Unintended elder abuse - calling Grandma "Sweetie"

[firedoc5]

I'm with Firedoc, Sir and Ma'am will never do you wrong.

Unless you can't tell which one they are!! :shock: ( I have had some like that)

Me too, over the phone. The caller was complaining about a neighbor burning leaves. I was going to hand it over to my Lt. and said, "One moment, ma'am." and the caller said "I'm not a ma'am, I'm a sir." How do you apologize appropriately enough for that?

[Richard B the EMT]

You can't, which was why the old NYC EMD had the call takers always call the caller "Caller".

[Ridryder 911]

It also has to do with the location and geography. I know in my area, one calls an elderly man "Sir" that may be the cause of fighting words as the usual reply is "I worked for a living".

I agree, the traditional sir names should be used, but that saying I also know many of elderly like the empathetic words of "sweetie, hon, sug.." etc.. especially elderly men from females. Again, if used correctly.

I guess the lady would be really upset if one would call her the other slang.."old bitty"..

R/r 911

[mediccjh]

The thing I tell all new partners or students on my truck:

Deer have antlers, honey attracts bees, and sweeties melt in the rain because they're made of sugar. You WILL refer to our patients as sir or ma'am.

[firedoc5]

Ma'am will also get you around Miss, Mrs, Ms. :female:

[Michael]

So will "Cupcake" - bent around, like a pretzel.

[sirduke]

Stick with Mr/Mrs, Ma'am, it works and it should be the standard.

I just took a GEMS course, and it devoted almost a whole chapter to this, I thought it would be common sense.

[NYC-EMS]

HOW ABOUT A KICK IN THE PANTS YOU OLD BITTY!!!!!lololo

[WolfmanHarris]

As a student I haven't seen a ton of patients, but every elderly patient I've dealt with when referred to as "Mr or Mrs Soandso" has followed up with "Please just call me Firstname." Not so with Sir and Ma'am. Consider this: sir and ma'am are polite, but generic. Use of even the patient's last name shows you care enough to learn their name, build a certain familiarity necessary for building trust and as a result, they ask for their first name to be used. I'm sure this isn't the case with all, and I doubt everyone will be convinced, but this is why I avoid overusing Sir and Ma'am and using the patient's name, even if it's just the surname as much as possible.

- Matt

[flutterby22]

I agree with DocHarris 110 percent! very wise to be using a name of some sort (first or last) to build some kind of relationship with the person you're dealing with. It makes people feel as if they really mean something to you if you take the time to remember their name =)