HawthoRNe - new TV medical drama

[Gimlet]

Sounds like just the kind of press doctors need right now to confuse the public about roles in the hospital...🙄

Emphasis mine:

This summer, Pinkett Smith executive-produces and stars in HAWTHORNE, a character-driven drama series about a nurse who is a true everyday hero. HAWTHORNE premieres Tuesday, June 16, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

Pinkett Smith plays Christina Hawthorne, a compassionate and headstrong Chief Nursing Officer heading up a group of dedicated nurses at Richmond Trinity Hospital who spend long days and nights [ed: ha!] on the hospital's front lines. Hawthorne is the kind of nurse you want on your side when you or someone you love is in the hospital. She is the kind of nurse who fights for her patients and doesn't let them slip through the cracks. When necessary, she takes on doctors and administrators who are overworked, distracted or just unable to see the human being behind the hospital chart.

Whether showing humanity to a homeless woman, trying to talk a suicidal cancer patient off a ledge or exposing a doctor's near-fatal error, Hawthorne will do everything in her power to help her patients. When a patient's care is at risk, she doesn't hesitate to violate protocol, defend her staff or stand up to administrators who seem to have forgotten a hospital's true purpose.

But the long days at the hospital and Hawthorne's intense focus on helping others take a toll on her personal life. Christina is recently widowed – her husband died one year ago after a battle with cancer, leaving her to raise a smart, rebellious teen-age daughter on her own. Hawthorne is still coming to terms with losing her husband, finding a way to balance her career with her equally important role as a single parent, and finding the time to take care of someone who always seems to fall through the cracks – herself.

Joining Pinkett Smith in HAWTHORNE is Michael Vartan (Alias) as Dr. Tom Wakefield, the oncologist who treated Christina's husband and serves as Chief of Surgery for the hospital. The cast also includes Suleka Mathew (Men in Trees) as Bobbie Jackson, a fellow nurse and one of Hawthorne's best friends; David Julian Hirsh (Lovebites) as Ray Stein, a nurse struggling with being accepted in a female-dominated profession; Christina Moore (90210) as Candy Sullivan, a nurse with a unique sense of duty; and Hannah Hodson (TNT's The Ron Clark Story) as Camille, Hawthorne's daughter. In addition, special guest star Joanna Cassidy (Six Feet Under) portrays Amanda, Hawthorne's mother-in-law, who also happens to be a member of the hospital board.

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[Bertelman]

I wanted to scratch my eyes out when I saw that preview a couple weeks ago.

Fortunately, like 80% of TV series fail. I would expect the same from this crap.

 

[sestamibi]

True story: I observed a medical student watching the TNT commercial in a patient's room and scoffing, "What are they going to talk about for an entire season? Changing a bed pan over and over again?" Right as the nurse was walking in. Ouch. Good thing they no longer hold students overnight at our hospital. Nothing like a 3AM page from the nurse for the brash up-and-coming med student.

 

[deleted21609]

True story: I observed a medical student watching the TNT commercial in a patient's room and scoffing, "What are they going to talk about for an entire season? Changing a bed pan over and over again?" Right as the nurse was walking in. Ouch. Good thing they no longer hold students overnight at our hospital. Nothing like a 3AM page from the nurse for the brash up-and-coming med student.

My guess is it will be the nurse making lots of correct diagnoses etc and asking the doctor to approve her treatment request. The doctor will be stubborn, but eventually realize the nurse is right. Week after week. Probably for 4-5 weeks.
Maybe it'll be doctors asking for her help a lot.
Maybe doctors will be only minor characters, she'll play the part of a doctor and just be called an RN (just like some want in the real world except for the being called RN part, DNP anyone? ).
I guess there are a few ways to play it... none of them good or realistic.

 

[badasshairday]

lol. who cares? this show will go down the tubes soon enough. I think people rather watch TV doctors like House, Scrubs, ER, and Gray's Anatomy, then watch TV nurses.

