Calling the Nurse "Doctor"

Source: NY Times

Here is an article in Sunday's New York Times about nurse practitioners with doctorate degrees. The trend extends to pharmacists and physical therapists. It is becoming increasingly routine for patients that someone who is not a physician uses the title of doctor


Rightly, healthcare workers are entitled to introduce themselves as "Doctors" if they have a doctoral degree. However, this could be misleading to the patients. It may not be clear to patients that the "doctor" is a nurse, pharmacist or physical therapist.


At stake is also a potential erosion of physician power. 


It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run.