I'm a student nurse so I don't really interact with doctors that much, haha. So I didn't vote in the poll since none of the answers really suited me. However, when I am a nurse, would I call the docs by the first name? It really depends how well I know them I guess.

The attending is out of school, out of internship and out of residency. They're a doc all on their own, with no one else looking over their shoulder.

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Attending - Sometimes also referred to as "The Big Cheese" or "The Head Honcho." Basically it's the top position a doctor can take in the hospital and still be involved with patient care.

At least that's the way it works in a teaching hospital. Community hospitals might be different.

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That is the person who in the UK is called a consultant. I wondered as much.

Thanks both of you

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On my floor we call most of the docs by their first name with a couple of exceptions. The docs that we call by their first names are the ones that are specific to our unit (neurosurgeons and neurologists) Other docs I just don't know well enough to call them by their first name. The other exception is that when talking to another doctor and referencing another ex.: ::speaking to a physician:: "His attending is Dr. M, pager number 0000, but you could speak with his resident Dr. A who is on the floor now" This goes for family as well....
So basically we call the unit docs by their first name when talking with other nurses on the unit or to the doc him/herself, anybody else gets the full ubbangi

We call most of our docs by their first names. But this is the first hospital where I've done that. Previously, it was only the med students and residents that got called by their first names.

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Julie

My Blog ER RN

I work in a teaching hospital and in a specialty area so we call our head docs 'attending' or 'faculty'. Attending physicians practice on their specialty areas and can also supervise residents and medical students. They make the final decisions, as oppose to consultants, regarding the patient's care .

To follow-up on what Nurse CeeJay said, one way I think of it is that any note by a MS, intern or resident is usually signed by the attending.

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We also have code names we use for them when they aren't there: such as
Baby Doc
Not the doc
Old Doc
Horses As-
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Julie, the "attending" is the patient's Primary Care Doctor; the doctor who is ultimately responsible for the patient. An "attending" is not an intern or a resident but a full fledged doctor who may be over a few interns or residents.

It kind of breaks down like a hierarchy:
1. The intern (the newbie)
2. The resident (the middle, still learning but not quite there yet)
3. "THE" doctor (attending) - the supreme being who knows all!

I couldn't help sharing the sequence of events since my oldest daughter is a brand spanking new "attending."

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