 

[deleted21609]

lol. who cares? this show will go down the tubes soon enough. I think people rather watch TV doctors like House, Scrubs, ER, and Gray's Anatomy, then watch TV nurses.

it is likely to reinforce the public's misconception of how medicine works, in the hospital at least, and politicians are sometimes influenced by the public, however rarely
probably too few people will ever see this show for it to make any difference
public percepion is important and misleading the public is not good. i get pissed every time i seem someone wake up from a coma on tv. people believe that miracle bs and it leads to bad decisions in real life

 

[platon20]

You guys are in for a shock, there's another TV show about nurses thats far worse than this Hawthorne show.

Its called "Mercy", cant remember which network its comign on. Anyways, if you watch the preview you will find AT LEAST 4 slams against doctors suggesting that the nurses are smarter and are better diagnosticians. One of the comments by the nurses is "I'm smarter than all your residents COMBINED!" What a joke. Of course, the tagline for the whole series is "doctors treat the disease, nurses treat the patient." Wow, I havent heard one that since the osteopaths used it use it as their slogan.

In fact, there's a scene in there where there's a car accident in the street outside the hospital. EMS doesnt show up, the stupid nurses run out of the hospital and into the street. She goes to a guy who looks like he's having trouble breathing. She looks at him for 2 seconds, pulls out a needle and does an emergent needle thoracotomy for presumed tension pneumothorax, all without even listening to his lungs. Then she boldly pronounces that she has "cured" the patient. 🙄

The executive producer on that show must have a husband/wife who is one of those militant DNPs or something, because the entire show obviously has an "anti-doctor" agenda.

You guys should check it out on the internet, it will make your blood boil.

http://www.nbc.com/mercy/?__source=...d|G_Mercy&sky=ggl|mercy+tv+show|Brand|G_Mercy

 

[goosedander]

Will anyone who was ever hospitalized for any reason come to learn that it's all BS, or does the role of the doctor sometimes elude even them?

 

[bigdan]

meh.

As a group characterization, they make nurses look power-hungry, labile/EtOH dependent, and doctor chasers. Besides, you can tell it's fake 'cause all the featured nurses are hot - anyone that's been in a hospital will see right through this 😉

 

[Coastie]

Gotta get nurses and their lobby on your side if you plan on pushing a radical communist agenda. After all, if they stood for better patient care and free markets, then the govt would REALLY be in trouble.

 

[Trisomy13]

"Next week, on Hawthorne, a phone rings endlessly while Nurse Hawthorne is ... outside at the smoke booth! Who will answer the phone?? How many cigarettes will Nurse Hawthorne have before angrily stomping back to the desk, only to lift phone receiver and drop it back into the cradle, unanswered! Next week!"

 

[Taurus]

http://www.tnt.tv/series/hawthorne/display/?contentId=47687

Ray (David Julian Hirsh) is one of the hospital's only male nurses, which causes him constant frustration, since he doesn't seem to get the respect his fellow nurses get from patients and staff. Because he is a male in a female-dominated profession, he is also sometimes mistaken for being gay, but the truth is he has his romantic eye on fellow nurse Candy. He has always wanted to be a doctor and hopes one day to go to medical school.​

Maybe they can have him go to DNP school instead and proclaim him as "Dr. Ray".

 

[Gimlet]

"Next week, on Hawthorne, a phone rings endlessly while Nurse Hawthorne is ... outside at the smoke booth! Who will answer the phone?? How many cigarettes will Nurse Hawthorne have before angrily stomping back to the desk, only to lift phone receiver and drop it back into the cradle, unanswered! Next week!"

LOL! Here it would be Hawthorne refusing to answer her zone phone while on her lunch break, letting it ring forever while it's physically clipped to her waist.

At least the trailer for Mercy showed them eating donuts, so you know they're somewhat sticking to reality! kidding, kidding...

 

[deleted21609]

They could use a scene from my call last night on HawthoRNe.

