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Unintended elder abuse - calling Grandma "Sweetie"


Michael

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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?

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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

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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

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