English surgeons may at last be about to become doctors: What about nurses with PhDs?

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7504.1391-a

BMJ 2005;330:1391 (11 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7504.1391-a

Letter

English surgeons may at last be about to become doctors

What about nurses with PhDs?

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—Surgeons calling themselves or who prefer beingcalled Mr/Ms/Mrs are becoming less common nowadays and may becomea thing of the past.¹ Members of the public could easily thinkthat they are not being cared for by a "doctor," so I hope theanachronistic surgeon will finally agree to retain the title"Dr" even after passing the professional examination.

As more and more nurses are getting PhDs, I would like to knowhow the medical profession feels about nurses being called Dr.The irony is greatest if the doctor is a "Mr" and the nursea "Dr."

Ying K Leung, gastroenterologist

Precious Blood Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong leungyki@hkstar.com

Competing interests: None declared.