Nurse calls, "Dr., pt whoever has a temperature of 99.1."
Dr., "Um, ok."
Nurse, "Pt has a temperature off 99.1, that's pretty high, a blood pressure of 136/84, and...ummm... a heart rate of 93. He has a temperature of 99.1... Oral!"
Dr., "Ok."

-camera zooms in on nurse, she looks into the camera and says, "Doctor's just don't care." cue the violin.

 

[badasshairday]

They could use a scene from my call last night on HawthoRNe.

Nurse calls, "Dr., pt whoever has a temperature of 99.1."
Dr., "Um, ok."
Nurse, "Pt has a temperature off 99.1, that's pretty high, a blood pressure of 136/84, and...ummm... a heart rate of 93. He has a temperature of 99.1... Oral!"
Dr., "Ok."

-camera zooms in on nurse, she looks into the camera and says, "Doctor's just don't care." cue the violin.

lol. Love it!

But hey, you guys are focusing on BS crap like this show. I was watching the news this evening and they did a story for the upcoming holiday, which of course we know is the day to honor those who have served the country.

Basically it was a story about a group that has collected 6million dollars in donations to fund for care of soldiers wounded in Iraq. Showed a guy who had some really bad facial damage due to a fire bomb, and thanks to the doctors his face is much better. He said something on the order of "we do our part and sacrifice, and they (the doctors) look out for me too." Now that is real... not some bs tv show.

Check it out, can't directly post it youtube style on here, but it was NBC nightly news this evening. If you had time to spare to watch that stupid Hawthorne show trailer, this is much more worthwhile.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#30893796

 

[Josh L.Ac.]

This is a great idea to get people motivated to enter the nursing field since there is a "shortage".

 

[Bertelman]

This is a great idea to get people motivated to enter the nursing field since there is a "shortage".

I think there's been a pretty real "shortage" in nurses for the last decade at least.

 

[Taurus]

Medical dramas are popular this season.

Medical dramas called in, stat, for slipping network ratings

Each of the four major broadcast networks -- CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC -- could have two medical dramas next season. ABC has "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" returning in the fall. Fox has "House" and "Mental," which is set in a Los Angeles hospital and premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WJW Channel 8.

NBC has "Trauma," starring Derek Luke and Cliff Curtis as San Francisco paramedics, in the 9-10 Monday time slot this fall, and "Mercy," starring Taylor Schilling as a nurse returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, sitting on the bench for midseason.

CBS has "Three Rivers," starring Alex O'Loughlin ("Moonlight") as the lead surgeon on an elite transplant team, starting in the 10-11 Sunday spot, with "Miami Trauma," starring Jeremy Northam, at midseason.

That's not counting hospital comedy "Scrubs," which returns for ABC at midseason. You might be one of those Americans who has trouble seeing a real doctor, but you won't have any trouble scheduling an appointment with an actor who plays one on TV.​

 

[LeemerDO]

WTF is a nurse doing wearin a long white coat? It seems way too common a scene in the hospital where non physicians, mostly nurse managers, are galavanting with apparel unbecoming of their degree of education. And it's not just limited to nurses. Some respiratory therapists, dieticians, social workers, phlebotomists, EVEN SECRETARIES, have been observed wearing white coats. That's probably the biggest factor that contributes to the confusion of patients and families in terms of the hierarchy of medicine. They're bastardizing the usage and cheapening the meaning of a long white coat worn in the hospital to the point that the person who is NOT wearing the white coat, is now considered the physician.
This show is going to be a travesty and will only serve to widen the rift and further embolden contempt and dissention that already exists between physicians and nurses.

