How important is the white coat ceremony?

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lol

then they will show your mom their pics of their white coat ceremonies for their nursing, physical therapy, nutrition, pharmacy, optometry school kids because they are doctors too

+ Dentistry, podiatry, PA, veterinary, acupuncture, chiropractic kids! I think we covered all the non-physician white-coaters. This entire system is truly going backwards when we reward everyone with a white coat and blue ribbon.
 
+ Dentistry, podiatry, PA, veterinary, acupuncture, chiropractic kids! I think we covered all the non-physician white-coaters. This entire system is truly going backwards when we reward everyone with a white coat and blue ribbon.
dont forget dental hygienists kids! they have white coat ceremonies also🙂
 
I know of at least one large, well-known biology Ph.D program that had a white coat ceremony. I thought they should replace it with a Hawaiian shirt and jorts ceremony to reflect the attire the profession is known for.

Yeah CWRU has a video their PhD White Coating Ceremony on the YouTube, I watch it every night before I go to bed.
 
When you think about it. PhD's doing bench research are probably the only professionals who can put the white coats to practical use.

So maybe CWRU is on to something. 😛 Maybe we should just end the WCC for all the health professions (since they don't serve much of a practical role anyways...save for the pockets). And only have a WCC for PhD students.
 
Man, I feel like all of you had such bad experiences with your white coat ceremony. I get mine next week and then it's boards studying until clerkships start in July. I am really looking forward to the white coat ceremony too, since this has taken a ton of work to get the white coat.

I wonder if the difference is that my school does it as a clinical transition ceremony and something you have to "earn" by finishing two years of medical school. Some of my friends at other schools got them their first week of first year. To me, that would feel awkward. We were just given stethoscopes our first week.

But even with all of that, if I had to make a choice between WCC and a wedding, the wedding would be a clear winner.
 
Man, I feel like all of you had such bad experiences with your white coat ceremony. I get mine next week and then it's boards studying until clerkships start in July. I am really looking forward to the white coat ceremony too, since this has taken a ton of work to get the white coat.

I wonder if the difference is that my school does it as a clinical transition ceremony and something you have to "earn" by finishing two years of medical school. Some of my friends at other schools got them their first week of first year. To me, that would feel awkward. We were just given stethoscopes our first week.

But even with all of that, if I had to make a choice between WCC and a wedding, the wedding would be a clear winner.

Your school's timing strikes me as more meaningful than the hugfest done at my orientation, but it would also annoy me when preparing for step I. Besides, taking - and passing - step I seems like a much bigger welcome-to-clinical-medicine moment than a WCC. Sort of like how match day kind of takes the air out of med school graduation.
 
Your school's timing strikes me as more meaningful than the hugfest done at my orientation, but it would also annoy me when preparing for step I. Besides, taking - and passing - step I seems like a much bigger welcome-to-clinical-medicine moment than a WCC. Sort of like how match day kind of takes the air out of med school graduation.
Yeah, the timing with step one is kind of inconvenient. But we have a final on Friday morning and then WCC in the evening. My dedicated step one studying starts the next day.
 
That's even worse. Make it on a Sunday at noon, when everyone's still trying to sober up.
It's actually funny because step 1 is kind of required to go into third year or further
 
I am very looking forward to hopefully one day go to my future white coat ceremony... maybe one day. you must be excited -_-
I just feel bad because I only wore it one year and tossed it in my closet after third year. It became useless because I only wore scrubs and the coat was just a hassle more than anything. And considering majority of residents and physicians don't even wear theirs anymore, I don't see the point either. I only need pen, paper and stethoscope to round/see patients.
Plus the fact that some floors have you take the coat off to see patients means leave it.
 
It's actually funny because step 1 is kind of required to go into third year or further

oh look you've made it, you get your white coat.

oh **** better pass your exam then you get to use that white coat
 
oh look you've made it, you get your white coat.

oh **** better pass your exam then you get to use that white coat
Like being on a rotation the month of your graduation.
Does that mean you can be an actual doctor the rest of the month?
 
