- Joined
- Dec 28, 2010
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Hey! I'm a resident who recently mistook his attending for a nurse and pissed her off and took weeks to get on her good side. I'm not sure if you came here expecting an explanation or just someone to listen but if you want to know why I think I did it, it was because the attending was young, she was wearing scrubs (like nurses), and she was pre-rounding unlike most attendings. Additionally, I probably have some subconscious bias towards thinking of a doctor as a male as much as I wish and try to change that perception, the subconcious bias exists. I think the answer lies in your explanation itself (bolded). Subconsciously, others have associated male with physician and females with nurses and the bolded probably contributes to that. Is there something toxic/sexist behind that? That's a nuanced discussion with valid points on both sides. All you can do though is be assertive and correct the ones who mistake you and then how they deal with/internalize that is their own problem.This has been frustrating. I'm an attending, a medical director, petite, female and a minority. I work with a lot of older patients, and there is an all male medicine group that also follows the patients. I'm frequently called "nurse" or told "the doctor said...' when referring to the other docs in the all male group. I frequently am confused. I introduce myself as doctor so and so and at times when they ask if I'm the nurse I say no I am your doctor. then they are like oh sorry! and then bam! the next day or two they go back to calling me nurse. Granted most patients are very happy with their care and most have great outcomes. but it's frustrating and I don't knwo what to do about it.