 

[koolio]

concerning shows like mercy, they sound just as played up as current medical dramas...lots of what the doctors do in shows like greys anatomy is what nurses actually do in real hospitals the nurses and only used as maids on many tv shows. this show will be the same type of played up thing but in another direction.

and fyi theres threads about these kind of shows on all nurses too and they are not neccasarily for it

 

[Bertelman]

WTF is a nurse doing wearin a long white coat? It seems way too common a scene in the hospital where non physicians, mostly nurse managers, are galavanting with apparel unbecoming of their degree of education. And it's not just limited to nurses. Some respiratory therapists, dieticians, social workers, phlebotomists, EVEN SECRETARIES, have been observed wearing white coats. That's probably the biggest factor that contributes to the confusion of patients and families in terms of the hierarchy of medicine. They're bastardizing the usage and cheapening the meaning of a long white coat worn in the hospital to the point that the person who is NOT wearing the white coat, is now considered the physician.
This show is going to be a travesty and will only serve to widen the rift and further embolden contempt and dissention that already exists between physicians and nurses.

FWIW, I was a phlebotomist. I wore the long coat to keep blood off my clothing. Walking around the hospital with a caddy full of blood tubes tends to convince people you actually are not a physician.

 

[guitarguy09]

I understand the whole lab coat thing... however, why do they have to be the color white? I've never understood why everyone has to have a "white" coat. Wouldn't it make more sense to have different colors for lab techs, etc (like darker colors so if they do get blood on them it isn't as noticeable). I don't know, I guess that's just the whole common sense thing... (sorry, I'm still just perplexed about the two nursing STUDENTS I saw a couple months ago wearing long white coats with their names engraved, while at the same time displaying a completely shallow understanding in the vast majority of medical topics and physiology).

That being said, this is the world we live and practice in. Oh well, we can't sweat the little things like this so we can keep our eye on the big picture...

 

[hoyden]

Can't share the sentiment about the white coat - I hate it ( isn't it one of the reasons we like Anesthesiology - we do not have to wear formal clothes 😉 ) In most European countries everybody in medical field wears it and nobody cares - it is not the coat which makes a difference, or is it?

 

[platon20]

FWIW, I was a phlebotomist. I wore the long coat to keep blood off my clothing. Walking around the hospital with a caddy full of blood tubes tends to convince people you actually are not a physician.

BS. If all the doctors in the hospital switched the color of their coat to blue or gray, or started wearing tall black "wizard" hats it would be a matter of time before everybody else started doing it too.

Someday when I'm a faculty attending I'm going to try this little experiment. I'm going to buy gray coats for every attending/resident in the hospital and tell them they cant wear white coats anymore. We'll see how long before the nurses start copying us. I give it 2 years maximum before everybody else is doing it.

 

[poresofkohn]

WTF is a nurse doing wearin a long white coat? It seems way too common a scene in the hospital where non physicians, mostly nurse managers, are galavanting with apparel unbecoming of their degree of education. And it's not just limited to nurses. Some respiratory therapists, dieticians, social workers, phlebotomists, EVEN SECRETARIES, have been observed wearing white coats. That's probably the biggest factor that contributes to the confusion of patients and families in terms of the hierarchy of medicine. They're bastardizing the usage and cheapening the meaning of a long white coat worn in the hospital to the point that the person who is NOT wearing the white coat, is now considered the physician.
This show is going to be a travesty and will only serve to widen the rift and further embolden contempt and dissention that already exists between physicians and nurses.

>
Dude, seriously get over yourself. It's a lab coat, nothing more. Keeps the bugs off the clothes. The last time I wore one was when I was REQUIRED to by the program I went to. I sweat like a pig when I wear it.

BS. If all the doctors in the hospital switched the color of their coat to blue or gray, or started wearing tall black "wizard" hats it would be a matter of time before everybody else started doing it too.

Someday when I'm a faculty attending I'm going to try this little experiment. I'm going to buy gray coats for every attending/resident in the hospital and tell them they cant wear white coats anymore. We'll see how long before the nurses start copying us. I give it 2 years maximum before everybody else is doing it.