I just feel bad because I only wore it one year and tossed it in my closet after third year. It became useless because I only wore scrubs and the coat was just a hassle more than anything. And considering majority of residents and physicians don't even wear theirs anymore, I don't see the point either. I only need pen, paper and stethoscope to round/see patients.
Plus the fact that some floors have you take the coat off to see patients means leave it.

even on surg? I couldnt even look sexy with the kerlix and clings flowing out my pockets
 
even on surg? I couldnt even look sexy with the kerlix and clings flowing out my pockets
I used the eager beaver third years.
Jk. We almost always used the portable computers on wheels that had a basket.
But most times the utility room or patient rooms had them ("surgery carts")
 
This honestly would depend on how close your are with this said friend. Friends can always change, one day you're best buds the next day mortal enemies, but your own experiences will never change. So in the end it winds down to important event in your life or important event in friend's life. And I don't know about you, but I'd take my own experiences over any friend's unless we were sworn bloodbrothers who did that gravely unsanitary pact where we shook hands with open wounds or something.

As for people claiming that the WCC is a useless formality, what isn't a formality these days? You think some peabrained kid going to an institute of higher learning, getting a degree's worth of infodumping thrown at him of which he retains less than 20% and coming out 4 years later with a slightly lower penchant for textbooks and a slightly higher tolerance for beer warrants choring through a 6-hour celebration of the dean butchering names of foreigners while we all sauté under the sun? Because that's where I'm at right now. And it's supposedly a big deal.

We live on "useless" formalities. The wedding is no exception.
 
This honestly would depend on how close your are with this said friend. Friends can always change, one day you're best buds the next day mortal enemies, but your own experiences will never change. So in the end it winds down to important event in your life or important event in friend's life. And I don't know about you, but I'd take my own experiences over any friend's unless we were sworn bloodbrothers who did that gravely unsanitary pact where we shook hands with open wounds or something.

As for people claiming that the WCC is a useless formality, what isn't a formality these days? You think some peabrained kid going to an institute of higher learning, getting a degree's worth of infodumping thrown at him of which he retains less than 20% and coming out 4 years later with a slightly lower penchant for textbooks and a slightly higher tolerance for beer warrants choring through a 6-hour celebration of the dean butchering names of foreigners while we all sauté under the sun? Because that's where I'm at right now. And it's supposedly a big deal.

We live on "useless" formalities. The wedding is no exception.

You went to the wrong college.
 
This honestly would depend on how close your are with this said friend. Friends can always change, one day you're best buds the next day mortal enemies, but your own experiences will never change. So in the end it winds down to important event in your life or important event in friend's life. And I don't know about you, but I'd take my own experiences over any friend's unless we were sworn bloodbrothers who did that gravely unsanitary pact where we shook hands with open wounds or something.

As for people claiming that the WCC is a useless formality, what isn't a formality these days? You think some peabrained kid going to an institute of higher learning, getting a degree's worth of infodumping thrown at him of which he retains less than 20% and coming out 4 years later with a slightly lower penchant for textbooks and a slightly higher tolerance for beer warrants choring through a 6-hour celebration of the dean butchering names of foreigners while we all sauté under the sun? Because that's where I'm at right now. And it's supposedly a big deal.

We live on "useless" formalities. The wedding is no exception.

Well, except you can get really dressed up and drunk at a wedding and see all your old friends. Hardly useless.
 
This honestly would depend on how close your are with this said friend. Friends can always change, one day you're best buds the next day mortal enemies, but your own experiences will never change. So in the end it winds down to important event in your life or important event in friend's life. And I don't know about you, but I'd take my own experiences over any friend's unless we were sworn bloodbrothers who did that gravely unsanitary pact where we shook hands with open wounds or something.

As for people claiming that the WCC is a useless formality, what isn't a formality these days? You think some peabrained kid going to an institute of higher learning, getting a degree's worth of infodumping thrown at him of which he retains less than 20% and coming out 4 years later with a slightly lower penchant for textbooks and a slightly higher tolerance for beer warrants choring through a 6-hour celebration of the dean butchering names of foreigners while we all sauté under the sun? Because that's where I'm at right now. And it's supposedly a big deal.

We live on "useless" formalities. The wedding is no exception.
At least weddings have free alcohol (I only go to ones with free alcohol, I mean)
 
At least weddings have free alcohol (I only go to ones with free alcohol, I mean)
Right? White coat ceremonies should have that.
Though that reminds me of second year where our satellite campus city threw this formal event and med students were encouraged to attend. Some of us had a couple drinks before and then came. One of the admins stops us and asks if we could escort the recipients for the awards they were going to get. I immediately respond "we would be more than happy to!"
Then I realized: I couldnt drink anymore until after the awards ceremony.
Here I am about to escort this 80 year old guy and I'm thinking "We might be escorting each other..."
 
two years later...in this boat. Have an important wedding that I would like to choose over the white coat.
 
