I was THAT person.
Rounding in the ICU a few weeks ago, saw a HCW in scrubs and sneakers leave a patient’s room. Didn’t see a badge.
I wrongly assumed she was a nurse. She was a MD/DO consulting on the patient.
Despite MY own bias-training and experiences, I was THAT person.
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I apologized, introduced her as Dr. __ and thanked her for her consultation. I was mortified.
I made a mistake. And I’ve thought about it everyday.
No matter how much you learn or try, biases exist.
Forgive me Twitter for I have f***ed up. Thanks for listening.
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I also want to add that in no way is this a slight to non-MDs, because I now see how that reads — any assumption in either direction, role, gender, ethnicity, can be bias-driven and ill-informed.
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@CPark_MD
It is brave of you to admit it - thank you for sharing. We ALL have biases. The key is recognizing them and working on them. I’ve made similar mistakes too for ex I thought one nurse was another nurse bc they had the same ethnicity, called her by wrong name & apologized profusely
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@CPark_MD
Such a nasty realization to be confronted by something you try so actively to combat. I work with many surgeons and sometimes if I hear a name I don’t know I automatically use he/him and I HATE it.
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