You too, you guys sound like a 5 y/o bitching and whining because someone got the same elmo lunchbox as you. See other thread.
"WHAA......WHAA....I should be the only one allowed to wear a labcoat......WHAA." Hopefully you'll soon realize there are more important fish to fry.

 

[Bertelman]

BS. If all the doctors in the hospital switched the color of their coat to blue or gray, or started wearing tall black "wizard" hats it would be a matter of time before everybody else started doing it too.

Someday when I'm a faculty attending I'm going to try this little experiment. I'm going to buy gray coats for every attending/resident in the hospital and tell them they cant wear white coats anymore. We'll see how long before the nurses start copying us. I give it 2 years maximum before everybody else is doing it.

No, I'm serious. I really was a phlebotomist. And I really did wear a coat to protect myself from blood. It was an impervious polyester blend, not cotton. And I promise none of us wore one to look like a doctor. I would guess the color white was chosen to look clean. The doctors had embroidered white coats with initials like MD after their names.

I would agree that nurse managers, etc. who wear the white coat do it to garner some respect. If you think everyone in the hospital that wears a white coat likes it, or does it to be confused with a doctor, you are seriously mistaken.

 

[Its_MurDAH]

>
Dude, seriously get over yourself. It's a lab coat, nothing more. Keeps the bugs off the clothes. The last time I wore one was when I was REQUIRED to by the program I went to. I sweat like a pig when I wear it.



You too, you guys sound like a 5 y/o bitching and whining because someone got the same elmo lunchbox as you. See other thread.
"WHAA......WHAA....I should be the only one allowed to wear a labcoat......WHAA." Hopefully you'll soon realize there are more important fish to fry.

Great.
either we have YET another nurse trolling the medical student forums or this is some poor sap with a militant NP/nurse/PA/notanMD significant other standing over his shoulder watching him type this out.

This white coat thing has really gotten out of hand. If medical students can wear ridiculous short white coats, and volunteers can wear ridiculous pink coats, then other ANCILLARY staff can damn well wear short coats or different color coats.

At my institution the chaplains, the dietitians, respiratory therapists, and even the transpoters all wear long white coats with their pagers on their hip, talk about confusing to the patients. I have witnessed several encounters where patients have confused NPs, RNs, and even some PA students who are wearing long white coats (don't even get me started on that ****) with MDs. It makes absolutely no sense to anyone. There is nothing that makes my blood boil more...

 

[deleted50478]

docs should wear white coats. everyone else should be color-coded in different colors. the white coat says something because doctors made it that way.
I also think scrubs should be color-coded. I know I can't tell who's who sometimes, so the patients definately can't.

 

[Bertelman]

docs should wear white coats. everyone else should be color-coded in different colors. the white coat says something because doctors made it that way.
I also think scrubs should be color-coded. I know I can't tell who's who sometimes, so the patients definately can't.

A rainbow assortment of scrubs and white coats won't help. What does help is clearly identifying yourself to the patient. Unfortunately, those that aspire to be physicians, or treated as such, sometimes misrepresent themselves.

 

[badasshairday]

What does help is clearly identifying yourself to the patient. Unfortunately, those that aspire to be physicians, or treated as such, sometimes misrepresent themselves.

DNP... lol.... ....👍

 

[phage9999]

What does help is clearly identifying yourself to the patient.

True that.

"Hi. I'm Dr. Dolittle, your physician for (x,y, or z). I'm here to..." This allows you to prophylax against the rest of the wannabes.

 

[poresofkohn]

Great.
either we have YET another nurse trolling the medical student forums or this is some poor sap with a militant NP/nurse/PA/notanMD significant other standing over his shoulder watching him type this out.

This white coat thing has really gotten out of hand. If medical students can wear ridiculous short white coats, and volunteers can wear ridiculous pink coats, then other ANCILLARY staff can damn well wear short coats or different color coats.