I never went to white coat ceremony. A bunch of ******ed kids thinking they achieved doctor status and taking pics and thinking this is the best day of their lives and they have achieved goals or some stupid crap. No you idiots, you aren't doctors.

I don't want to sit through 2 hours of corny speeches, then however long it takes for them to call everyones name and let them put on their coat on stage and take pictures. I don't want to meet your family members and make small talk. I also, don't want to recite your stupid oath.
You seem like a very pleasant person.. 🙄
 
two years later...in this boat. Have an important wedding that I would like to choose over the white coat.
White coat ceremony is beyond worthless. Go to the wedding.

Assuming it's not mandatory.
 
To go into the whole production costs and final consumer costs is a much more complex and convoluted equation then even you portray. You left out a lot of things.
For example, all you did was factor 50% wage inflation for the "widget factory", you said nothing about the store that sells the widgets to the consumer. In a lot of industries, especially industries that provide essential goods, the cost of labor is by far and away the highest cost of the business . Additionally, you ignore the fact that if you increase the minimum wage by 50% you must also increase the wages of higher level workers. You think your mid-level who once was making double minimum wage lets say, at 16$ is going to be okay with the minimum wage guy now suddenly making $15, and they are still stuck at $16? Definitely not. So in your "evaluation" you ignore the compounding costs of wage inflation, not just across the produces, middle man, consumer line (and often times there are more degreees of separation then just middle man and producer. Coke for example on the bottom end has suppliers of energy, sugar, water, aluminum, ink, design, etc etc. All of those suppliers have employees to get those products. So increase in costs of good for coke. Increase in costs of labor for coke. Then coke hires distrbutors, which have employees and drivers, those distributors often times sell to smaller more local distributors with drivers and employees, and then finally to the store where you bought the coke. The store that has employees too. All of those employees have to get paid more now. and every business in between not only just raised their cost in terms of employees, but they also each raised their costs of materials because all of the things that they used in their business became more expensive and they have to raise prices to account for this. It's no where near as direct as you imply it to be. Even my example, I didnt account for things, like the distributors having higher costs not just in labor, but the trucks are more expensive to buy, since the truck manufacturer has to pay more for their materials and employees, the trucks cost more to maintain since service is more expensive. There is such a huge ripple effect that you totally ignore and minimize that its astounding. A lot of ideas sound good on the outside, it doesn't mean they are a good idea in reality.


Re:ACA - you may not have said anything about standard of care, but I certainly did. Single payer would limit re-reimbursements, reducing doctors abilities to use utilize expensive cutting edge technologies, and reducing physician pay overall causing the best and brightest physicians and bio-tech companies to go elsewhere. Single payer system greatly reduces the access to the higher end therapies because insurance covers a large portion of things now, so the people that can afford more then baseline would be greatly reduced via your solution and would still result moving the cutting edge of technology and medicine away from the US.

I'd kill the minimum wage, but provide guaranteed food, housing, education and healthcare. Right now those costs are expected to be borne by small to medium businesses, which puts a bottle neck on innovation. I think it'd be better to create a few new tax brackets at, say, 50% and 70% per dollar earned over 10 million and over 250million, respectively, and allow small to medium business to worry about paying for disposable income rather than needing to provide for the entire socioeconomic well-being of a citizen. Every citizen should get a voter ID card with multiple accounts that electronically code for bread/cheese (caloric needs), fruit/veg (nutrition needs), housing (shelter), and a trivial amount of luxury debit. When it runs out, it runs out. But everyone is above the poverty line. If you want more, then work in the free market, which will drive innovation (although healthcare is national as that appears to be the cheapest way to do it based on comparative economics). I think this could be super efficient, and could replace every single government program except academics research and military. The system would depend on people not having loads of children if they couldn't afford them. That's an issue I'm not sure how to do with, but we could give it a go and see how it works. I believe Friedman has a similar idea.

And that's exactly why the OP should go to the wedding....
 
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