u201ctiger\u201d aged three, but may have changed his mind by thirteen! I\u2019ve personally never had a negative reaction from either child or parent, although one colleague was once told in no uncertain terms by a child, \u201cI\u2019m NOT your buddy!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In my mind, this raises another question; what do we call the child\u2019s mother? \u201cMrs. Jones\u201d seems formal, but may not be correct. First name straight away may be too far the other way. Is it safer just to say \u201cMum\u201d? Or \u201cTimmy\u2019s mum\u201d? Again, I\u2019ve consulted the Twitter hive-mind of paediatricians and parents.<\/p>\n<p>Opinion was split over \u201cMum\u201d; many paediatricians saw it as being impersonal or lazy. Parents seemed divided, some not minding \u201cMum\u201d as it recognises their role (similar to them addressing me as \u201cdoctor\u201d), whilst others echoed the doctors\u2019 concerns about it seeming impersonal. Other parents preferred \u201cMrs. X\u201d, although some pointed out that they don\u2019t share a surname with their child. Most popular seemed to be a first name, but the same message cropped up repeatedly; ask first.<\/p>\n<p>One respondent simply stated:<br \/>\n\u201cIn the short term, I don\u2019t care; just fix my child\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As ever, one-size doesn\u2019t fit all. In choosing how to address children and parents, we may be expressing not just friendliness and openness, but also consciously or subconsciously assigning positions and roles within the consultation. The best course of action seems to be ask your patients, and listen to their answers. If you\u2019ve got an opinion, feel free to carry on the debate on Twitter; I\u2019m @tweediatrics. Thanks poppet.<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A guest post from\u00a0@tweediatrics. Last week, a discussion surfaced on Twitter regarding the use of \u201caffectionate\u201d names with patients. It started from this, tweeted by an A+E consultant in the UK: \u201cColleague disciplined for calling a 90 yr old lady &#8216;my dear&#8217; &amp; &#8216;darling&#8217;. She had no issues with them. Are we being too PC? [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/adc\/2014\/03\/26\/whats-in-a-name-2\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2675,2681],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-post","category-practice-of-medicine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What&#039;s in a name? - ADC Online Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/adc\/2014\/03\/26\/whats-in-a-name-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What&#039;s in a name? - ADC Online Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A guest post from\u00a0@tweediatrics. Last week, a discussion surfaced on Twitter regarding the use of \u201caffectionate\u201d names with patients. It started from this, tweeted by an A+E consultant in the UK: \u201cColleague disciplined for calling a 90 yr old lady &#8216;my dear&#8217; &amp; &#8216;darling&#8217;. She had no issues with them. Are we being too PC? 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Last week, a discussion surfaced on Twitter regarding the use of \u201caffectionate\u201d names with patients. It started from this, tweeted by an A+E consultant in the UK: \u201cColleague disciplined for calling a 90 yr old lady &#8216;my dear&#8217; &amp; &#8216;darling&#8217;. She had no issues with them. Are we being too PC? 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