By Bair Whelan and Henry H Woo from the The Medical Journal of Australia:
Anecdotally, the use of the term "Mr" appears to be losing favour, at least in New South Wales, and we sought to determine the prevalence of "Mr's" among urologists in New South Wales and Victoria.
Of a total of 134 urologists, data about preferred title were collected from 69 with practice addresses in NSW and 56 with practices in Victoria (response rate, 93%). Year of commencing Society membership ranged from 1963 to 2002. The preferred title across NSW was "Dr", whereas "Mr" predominated in Victoria (Box). Five Victorian urologists preferred the title "Dr" included among these were all the female urologists contacted who were practising in Victoria.
The use of the title "Mr" among NSW urologists appears to have become obsolete. As NSW is the state with the most urologists, the umbrella title of "Mr", as dictated by English tradition, can no longer be used for male urologists.
The first female urologist in Australia completed her training in 1993, and currently about 10 women are practising as urologists in Australia. Greater numbers of women are entering urological surgery training, and, at the time of writing, there are 10 female trainees in advanced urological training posts across Australia. The use of the salutation "Dr" among female urologists, in states where "Mr" is used for male urologists, potentially may cause some confusion -- patients may be uncertain of their surgeon's qualifications. Female surgeons in the United Kingdom are traditionally addressed as "Miss", regardless of marital status, but convention has expanded to include more recently "Ms" and "Mrs".4,5
The attitudes and practices of surgeons across Australia, as well as the shift to more women in the profession, should be reflected in surgeons' titles, and consideration given to phasing out the archaic title of "Mr".
Anecdotally, the use of the term "Mr" appears to be losing favour, at least in New South Wales, and we sought to determine the prevalence of "Mr's" among urologists in New South Wales and Victoria.
Of a total of 134 urologists, data about preferred title were collected from 69 with practice addresses in NSW and 56 with practices in Victoria (response rate, 93%). Year of commencing Society membership ranged from 1963 to 2002. The preferred title across NSW was "Dr", whereas "Mr" predominated in Victoria (Box). Five Victorian urologists preferred the title "Dr" included among these were all the female urologists contacted who were practising in Victoria.
The use of the title "Mr" among NSW urologists appears to have become obsolete. As NSW is the state with the most urologists, the umbrella title of "Mr", as dictated by English tradition, can no longer be used for male urologists.
The first female urologist in Australia completed her training in 1993, and currently about 10 women are practising as urologists in Australia. Greater numbers of women are entering urological surgery training, and, at the time of writing, there are 10 female trainees in advanced urological training posts across Australia. The use of the salutation "Dr" among female urologists, in states where "Mr" is used for male urologists, potentially may cause some confusion -- patients may be uncertain of their surgeon's qualifications. Female surgeons in the United Kingdom are traditionally addressed as "Miss", regardless of marital status, but convention has expanded to include more recently "Ms" and "Mrs".4,5
The attitudes and practices of surgeons across Australia, as well as the shift to more women in the profession, should be reflected in surgeons' titles, and consideration given to phasing out the archaic title of "Mr".
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