Do med students get their own lab coats?

[illusenjester]

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Or do they get the lab coats when they have an official MD license?

 

[footballrules]

Or do they get the lab coats when they have an official MD license?

Why does it matter? Seriously. I've read many times from medical students that the white coat ceramony is pointless.

 

[illusenjester]

Why does it matter? Seriously. I've read many times from medical students that the white coat ceramony is pointless.

Pfftt...lab coats are awesome, that's why. It's pointless if it means nothing to you though.

 

[astrocreep96]

We get them and we have to wear them to our clinical sessions as well as dress in business casual clothing. They say "Medical Student" as opposed to "..., MD."

 

[Ashers]

Unfortunately, yes.

 

[cpants]

We get short white coats for clinic and long white coats for lab.

 

[TarHeelEMT]

We have to wear them, unfortunately.

One more pointless vector for infection floating around the hospital - on top of the asinine tie that I'm supposed to wear to look professional.

 

[illusenjester]

Wowwwwww, so are all med students this bitter about lab coats?

 

[JeffLebowski]

Wowwwwww, so are all med students this bitter about lab coats?

No. They're fine, and lots of us think they're nice for many reasons (pockets, identification as healthcare provider, etc.). But you go from being excited about getting your white coat M1 year to bitter that it's awkward and short and weighted down with stuff (and everyone from nurses to secretaries somehow need/get to wear long white coats...?) M3-4 years.

 

[njbmd]

Depends on the school. My school gave us a short white consultation jacket at our White Coat Ceremony that was held at the end of our first week. On Match Day, we received a long white coat with our names followed by MD and our specialty.

 

[xanthomondo]

Depends on the school. My school gave us a short white consultation jacket at our White Coat Ceremony that was held at the end of our first week. On Match Day, we received a long white coat with our names followed by MD and our specialty.

that's pretty sweet

unless you dont match

 

[astrocreep96]

Wowwwwww, so are all med students this bitter about lab coats?

I'm not bitter about my lab coat, more indifferent. It's a nice gesture at the white coat ceremony, but I'm not one to parade around my med student status, so unless I need it for the clinical classes it hangs in my locker along with my stethoscope.

There are a few students who will wear their coat all day after the clinical classes, stethoscope around the neck, too. We're first years, by the way, we hardly know how to use a stethescope.

 

[illusenjester]

We're first years, by the way, we hardly know how to use a stethescope.

Uh...you just put the round thing on the patients heart and the upper thingies in your ear?

 

[Agent Splat]

Besides the weight of my coat's pocket contents threatening to dislocate a vertebra in my neck, my other favorite part of the white coat is the additional heat it helps to hold in. That's pretty awesome in the summer (and even winter). I'm dreading my medicine rotation next month when I have to pull out the white coat again for the first time in months.

 

[Hurricane95]

I own TWO....pssst, and they're both LONG!!

"Daaaaaamn son, you the man!!"

 

[nshams]

No. They're fine, and lots of us think they're nice for many reasons (pockets, identification as healthcare provider, etc.). But you go from being excited about getting your white coat M1 year to bitter that it's awkward and short and weighted down with stuff (and everyone from nurses to secretaries somehow need/get to wear long white coats...?) M3-4 years.

why does this bother you so much?

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I'm dreading the short coat. It looks ******ed. We get it in November.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

I own and have had to wear both a short and long one. If you want to know the difference in perception of them--by both the wearer and the onlooker--think of them as analogous to short and long school buses.

 

[alan06]

Depends on the school. My school gave us a short white consultation jacket at our White Coat Ceremony that was held at the end of our first week. On Match Day, we received a long white coat with our names followed by MD and our specialty.

That is great! can't wait to get to that day...

 

[JeffLebowski]

why does this bother you so much?

Because it's significant for us, but no one else is sensitive to that. As med students we wear short white coats to signify our status as physicians in training. When we become physicians, we start wearing long white coats. It's a little annoying that other health professionals just wear them for the hell of it, when it is/was a physician specific part of our dress code. Argue and play dumb all you want, but you go up to any joe shmoe on the street and say "what profession wears a long white coat" and they're going to say "doctor". I don't particularly want to argue about it though, so if you think it's fine, whatever, we disagree.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Because it's significant for us, but no one else is sensitive to that. As med students we wear short white coats to signify our status as physicians in training. When we become physicians, we start wearing long white coats. It's a little annoying that other health professionals just wear them for the hell of it, when it is/was a physician specific part of our dress code. Argue and play dumb all you want, but you go up to any joe shmoe on the street and say "what profession wears a long white coat" and they're going to say "doctor". I don't particularly want to argue about it though, so if you think it's fine, whatever, we disagree.

I do find it helpful to be able to quickly differentiate staff via their uniforms.

--Long white coat + Littmann Cardiology III = Attending
--Pastel scrubs + cheap pastel stethoscope 🙂D) = Nurse

This is hardly as generalizable as many might like/appreciate.

 

[silas2642]

Or do they get the lab coats when they have an official MD license?

No, they borrow them from the homeless people off the streets.

 

[HurricaneKatt]

I own and have had to wear both a short and long one. If you want to know the difference in perception of them--by both the wearer and the onlooker--think of them as analogous to short and long school buses.

👍👍 Wow, now I really can't wait to get one! 😀😎

 

[illusenjester]

No, they borrow them from the homeless people off the streets.

Medical students are homeless? Interesting...