At my institution the chaplains, the dietitians, respiratory therapists, and even the transpoters all wear long white coats with their pagers on their hip, talk about confusing to the patients. I have witnessed several encounters where patients have confused NPs, RNs, and even some PA students who are wearing long white coats (don't even get me started on that ****) with MDs. It makes absolutely no sense to anyone. There is nothing that makes my blood boil more...

>
So a physician is defined by a lab coat and a pager?!?! Let me understand this......NOTHING makes your blood boil more than someone other than a doc wearing a labcoat?? WTH is wrong with you people?

 

[deleted50478]

>
So a physician is defined by a lab coat and a pager?!?! Let me understand this......NOTHING makes your blood boil more than someone other than a doc wearing a labcoat?? WTH is wrong with you people?

Wearing a white coat if you aren't a doctor is misrepresenting yourself to patients. I can't walk around with a police badge or military uniform because it would be wrong to misrepresent myself. It is even more important in the clinical setting since misrepresenting yourself results in assault of patients, even though charges aren't brought.

You can obviously avoid misrepresenting yourself by clearly stating your position, but the people who most want to pretend to be doctors are the least likely to clearly indentify themselves verbally. Banning the white coat in non physicians would decrease confusion with no negative impact.

 

[Bertelman]

Wearing a white coat if you aren't a doctor is misrepresenting yourself to patients. I can't walk around with a police badge or military uniform because it would be wrong to misrepresent myself. It is even more important in the clinical setting since misrepresenting yourself results in assault of patients, even though charges aren't brought.

You can obviously avoid misrepresenting yourself by clearly stating your position, but the people who most want to pretend to be doctors are the least likely to clearly indentify themselves verbally. Banning the white coat in non physicians would decrease confusion with no negative impact.

I've been waiting to use my bad analogy graphic...

I see homeless people on the street wearing camouflage regularly. I never expect them to be active duty. I also don't expect that girls wearing camo miniskirts have ever signed a contract or seen a barrack.

This thought that preventing all others from wearing a white coat will discourage misrepresentation is shortsighted. You'd have to start by requiring all physicians to wear white coats for every patient encounter. That's not happening.

 

[Gimlet]

[YOUTUBE]_uscmRI9ZrE[/YOUTUBE]

Bertelman, I agree completely with your 2nd paragraph. Regarding the first, however, I don't think your examples fall under the analogy nolagas was making. We're talking about people dressed in a manner to believably represent military personnel; not some haggard bum wearing an old Vietnam-era olive drab jacket. If you saw someone walking down the street in a pressed uniform, shined boots, and carrying an M16, you would expect that person to be active military (and wonder WTF was going on...).

 

[deleted50478]

I've been waiting to use my bad analogy graphic...

I see homeless people on the street wearing camouflage regularly. I never expect them to be active duty. I also don't expect that girls wearing camo miniskirts have ever signed a contract or seen a barrack.

This thought that preventing all others from wearing a white coat will discourage misrepresentation is shortsighted. You'd have to start by requiring all physicians to wear white coats for every patient encounter. That's not happening.

I think that preventing people who didn't earn it from wearing the white coat has potential benefit and no significant downside. Hard to argue against no downside.

 

[Bertelman]

[YOUTUBE]_uscmRI9ZrE[/YOUTUBE]

Bertelman, I agree completely with your 2nd paragraph. Regarding the first, however, I don't think your examples fall under the analogy nolagas was making. We're talking about people dressed in a manner to believably represent military personnel; not some haggard bum wearing an old Vietnam-era olive drab jacket. If you saw someone walking down the street in a pressed uniform, shined boots, and carrying an M16, you would expect that person to be active military (and wonder WTF was going on...).

I was just trying to point out comparing doctor's white coats to a police badge or military uniform is a poor analogy. I will happily admit my analogies were even poorer. No one is accusing other healthcare professionals of improper identification, i.e. a police badge. And a military uniform is required attire which carries rank identification. I fail to see any precedence, other than "we wore it first", to suggest ONLY doctors should wear the white coat. In fact, it was adopted over a century ago by doctors trying to promote their scientific image. Sound familiar?

