Are open toed shoes ok?

[andrea]

Now that summer is coming, I'm seeing more and more med students / residents / docs wearing open toed sandals and dress shoes. I would love to wear them myself, but I remember from my medical assistant days someone telling me not to ever wear open toed shoes, as the feet need protection in a clinical setting. What do you all think? Is this unprofessional or dangerous, or is it widely accepted that one can wear whatever shoe style they prefer? Thanks! 😛

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[chicamedica]

Now that summer is coming, I'm seeing more and more med students / residents / docs wearing open toed sandals and dress shoes. I would love to wear them myself, but I remember from my medical assistant days someone telling me not to ever wear open toed shoes, as the feet need protection in a clinical setting. What do you all think? Is this unprofessional or dangerous, or is it widely accepted that one can wear whatever shoe style they prefer? Thanks! 😛

I like sandals myself, but i too, trained from my research lab days, cringe at the thought of a syringe dropping onto my bare foot, or blood/urine splashing, so I wont wear em in the hospital.

 

[kbrown]

Now that summer is coming, I'm seeing more and more med students / residents / docs wearing open toed sandals and dress shoes. I would love to wear them myself, but I remember from my medical assistant days someone telling me not to ever wear open toed shoes, as the feet need protection in a clinical setting. What do you all think? Is this unprofessional or dangerous, or is it widely accepted that one can wear whatever shoe style they prefer? Thanks! 😛

i was also told not to wear them, but as the year wore on, i saw many of my residents/attendings wearing them. i decided to give it a whirl. no one ever said anything. but i usually limited my sandal-wearing to clinic, just because i was freaked out about needles/fluids on my feet.

 

[jennyboo]

The rule is really that you shouldn't (I'm not sure whether or not there's an OSHA guideline on this). But many, many people (especially in Internal Medicine!) break the rule.

 

[Doc Samson]

The rule is really that you shouldn't (I'm not sure whether or not there's an OSHA guideline on this). But many, many people (especially in Internal Medicine!) break the rule.

Open toed shoes ARE an OSHA violation.

 

[DOtobe]

OSHA violation notwithstanding, everyone in my hospital wears open-toed shoes. I wore them all last summer and luckily had no unfortunate blood/urine/vomit splashes...

 

[fourthyearmed]

Depends on the hospital and the rotation. At my med school no open toed shoes were allowed but at my residency program we all wear open toed shoes (girls I mean). That said you don't wear them in the ER or the ICU or when you're on call because you may be doing procedures. The rest of the time when you're rounding or in clinic the risk of toe injury is pretty low!

 

[Butch]

The safety issue is a factor. Having done significant lab work, I would not wear or recommend open-toed shoes in any clinical environment. The risk is low, but better safe than sorry.

I also am a bit conservative when it comes to dress. I noticed a number of physicians wearing fashionable jeans to work. To me, this is simply unacceptable. It may be superficial, but I would not return to a physician who wore jeans, open-toed shoes, no tie (for men not in scrubs), miniskirt or the like. Yes, I am conservative and I even wear a tie on weekends.

 

[APGAR10/10]

It may be superficial, but I would not return to a physician who wore jeans, open-toed shoes, no tie (for men not in scrubs), miniskirt or the like. Yes, I am conservative and I even wear a tie on weekends.

Yeah, I'd say it's superficial (I'm pretty conservative too). It's also bad medicine, as ties are notorious fomites for infection and great ways to get injured around certain psych patients. I always thought it was rather ridiculous to see the infectious disease guys in ties-- as if the immunocompromised patients weren't sick enough.

 

[mysophobe]

I don't like feet, my own included, so I don't ever wear sandals. Personally, I think it looks unprofessional, but that's just me. Of course, I also wear only socks in the OR, so I guess I'm not one to talk. At least no one can tell that I'm not wearing shoes.

