When you work on the frontlines of healthcare, greeting patients and conveying vital information is just part of the job. Medical Assistants, Patient Care Assistants, and other entry-level staff members often serve as the first point of contact for patients at hospitals and clinics across the country, setting the tone for their experience on a day-to-day basis.
One straightforward way to start off your relationship with a new patient on the right foot is to address them by their preferred name and pronouns. Getting into the habit of requesting this information can be tough, but it’s essential to providing compassionate and effective care.
Importance of Pronoun Use in Healthcare
While treating patients with respect is the baseline, there are several key reasons why using the right terms truly matters in clinical environments, such as:
Patient safety
Everyone has preferences regarding how they’re spoken to and about, but it’s especially important to respect these boundaries in clinical settings, where any breakdown in communication could lead to worse outcomes.
Legal & ethical responsibility
While this shouldn’t be your only motivation for providing respectful care, you should know that failing to use your patients’ preferred name or pronouns could risk breaking your employer’s anti-discrimination policies, or even federal and state laws.
Reducing health inequality
LGBTQ+ patients, especially transgender and nonbinary individuals, face disproportionately high rates of discrimination in healthcare settings. Using inclusive language is an easy way to combat that disparity by encouraging queer patients to keep up with their appointments and maintain their health.
Building trust
It’s impossible to provide quality care without all of the relevant info. By addressing patients respectfully, you let them know that they can trust you and your institution with sensitive information.
How to Ask for Pronouns When Taking Patient History
So now that you know why it’s so important to address patients properly, how do you actually find out their preferred name or pronouns? Luckily, this is the easy part.
When you first meet a patient, simply offer your own name and pronouns first, like this: “Hi, my name is [your name] and I use [X] pronouns. What name and pronouns do you go by?”
Common Challenges and Missteps
Where does the hard part come in? For many people, it’s actually using the pronoun once you’ve verified it. If, for example, a patient uses they/them pronouns, a medical administrative assistant unfamiliar with the queer community might unintentionally revert to using the pronoun they associate with the person’s appearance.
When this happens, it’s important not to overreact. If you misgender someone, try not to get defensive, overexplain yourself, or shut down. Accidental misgendering isn’t proof that you’re a bad person or clinician. It’s just a simple mistake, like misspelling someone’s name.
Instead, acknowledge your error, correct yourself, and move on. This keeps the emphasis of the conversation where it should be: on the patient and their care, not on you.
Handling Discomfort and Pushback
Outside of conversations with patients, it’s perfectly reasonable to address any discomfort you, your fellow staff members, or even other patients may have with adjusting to using unfamiliar pronouns. Change can be hard, and not acknowledging that difficulty won’t make it go away.
That said, this discomfort should never be prioritized above actual patient care. If you can, advocate for inclusivity training that helps staff work through their feelings and understand the importance of culturally sensitive healthcare.
Conclusion
Remember, addressing patients respectfully isn’t just the kind thing to do, it’s also the clinically appropriate choice according to the American Medical Association (AMA), among other professional organizations.
While it’s important to openly acknowledge and work through any discomfort you might have with using inclusive language, those feelings should never be treated as more important than the health and happiness of the people you care for, no matter their identity.
