I guess it's just common sense that a physician would be addressed by the general public with "Doc" or "Doctor" attached as a prefix to his or her name, in the same way that lawyers are called "Attorney" or priests are called "Father".
In medical school, especially during 4th year or the so-called Clerkship/Junior Intern year, one becomes a part of the hospital hierarchy and thus everyone senior to you is addressed accordingly.. or so I thought..
When I was in my clerkship year, "Doctor" was the norm, and everyone was fine with that, since it made perfect sense. However, during my Legal Medicine rotation where I found myself at Camp Crame, we encountered a senior intern from a different medical school for the first time. What struck me the most was that in their institution, senior doctors were addresssed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" instead of the conventional "Doc/Doctor". The rationale he gave was that the use of Sir/Ma'am was the highest honor you could give someone, plus I guess it came in pretty handy when addressing someone you weren't sure was a doctor or not.
"Ok", I thought "that seems reasonable." but something in me argued that "You can call anyone Sir or Ma'am, but you can't just call anyone Doctor". In hindsight, this seemed like a pretty arrogant thing to say, and to be perfectly honest, I am quite ashamed of having thought that way before.. :/
As I went further along the path of rising through the ranks, I encountered more people from different schools, and I discovered that there was such a heterogeneity of how trainees use the honorifics. Eventually I found myself using "Sir" and Ma'am" more often, as it seemed more comfortable and less awkward to say. Hmm, I guess you can also add the fact that I had unpleasant experiences as a junior in my alma mater which made me averse to any similarities to the way the hierarchy was run over there. :P
As I previously stated, everyone else calls you doctor anyway, so why do you have to require your juniors to say the same? It seems kinda redundant (and a little too pretentious if you ask me) to call each other "Doctor" all the time. I now wholeheartedly agree with the concept that "Sir/Ma'am" conveys a whole lot more respect when said by a junior to a senior, as it sets clear bounbdaries between the two of you. "Doctor" is more ambiguous can be used when talking to peers from other departments who you aren't close to, or even used sarcastically by consultants talking down to juniors. (In retrospect "Sir/Ma'am" can also work for the former. Hehe)
Sorry if this seemed long-winded and confusing.. The basic point I wish to get across is that the use of "Sir/Ma'am" as an honorific title when junior doctors speak to their seniors seems much better than addressing your bosses as "Doc" or Doctor". And yes, It really does come in handy when respectfully addressing someone whose medical status is unknown. Manners maketh man I guess. :P