 

[Flea girl]

I have a story about open-toed shoes. When I showed for my first day at one of the NIH sites( not in MD) to start my post-bac irta, I asked my pi if they had any kind of a dress code, while he is giving me a tour of the facility. He begins to tell me that basically anything goes(shorts, slacks, jeans, t-shirts all okay) except for open-toed shoes. Needless to say, while he is saying this, a post-doc walks by wearing platform flip-flops! Just to note, my pi himself started wearing his tevas later one in the summer. Oh, by the way, this was at an infectious disease lab. The only time when I was there they came down hard on that rule was when they had their big 5 year eval. That was the only time I saw some of the lab chiefs wearing dockers and loafers . Here is something else, I have seen PI's mouth-pipette!

 

[DOtobe]

When I worked in a research lab one summer, one of the guys who worked in the lab would mouth-pipette all of the time...

 

[fang]

I'm not particularly conservative, but I don't like it when health professionals wear open toed sandals. There's something very personal about seeing someone else's feet-- maybe callouses, or hair stubble on the big toe, slightly chipped nail polish, or a whiff of unmistakable foot-sweat when you're in a small room. In a lab or a casual work area it's no problem, but when you're in a position where you basically violate personal boundaries as part of your job, I think wearing socks of some variety is just polite.

 

[Blade28]

I've noticed residents occasionally doing this, usually in medicine and psych. Everyone here in surgery wears clogs. 🙂

 

[Apollyon]

At Duke, it's institutional policy in the hospital (can't speak for the labs, but would infer) - you run the risk of being sent home/out if you do it (and I've seen it done).

 

[tiredmom]

Had an IM attending wear Birks without socks, would sit down during rounds to put his dress socks on with the birks to go to faculty meetings. Was told he often ran around in his clinic barefoot. 😕

 

[MediCane2006]

I followed the sandals-ok-for-clinic corollary (this being Miami, everyone wears sandals) up until one day at the beginning of fourth year, when I was doing an extraordinarily laid-back rotation at a middle school. On the day in question, a kid strolled into the school clinic with a huge abscess behind his ear. I mean golf-ball sized. Leaving aside the question of who brings their kid to a MIDDLE SCHOOL CLINIC for a huge abscess on the FACE, I had to I/D it. In the midst of the procedure, the clinic supervisor strolled in, and in leaning over to see what I was doing, knocked the dirty scalpel onto the floor, ONTO MY SANDAL-CLAD FEET . Somehow it landed flat-side-down and didn't actually break the skin. When I stopped shaking, I made a solemn vow.

No sandals in any clinical setting. Ever again.

 

[geekgirl]

i am totally a sucker for the cute girlie shoes, but i also agree - NO open toes at work (in the hospital/lab). in lab, i occasionally would wear open toes on the weekend. and every time i felt a drip, i would assess what was in that particular solution and which cell membranes that fluid was rupturing. (ethidium bromide, etc.).

in the hospital i think this situation is even more questionable. there are certain specialists who feel more comfortable in open-toed shoes. but if you are involved in any way with procedures and fluids, it's best to keep the toes covered. clinic days i wear strappy heels (on occasion), but even these keep most of my feet out of sight and are balanced with how much time on my feet i will have this day.

perhaps these are outdated formalities, but i think on some level they are important. for our safety. for comfort. for the sake of formality, even. but i'm doing surgery, so there is rarely an opportunity for a guaranteed fluid-less day.

 

[fomites]

Now that summer is coming, I'm seeing more and more med students / residents / docs wearing open toed sandals and dress shoes. I would love to wear them myself, but I remember from my medical assistant days someone telling me not to ever wear open toed shoes, as the feet need protection in a clinical setting. What do you all think? Is this unprofessional or dangerous, or is it widely accepted that one can wear whatever shoe style they prefer? Thanks! 😛

uh, yeah, open toed shoes are just fine. So are mid riff baring t-shirts and scrub tops. Transforming scub pants into hot pants and short shorts is fine too. Facial piercings are a good look also.

