Anatomy lab coat?

[MN premed]

This semester I'm taking human anatomy at my undergrad, and the lab uses actual human cadavers. We are told to wear either old clothes to the lab or a lab coat. Since I'm going to be needing a lab coat next year for med school, should I just buy one? Would it matter what kind I bought? I wouldn't want to buy one and then for med school have to buy a different one because this one wasn't the "right kind" or something. Or are they all essentially the same thing and it wouldn't matter?

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[rddoms]

It was recommended that we wore junk clothes or a lab coat for anatomy. Most people just got some scrubs and wore them. Check with your med school and see if they would allow using scrubs in lieu of a lab coat, because a lab coat won't keep the stank off of clothes you wear underneath.

If you are truly required to wear a lab coat, then the one you got for chemistry lab should suffice. Again, wear crappy clothes under your lab coat, because they will be stinky and greasy after the first lab.

 

[elwademd]

wear crappy clothes and buy a cheap lab coat... toss em all at the end of the semester/course. no matter what, they will always have a certain "smell" to them.

pretty much all lab coats are the same, for the purpose of anatomy lab.

 

[FutureCTDoc]

I wore scrubs with a surgical gown for A and P. It looked ridiculous, but I could just toss the surgical gown out and not have to deal with the stench and putrescence. In addition, if you do wear a lab coat and street clothes was them as soon as you get back to your dorm. Otherwise it gets too disgusting.

 

[rddoms]

There is nothing like washing your "greasers" after a week of anatomy. I used to run an empty load with detergent just to clean the washer out!

Really, there is no need for a lab coat if you aren't required to have one. If you can wear scrubs, that is by far the best option. Having bare arms makes it so you are less worried about diving into the abdomen (at least after being in lab for a week or two).

 

[ShyRem]

Agreed. You won't use the lab coat for ANYTHING else if you use it for anatomy... and you certainly won't want to have it around after using it for one semester. We actually burned all our scrubs after anatomy in a fabulous ceremonial bonfire. Shoes too. If you're actually doing the dissecting you will find your hair stinks and everything you eat tastes like formaldehyde too.

 

[MN premed]

Lol, gross. Well now I'm nervous about wrecking my clothes lol I don't know what clothes I don't care about enough to wear to lab.

We aren't actually doing any dissecting ourselves, from what I understand. They're prosections, and we can look/feel around and whatnot but won't actually be cutting. So would that make it better at least?

 

[plauto]

wear junk that you'll throw away at the end.

 

[BenUstudent]

Yeah, It was optional for us. I had lab at 8am, so i wanted opted to wear some comfy clothe, so I wore a hoodie. Just roll up your sleeves, and make sure you tuck your hoodie string inside your shirt before you get in there, and watch out for other classmates.
( I got my strings caught up in one of the branches of the superior mesenteric artery's, and I literally kicked a classmate with the cadaver while trying to identity the medial meniscus of the knee)

and to continue what ShyRem said. Yeah you won't want to eat anything for like 2-3 hrs after lab.
Anatomy, I love it, Dorsal NAVAN haha

 

[beckhunter116]

Well now I'm nervous about wrecking my clothes lol I don't know what clothes I don't care about enough to wear to lab.

Just buy some cheap plain scrubs.

 

[bleeker10]

and to continue what ShyRem said. Yeah you won't want to eat anything for like 2-3 hrs after lab.

Really? Gross lab made me hungry. I dunno if it was the chemicals or seeing muscle but I always was hungry afterwards. A lot of ppl said it made them hungry too.

Anyways it may vary on what your school says. We were required to be in dress code (shirt and tie) in gross lab so the school had plenty of lab coats for us to wear. I just went to the salvation army and bought some crappy clothes and shoes for about ten bucks and then kept them in my locker all during anatomy. Didn't wash them once and I threw them away after my last lab.

 

[rddoms]

I am always hungry, so I would eat right after lab no matter what (And I was one of the group members that did most of the dissection). Most people get used to the 'after lab' stench rather quickly. This is because it takes two showers with gritty mechanic soap to get rid of the stink.

 

[Siggy]

At my school the school supplied lab coats for everyone (the coats were washed weekly) in addition to recommending wearing junk clothing.

 

[ShyRem]

Anatomy lab made me hungry too. I would sit there and talk about food while dissecting. brachial plexus reminded me of waffle fries. For some reason I craved BBQ and chocolate cake a lot. My table mates and I swapped a lot of recipes during gross lab.

 

[rddoms]

I'd stash sandwiches and sodas outside the lab and would take snack breaks once in awhile. This was especially true after a prof. of surgery emeritus bare-handed a kidney and explained the different fascial layers surrounding it. It is weird that anatomy lab makes many of us hungry, that's the last thing you would expect.

 

[p30doc]

I recommend scrubs as have already been suggested. Gross lab definitely made me very hungry, I think it was a combo of the chemicals, the physical labor and the fact it was at the end of my day.

 

[JaggerPlate]

You guys are champs ... haha I hope I adapt. I remember dissecting the little pig in AP bio and hating that formaldehyde smell! If I would eat afterward and get a whiff of it left on my hands while bringing something to my mouth, I was doneski.

 

[rddoms]

You'll love that smell soon enough, especially if you enjoy dissecting.

 

[Cheshyre]

Lol, gross. Well now I'm nervous about wrecking my clothes lol I don't know what clothes I don't care about enough to wear to lab.

We aren't actually doing any dissecting ourselves, from what I understand. They're prosections, and we can look/feel around and whatnot but won't actually be cutting. So would that make it better at least?

Well, if you're like me and think that clothes from 8th grade are still good (I have a polo that FINALLY got a hole in it two weeks ago), consider the ol' Salvation Army.

 

[RitaHayworth]

You'll love that smell soon enough, especially if you enjoy dissecting.

I am excessively sensitive to fumes. Every anatomy lab that I went through in my interviews made me immediately nauseous, and I felt I would have had to throw up had I remained in the room much longer. I'm very worried about this...does anyone use menthol-based fume deterrents in lab...like vicks vapor rub up the nostrils?

 

[DrMom922]

I was pregnant for the second half of A & P and the fumes made me nauseous. A little Vick's up the upper lip works wonders.

 

[RitaHayworth]

I was pregnant for the second half of A & P and the fumes made me nauseous. A little Vick's up the upper lip works wonders.

Thanks a bunch...