(and if I saw the uniformed presence you described, I'd think I was back in College Station.)

As for potential disadvantages nolagas, I stated one previously- compliance. If the white coat is to be equated with physicians, all physicians must wear one. Furthermore, white coats are on the skids in other countries in an effort to curb infections.

I didn't "earn" the right to wear anything other than the badge with an MD after my name. Like most of you, I felt a strong sense of pride during my white coat ceremony, and a funny "I've finally made it" sensation when I was fitted for my long coat as an intern. You know, the same feeling most of you felt the first time you were handed a pager. Honestly, neither of those feelings get me out of bed at 0530. Most med studs wear the white coat because it is adorned with half a dozen pockets for all the crap. Take away the pockets, and the white coats will stay in a crumpled pile in the back seat of your car. It's hard to convince other professions they aren't allowed to wear one if we aren't even united in our desire to wear the damn thing. Tell me the last time you saw a white coat in a Peds or Psych ward.

What about the stethoscope? Behind the white coat, that is the next image most equated with physicians. Should we limit hospital access to stethoscopes? For better or worse, there are far more nurses listening through stethoscopes every single day than physicians.

 

[umean2tellme]

[YOUTUBE]yvjqmtAJa0c[/YOUTUBE]
WTF!

Who approved this crap??? Nurses putting in chest tubes; Doctors standing idly by while nurses run a code; Doctors actually admitting that nurses know more than them??? I might just watch this show just to see how crazy it is lol haha. 😀

 

[doctor712]

Hi Gang,

For some insight into how Medical Dramas are written, and other TV shows made, check out my reply on this thread here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=7607373&postcount=16

For the record, I only write tv shows now to fund my future med school bill. 😀 Otherwise, I'm outta that business.

D712

 

[anesthesiadoc]

WTF is a nurse doing wearin a long white coat? It seems way too common a scene in the hospital where non physicians, mostly nurse managers, are galavanting with apparel unbecoming of their degree of education. And it's not just limited to nurses. Some respiratory therapists, dieticians, social workers, phlebotomists, EVEN SECRETARIES, have been observed wearing white coats. That's probably the biggest factor that contributes to the confusion of patients and families in terms of the hierarchy of medicine. They're bastardizing the usage and cheapening the meaning of a long white coat worn in the hospital to the point that the person who is NOT wearing the white coat, is now considered the physician.
This show is going to be a travesty and will only serve to widen the rift and further embolden contempt and dissention that already exists between physicians and nurses.

As a med student, the one that bugged me most was the nutritionist who wore the long white coat. Short white coat was demoralizing in comparison.

 

[poresofkohn]

Whats with the lab coat envy? Seriously....I don't know.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

>
You too, you guys sound like a 5 y/o bitching and whining because someone got the same elmo lunchbox as you. See other thread.
"WHAA......WHAA....I should be the only one allowed to wear a labcoat......WHAA." Hopefully you'll soon realize there are more important fish to fry.

Friend I would suggest that you complete medical school before you make such comments in a forum full of med students and physicians. AS A student you are FORCED to wear a short coat as you bust your hump for two years. So when you keep on busting your hump during internship and residency it irks the hell out of all of us to see these various knobs walking around with long white coats on. We all paid our dues to wear the coat and so should anyone else who gets to sport one. Real dues, not some nonsense degree.

 

[poresofkohn]

Friend I would suggest that you complete medical school before you make such comments in a forum full of med students and physicians. AS A student you are FORCED to wear a short coat as you bust your hump for two years. So when you keep on busting your hump during internship and residency it irks the hell out of all of us to see these various knobs walking around with long white coats on. We all paid our dues to wear the coat and so should anyone else who gets to sport one. Real dues, not some nonsense degree.

