Woman shares baffling experience with younger doctor during slang-filled check-up

The generation that came of age with TikTok is making up the newest crop of doctors — and bringing their unique slang, humor, and penchant for oversharing.

Gen Z was born between 1997 and the early 2010s, meaning many are graduating from medical school and completing their more specialized residency programs at hospitals nationwide.

And their millennial patients are grappling with this reality. ‘If you have not had [a Gen Z doctor] yet, brace yourself,’ said middle school teacher Mandi.

Mandi was recently diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension, a condition where pressure builds up around the brain.

She and her boyfriend went to urgent care after Mandi’s latest fainting spell.

‘The doctor comes in and she’s like, “Yo dawg, you passed out four times in the past 48 hours? You need to go to the emergency room. By ambulance.”

‘She listened super patiently when my millennial boyfriend and I told her we can’t afford the ambulance, and she said, “Just don’t pay it. What are they going to do?”’

Mandi described the interaction as 'adorable', though some people are unnerved by their young doctors' nonchalance and casual bedside manner.

Sammy, a mother of three, had a run-in with a young doctor in the emergency room, leaving her flummoxed.

One of her daughters gets frequent, persistent nosebleeds.

The family has tried every trick, she said: pinching the bridge of the nose, tipping the head forward, tipping the head backward, and more.

Her daughter got a particularly severe nosebleed on the way to a birthday party.

Her grandmother, who was with her at the time, brought her to the emergency room, where Sammy and her husband met them.

The young doctor, whose exact age they don't know, talked to Sammy’s daughter 'as if she’s on his level or as if he is on her level.’

The doctor explained to Sammy's daughter that the nose is full of delicate blood vessels, some very close to the brain, that can rupture, causing nosebleeds.

Sammy went on: ‘And out of nowhere, he just goes, “And that’s why we snort cocaine!”’

She looked at her husband, and they exchanged dumbfounded looks.

‘And he goes, “Think about it, like, eating would be so much easier, but snorting takes it to your bloodstream so much faster,”’ she laughed.

When she tells that story, she says that people tell her they should have reported the doctor to his supervisors for unprofessional conduct. But Sammy shakes her head: ‘No, I loved him,' adding that her daughter understood him clearly and appreciated his humor.

Some patients report that younger doctors are more receptive to their needs and concerns, more empathetic, enthusiastic, and less likely to prescribe medications that pose significant health risks, such as benzodiazepines like Xanax.

Reddit users characterize years of seeing doctors in their 60s and 70s as frustrating, futile endeavors to understand the cause of their pain or other symptoms.

One called older doctors ‘smug’ and ‘very comfortable with guessing as long as it's easy,’ while another said, ‘Old doctors don't care. Younger ones look for solutions.’

A third said: ‘I find that younger people care the most and have up-to-date knowledge, when older doctors just try to grab as much cash as they can for a fancy retirement.’

Their experiences are not uniform, though.

Others have described younger doctors as lacking the medical and clinical intuition that comes with years of practice and bedside manner.

One patient said: ‘I have a new doctor. I think he is younger than me. I told him I think I'm beginning perimenopause. He said probably not, it's just the 40-year-old hitting me and make me think I have [perimenopause].

‘I have to find a way to document everything now so I can show him that it's not just in my head.’

Gen Z is projected to make up roughly 30 percent of the healthcare workforce by 2030.

The older generation of doctors has expressed some trepidation about this and whether the younger doctors-in-training will be cut out for the years of schooling required to start treating patients.

‘Because Generation Z is accustomed to getting information on demand, they may procrastinate until the last minute to complete assignments and expect instructors to be available 24/7 for questions,’ said a trio of family medicine residency directors at Oakland University.

‘Although they are adept at finding information, they may not analyze it for validity evidence. They lack skills to critically evaluate information and will require this training via engaging ways.

'Educators may need to assist them in finding and evaluating evidence that is accurate, as well as setting milestones for assignment completion.’