The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7253 p826
14 June 2003

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Letters to the Editor

Titles

Title “doctor” would confuse public

From Dr M. E. King, MRPharmS

As a "proper" doctor with a PhD, I disagree with Roger Dawson's solution for differentiating between practising and non-practising pharmacists (PJ, 31 May, p749). Having spent four years at university in order to complete my thesis, I would be most upset if the Royal Pharmaceutical Society started handing out this title on payment of a full-time fee. I believe that it would lead to more confusion from the public's perspective since medical practitioners already have the title, mostly as a courtesy. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have been asked which medical school I attended.

Martin King
Cardiff

Let us be proud of our profession

From Mr C. J. Little, MRPharmS

I would like to comment on the recent letters (PJ, 10 May, p648 and 31 May, p749) claiming that pharmacists should be given the title "Doctor". Many pharmacists working in community and hospital practice possess PhDs and I am sure that they are not so insecure as to feel the need to impress with a title that would serve only to confuse patients — so why should any of us?

If you want to be called doctor in the health service then perhaps it is time to go and graduate from medical school and accept the responsibility and pressure that accompanies the title. Let us be proud of our profession and avoid being distracted by the transparent spin that "doctor", an embarrassingly unearned and ultimately purely self-gratifying title, provides.

Christopher Little
Southport, Merseyside

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