>
Jeezus......its just a lab coat. However, I didn't know that. But still, this notion of "everyone who wears a long labcoat wants to be a doctor" is just sorry. Frankly its ridiculous to equate a physician with a labcoat. BTW - what constitutes a "nonsense degree"? Real dues....like a WWII vet, would he get to wear one? I think sometimes things like labcoats need to put into perspective.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

>
Jeezus......its just a lab coat. However, I didn't know that. But still, this notion of "everyone who wears a long labcoat wants to be a doctor" is just sorry. Frankly its ridiculous to equate a physician with a labcoat. BTW - what constitutes a "nonsense degree"? Real dues....like a WWII vet, would he get to wear one? I think sometimes things like labcoats need to put into perspective.

The notion that everyone who wears a long white coat wants to be a doctor is far-fetched, but no matter. You jump through many hoops and many rites of passage as a med student and one of them is the white coat. Med students work harder their first two years and have more education that many who wear the long coats (phlebotomist, nurse, janitor, cafeteria lady, nutritionist, OR desk lady, etc). What in the world does a WWII vet have to do w/anything? I would let Dwight Howard wear one but not Kobe.

 

[Southpaw]

>
Jeezus......its just a lab coat. However, I didn't know that. But still, this notion of "everyone who wears a long labcoat wants to be a doctor" is just sorry. Frankly its ridiculous to equate a physician with a labcoat. BTW - what constitutes a "nonsense degree"? Real dues....like a WWII vet, would he get to wear one? I think sometimes things like labcoats need to put into perspective.

Ehhh, if the physician side of medicine didn't make a big deal about the medical student's short white coat you might be right. If we never even received a short white coat in a big grand ceremony where family are invited, you might have a case. But, medical students work unbelievably hard the first two years. Literally, it's our full-time job. When you show up in the hospital for third year donning your short white coat you have a sense of excitement/nervousness. We're paying a lot of money to be there. Then, you see absolutely everyone around you spread across many professions and other jobs sporting a long white coat. It's really a letdown, and a sign of disrespect to the tradition of the coat and the hard work we've put in to even be able to wear a short one. I don't expect you to understand, but we see it as a sign of disrespect.

Honestly, I wish we never had to wear the damn thing and never received it in the first place, but as things stand I don't see why everyone and their cousin wears the long one.

 

[poresofkohn]

Honestly, I wish we never had to wear the damn thing and never received it in the first place, but as things stand I don't see why everyone and their cousin wears the long one.

>
Because the long Vs. short coat only holds significance to med students. Prior to this thread I'd never heard of it, and I have 3 physician family members. Trust me when I tell you, the VAST majority of people who are not docs that wear long lab coats do so to keep the bug juice off thier clothes.

 

[Southpaw]

>
Because the long Vs. short coat only holds significance to med students. Prior to this thread I'd never heard of it, and I have 3 physician family members. Trust me when I tell you, the VAST majority of people who are not docs that wear long lab coats do so to keep the bug juice off thier clothes.

It holds significance for the entire physician side of medicine. If you ask your family members the difference they should know, or know which coat medical students wear and why. If they don't, then they're just too far removed from life in a teaching hospital.

It doesn't matter. It's not like physicians are going to make a fuss. Trust me though, the day med students show up in the hospital with a long coat on, you'll see physicians raise an eyebrow and question their motives.

 

[Bertelman]

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1207/S15328015TLM1401_13


Conclusion: The White Coat Ceremony fosters a sense of entitlement whereby authority based on title and uniform, and authority based on trust, are poorly distinguished.

 

[turkeyjerky]

As a med student, the one that bugged me most was the nutritionist who wore the long white coat. Short white coat was demoralizing in comparison.

For me, the most annoying think is when I see a nursing STUDENT wearing a long white coat.

 

[ProRealDoc]

For me, the most annoying think is when I see a nursing STUDENT wearing a long white coat.

start pimpimg them aggressively and when they question you just say "oh I thought you were a med student/junior resident"