Where to find a good short white coat? Medelita?

[bluebird123]

Hi everyone! I'm looking for a good source of a quality white coat. The one my school provided is starting to look pretty awful. The material is thin and wasn't pre-shrunk, so when I washed it the seams puckered (and it gets worse every time it gets gunked up and needs a cleaning). And since I'm a woman with broad shoulders and a large bust but a small waist and short arms, the coats I can get from the school bookstore don't fit at all.

Where can I find a decent short white coat that will last through the rest of med school? I should also mention that I'm only an MS2, but I've been spending a lot of time in the clinic since last year working on various projects - I just don't think my school-provided coat was meant to hold up to this much use, and I hate looking like a schmuck around the hospital.

Here's what I really want:

- Wide enough across the shoulders to let me move around freely doing physical exams, etc. without looking like a tent or having sleeves down to my ankles (I have the same problem with store-bought suits, jackets and dress shirts)
- Heavy cotton fabric that will stand up to some abuse (not the thin, mostly-polyester fabric in the $10 lab coats)
- Pockets big enough and sturdy enough to hold all of the stuff I usually have with me (pharmacopeia/pocket guides, phone, pens, granola bar, reflex hammer, etc)

I saw this http://http://www.medelita.com/lab-coat-elizabeth-b.html which looks like a possibility. Does anyone have experience with these?

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[Belleza156]

This is my favorite:

http://www.justlabcoats.com/ProductShopping.aspx?scode=ME-1088

Looks cute on and it has a princess type cut. Holds up to washing! You can dry clean if you want but washing and a quick iron are enough. Best thing about the material is that whatever dirt you get on it, it washes out pretty easily.

 

[MilkmanAl]

No white coat ever made looks cute on, just FYI. That goes double once you have a few months' worth of blood, poo, and other sorts of grime built up on it. (That stuff doesn't wash away, no matter how you try.) Buy the cheapest one you can find, and be done with it. I had a 2 $4 coats that stood up to the test of time just fine. You're just going to burn them after school, anyway.

 

[Rockytop00]

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[bluebird123]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I'm less worried about looking cute and more worried about having a coat that's not going to start falling apart after a year (like my current one is), won't stain too easily (like my current one does) and will actually fit me semi-ok in the shoulders. The ones we used in my old lab fit me great, but they were provided by a uniform company that laundered them and delivered them, and I have no idea where to get one like that.

As for short vs long coats, I actually honestly think the short coats are a good thing. I think it's important for staff and patients to be able to easily distinguish between MDs and med students. Of course, that's just my 2 cents.

 

[sassbun]

http://www.medicalcoats.com/

They're expensive, but you can customize sleeve length, etc so they fit right. I got one in the no-iron fluid repellant 100% cotton and it's extremely comfortable (breathes in 400 degree hospital rooms!) and the fluid repellant actually works, so it looked way better than my classmates' coats after a while.... I spilled coffee down my arm and it seriously rolled right off.

 

[pd1112]

I don't see much of a point in spending anything significant on a white coat. They're inevitably going to get bloody & poopy. Just get one in the $15-20 range on amazon & make it last as long as you can, then get another.

 

[Mkito]

Check this one out.
https://www.jaanuu.com/collections/women-lab-coat
It is more expensive than a regular white coat but you are going to love the material, the extensive pockets and how stylish it is. Send me a message if you are interested and I can send you a coupon they gave me when I first ordered mine

 

[themockjock]

Check this one out.
https://www.jaanuu.com/collections/women-lab-coat
It is more expensive than a regular white coat but you are going to love the material, the extensive pockets and how stylish it is. Send me a message if you are interested and I can send you a coupon they gave me when I first ordered mine

Hopefully OP managed to obtain a short white coat (and in fact likely graduated to a real-life full-length white coat) at some point in the past 4 years.

 

[themockjock]

Wait I just looked at that thing and it has gold zippers at the cuffs and pockets. It looks like something some Italian designer came up with for a fashion inspired med student halloween costume rather than an actual white coat. Don't a) waste $125 on that thing and b) actually wear it to the hospital.