UK titles may influence patients’ confidence in their eye surgeon
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FRANKFURT, Germany — A survey carried out in the U.K. showed that patients are confused by the complicated naming system of physicians and largely misunderstand their level of experience.
The word “trainee” in particular in the U.K. system, which corresponds to “resident” in the U.S., may create the patient perception of being in the hands of a junior doctor with no experience. In reality, specialty trainees in their sixth or seventh year have usually performed hundreds of independent cataract operations.
“I had the idea to look at how these titles affect patients’ perception of your experience due to the fact that I was in a postoperative cataract clinic and a colleague of mine got a lot of abuse from a patient because on her discharge summary she signed off as ‘trainee.’ ... And this is despite the fact that the patient had achieved 6/4 vision with no complications, and everything was perfect,” Matthew Stahl, MD, said at the ESCRS winter meeting.
When asked to rank physicians’ titles in their perceived order, patients felt that specialty trainees were by far the most junior doctors and ranked them lower than foundation doctors, who are in reality those who are undertaking the first 2 years of basic postgraduate training.
“They also thought that senior house officers, who are the second most junior title, were pretty senior, and that’s fair enough considering there is the word ‘senior’ in their title,” Stahl said.
Finally, in the U.K., the title of a surgeon consultant is Mr. or Ms., while it is Dr. for non-surgeon physicians. However, most of the survey respondents thought that Dr. consultants were more senior than Mr./Ms. consultants.
According to Stahl, the survey highlights the need for a simplified naming system for medical doctors that more clearly reflects their experience. The word “trainee” in particular is probably not the most appropriate and may create unnecessary anxiety in patients.
“I just wonder how you would feel if you were flying and the captain announced that the trainee pilot will be flying the plane,” he said. “I will leave you on that closing thought.”
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Stahl M. Decoding the name game: The influence of titles on patient confidence in their eye surgeon. Presented at: ESCRS winter meeting; Feb. 15-18, 2024; Frankfurt, Germany.
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