How to dress for psychiatry rotation/residency

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I'm a <30 year old male and I'm feeling a bit confused with how to dress in psychiatric hospital for rotation or residency. I know a white jacket is out of question yet wearing a suit feels a bit overkill for someone of my age.

How did you solve this puzzle?

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Most attendings dress a bit more casual in psych than in other fields and usually forgo the tie (for men) in my experience. I still wear a white coat on the inpatient unit, but most attendings and residents do not.

Regardless, it's not like overdressing is the end of the world.
 
Sport coat and tie are fairly standard. What you don’t want to do is wear sneakers, and take out visible non-ear lobe piercings + cover tattoos. You may be proud of such statements of body art, but even though your mentors should be accepting of your personal choices, many patients are not. Investment bankers have the same issue. It seems like it is the older generation who have money. Then again, I had an overweight personal trainer so go figure.
 
Some inpatient units don't allow ties for safety reasons. Otherwise, yeah, dress pants and a button down shirt with or without a tie likely depending on your part of the country. Tattoos and piercings are probably location dependent -- I've had colleagues with nose rings, and it's not been a big deal. Giant septum piercing etc are a little different. As a med student, I'd start out with the white coat and then ditch it if everyone else is (or keep it if you like it).
 
For males, I'd say you should dress the same way as you would on any other rotation. On the inpatient unit, most people wear a white coat... if your institution is different, you'll notice when you get there and you can just take it off. Some psychiatrists dress more casually than other doctors, but you don't have the flexibility to make that decision as a med student unless you get there and notice that you're the only one wearing a tie. Some med schools might tell you to avoid wearing a tie or a stethoscope in the unlikely event that an aggressive patient uses it as a weapon, but if that's the case, you can always take it off when you get there.

For females, I might suggest dressing more conservatively than you otherwise would, since you might encounter patients who are hypersexual and/or disinhibited.
 
For males, I'd say you should dress the same way as you would on any other rotation. On the inpatient unit, most people wear a white coat... if your institution is different, you'll notice when you get there and you can just take it off. Some psychiatrists dress more casually than other doctors, but you don't have the flexibility to make that decision as a med student unless you get there and notice that you're the only one wearing a tie. Some med schools might tell you to avoid wearing a tie or a stethoscope in the unlikely event that an aggressive patient uses it as a weapon, but if that's the case, you can always take it off when you get there.

For females, I might suggest dressing more conservatively than you otherwise would, since you might encounter patients who are hypersexual and/or disinhibited.

What are you talking about, it's all the latest rage to dress like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman..... :dead:
 
What are you talking about, it's all the latest rage to dress like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman..... :dead:
Ha, joking aside, I've seen students wear things that would be more appropriate for clubbing than clinical work.
 
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Everyone above me is wrong. The answer is slacks, tweed jacket, and bow tie. Also, grow a beard.

If you really want to have fun, pick a clothing theme and change it each week of the rotation. See if anyone brings it up.
 
IMO same as any rotation - first day white coat and tie, adjust to the team as time continues. My last inpatient month all the docs wore scrubs. Was awesome.
 
Don't show up in a white coat for a psych rotation, ever.

Maybe this is a regional thing, but I've been on rotations in several different places and the majority of the psychiatrists wore white coats. All of the residents and students did.
 
Two words, elbow patches. White coats are only for those who are insecure about their image as a doctor.
 
a consult service is rather different from an inpatient unit or outpatient clinic. That said BWH does not require you to wear a white coat
The word force was not in that original post. You can't dispute that the culture of BWH CL is to white coat.

EDIT: I must admit that I didn't catch the "psychiatric hospital" part of the OP.

So yeah, wearing a white coat on a locked unit or in clinic would be very atypical.
 
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