Are you for real!!!!! Are you REALLY asking this question? Are you really in med school? DO you have any common sense? Just curious. Don't take it personally. 😱

 

[fourthyearmed]

Are you for real!!!!! Are you REALLY asking this question? Are you really in med school? DO you have any common sense? Just curious. Don't take it personally. 😱

Why so rude? It isn't a dumb question. All the residents at my pediatrics program wear open toed shoes as I said above. The OP didn't say "do you wear open toed shoes in surgery" or something dumb like that.

 

[matakanan]

uh, yeah, open toed shoes are just fine.
So are mid riff baring t-shirts and scrub tops.
Transforming scub pants into hot pants and short shorts is fine too.
Facial piercings are a good look also.

How did you manage to equate open-toed shoes to all the rest mentioned ??

Are you for real!!!!! Are you really in med school? DO you have any common sense? Just curious. Don't take it personally. 😱

 

[matakanan]

duplicate post

 

[Blade28]

OK guys, if the females want to dress nice, who are we to stop them? 🙂 Residency is crazy enough as it is. It's the little things that keep you sane.

If you're not in the OR, and not doing office procedures, then it's fine.

 

[cytoskelement]

I don't always wear underwear under my scrubs... but open-toed shoes - that's a No-No! In the OR, I wear rain boots. That is all. I'm out like a boner in said scrub pants!

 

[fomites]

How did you manage to equate open-toed shoes to all the rest mentioned ??

Are you for real!!!!! Are you really in med school? DO you have any common sense? Just curious. Don't take it personally. 😱

ahhhhh!!! so sensitive! sorry your feeling got all mashed up and tweaked. I was just being sarcastic...you know..?...a moderately sophisticated form of humor. Relax, please. THis is what is wrong with dr's and med students...they are SO serious and boring! Please don't be so intense

er, um, also, the point I wanted to make was that there's no right answer. Why would I or anyone else on here know what YOU should wear? You're the only one who knows what's appropriate at YOUR hosptial/workplace. I personally wear a cut off scrub top to show off my navel piercing, hot pant style scrubs which are butt-tight, and CFMP's (come F*** me pumps) every day, even in the OR. And that's the standard at MY hospital. So I try to blend in. I also wear excessive amounts of makeup and huge hoop earrings. I try to wear lots of pretty flair on my white coat too.

hope this helps! Good luck with dressing yourself!
🙂

 

[fomites]

Why so rude? It isn't a dumb question. All the residents at my pediatrics program wear open toed shoes as I said above. The OP didn't say "do you wear open toed shoes in surgery" or something dumb like that.

ummm, but it is a dumb question. sometimes people just need a gentle backhand

 

[matakanan]

ahhhhh!!! so sensitive! sorry your feeling got all mashed up and tweaked. I was just being sarcastic...you know..?...a moderately sophisticated form of humor. Relax, please. THis is what is wrong with dr's and med students...they are SO serious and boring! Please don't be so intense

Indeed?
True...sarcasm is an art. Amazing that u missed the sarcasm in my reply, just the 'moderately simple' fact that I used ur very own words should have given away the answer. Probably cause u had a preconcieved notion that 'ALL dr's and med students' are 'SO serious and boring', that u expected every response to ur post to be of a serious/outraged tone. (hope the ' ' hints helped this time 👍 )

Nevertheless, the point u made later is right.
It's ur call as to what u should wear to the hospital. As we have to decide what is suitable enough an attire that our patient can tolerate. But here is where it gets subjective...cause we think of ourselves as patients and then decide what would be an appropriate dress code for our doc. So while i might be comfortable as a patient with my doc wearing sandals, someone like 'Fang' might not feel too comfortable.
I think the best solution is to decide... whether u want to please the patient population or urself. If its the patient population, then u what u need is a mass population survey around YOUR hospital(why yours? patients in Hawaii might not mind, while ppl in N.Carolina might) to know what the majority likes/dislikes.. and then act accordingly. While a survey might be impractical, atleast get an inkling to the ppl's tastes.