Med schools that issue long white coats

[Aisha_j123d]

I know that most med schools give their students short white coats but I heard that Stanford gives long white coats and I was wondering what other schools do that? Georgetown in particular I was curious about.

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[Roxas]

University of Utah does

 

[Doctor Strange]

Pritzker

 

[TwinsFan]

UTSW

 

[Psai]

.

 

[alpinism]

Gtown has short coats.

 

[DubVille]

Cleveland Clinic. Not sure why it matters.

 

[Psai]

Cleveland Clinic. Not sure why it matters.

Because when you wear a short coat you are almost always a student. A long coat could be anyone from an attending to a community college nutrition student

 

[pd1112]

Why do you care

 

[masaraksh]

Because when you wear a short coat you are almost always a student. A long coat could be anyone from an attending to a community college nutrition student

It could even be a ... nurse

 

[DubVille]

Because when you wear a short coat you are almost always a student. A long coat could be anyone from an attending to a community college nutrition student

I know. White coats don't really mean anything, so I don't understand why it would be important to know when choosing a school.

 

[SplenoMegastar]

I know. White coats don't really mean anything, so I don't understand why it would be important to know when choosing a school.

Maybe s/he is not using it to choose a med school. Maybe s/he is working on a Craigslist Missed Encounters or something

 

[Kaustikos]

So... Funny thing I've found: NOT wearing any coat is more dangerous than a long white coat.
Residents even said that people now tend to think you're an attending if you do that.
Which, I didn't realize until I noticed that, holy ****, attending don't wear coats! lol
It's really funny how little care a lot of residents and attendings give to wearing your coat. As long as you don't go to the floor and giving verbal orders to nurses.

 

[Aisha_j123d]

I'm not using it as a factor for choosing a school, I was just curious

 

[StraightOuttaBrooklyn]

University of Miami! ️

 

[Psai]

So... Funny thing I've found: NOT wearing any coat is more dangerous than a long white coat.
Residents even said that people now tend to think you're an attending if you do that.
Which, I didn't realize until I noticed that, holy ****, attending don't wear coats! lol
It's really funny how little care a lot of residents and attendings give to wearing your coat. As long as you don't go to the floor and giving verbal orders to nurses.

Yeah because attendings have enough status to walk around in a suit or just scrubs and still command respect. People who wear the white coat are borrowing authority and prestige from a symbol of medicine. But as more and more people coopt that symbol, it starts to lose its cachet. Basically a white coat means that you have stepped foot in a hospital at least once.

I'm assuming something similar happened to degrees. Letters behind your name meant something but now people just collect letters as if quantity was equivalent to quality

 

[Tots]

So... Funny thing I've found: NOT wearing any coat is more dangerous than a long white coat.
Residents even said that people now tend to think you're an attending if you do that.
Which, I didn't realize until I noticed that, holy ****, attending don't wear coats! lol
It's really funny how little care a lot of residents and attendings give to wearing your coat. As long as you don't go to the floor and giving verbal orders to nurses.

Lets be honest, I just wear my white coat for the pockets(and because we are required to have our scrubs covered on the floor).

 

[Psai]

Lets be honest, I just wear my white coat for the pockets(and because we are required to have our scrubs covered on the floor).

man i remember when you were applying to medical school, can't believe you're a 3rd year already

 

[sloop]

Lets be honest, I just wear my white coat for the pockets(and because we are required to have our scrubs covered on the floor).

I just got off of labor and delivery and I wound up disregarding half of the dress code by the second day. I kept having to toss off my white coat every time somebody was delivering or some triage patient was going to the OR and I was supposed to scrub. Usually that meant I was leaving all sorts of stuff I care about vulnerable to getting stolen from the pockets, so I just left it home.

I also stopped dressing up and changing in the locker room. I just jacked a bunch of scrubs and dressed at home.

Also, I don't think we're technically supposed to wear sneakers, but my feet were killing me.

Ultimately the number of people who cared how I dressed was zero.

 

[Kaustikos]

Yeah because attendings have enough status to walk around in a suit or just scrubs and still command respect. People who wear the white coat are borrowing authority and prestige from a symbol of medicine. But as more and more people coopt that symbol, it starts to lose its cachet. Basically a white coat means that you have stepped foot in a hospital at least once.

I'm assuming something similar happened to degrees. Letters behind your name meant something but now people just collect letters as if quantity was equivalent to quality

Exactly. I hate to sound jaded, but I don't like the coat anymore. Only because it serves as a supposed status symbol and not as a useful purpose. It's more like people use it for status. Which, I hate to say it, I abhor. Commanding respect just because you're wearing it is a detriment to everyone.
I mean, people in research have long coats. And, actually, it's hard to discern if they're not an MD because it's identical to MD coats. I still have my long coat from research. I tossed both aside because it didn't serve much purpose when I found the utility of scrubs. lol. Seriously... Put your wallet in the inside pocket of your pants and you have a back pocket for all your papers (even a tablet if it's the smaller ones).

Lets be honest, I just wear my white coat for the pockets(and because we are required to have our scrubs covered on the floor).

True. If I have to dress in a professional manner, I either have to decide to cram all my papers in my pants with a flea collar or just wear a coat.
But people don't use coats for that purpose anymore. Like, they probably forgot the pockets are there now.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Kind of random question, but do most scrubs not have pockets on the sides? I wear a coat just because my scrubs have no freaking side pockets

 

[alpinism]

Its funny but the only people who are excited about wearing white coats are M1s.

Once you've done a few rotations you'll realize that the coats (especially short ones) only serve as a huge bullseye on your back.

Everyone from nurses to respiratory therapists to social workers treats you like a clueless idiot (which to be fair you mostly are initially).

True story from when I was an M3:

white coat - What are you doing? Who gave you permission? Who said you could put the patient on oxygen?
no white coat - Aww you don't have to do that... thanks! we'll turn on the oxygen for you. What setting would you like?

 

[sloop]

Kind of random question, but do most scrubs not have pockets on the sides? I wear a coat just because my scrubs have no freaking side pockets

The scrubs my hospital uses have no side pockets (wish they did but I think it makes them harder to clean thoroughly, which defeats the point). They do have 4 pockets total. One on the inside of the pants, one on the outside of the pants, one on the inside of the shirt, one on the outside of the shirt.

I usually put my wallet on the inside of the pants, notepad on the outside of the pants, keys in the inside of the shirt and phone and pen in the outside of the shirt.

The only issue I have with this system is that I can't really bend over too far or my phone falls out of my pocket. I just have to bend at the knees if I need to pick something up or tie my shoes.

 

[Tots]

white coat - What are you doing? Who gave you permission? Who said you could put the patient on oxygen?
no white coat - Aww you don't have to do that... thanks! we'll turn on the oxygen for you. What setting would you like?

White coat or not we have these required tags with "MEDICAL STUDENT" in giant font under our ID. I enjoy being clearly labeled as clueless, as this usually makes me invisible to staff I want to avoid interacting with.

 

[MedSprinter]

1st two classes of Quinnipiac got long white coats, but the M1's this year got short ones.

 

[pd1112]

Exactly. I hate to sound jaded, but I don't like the coat anymore. Only because it serves as a supposed status symbol and not as a useful purpose. It's more like people use it for status. Which, I hate to say it, I abhor. Commanding respect just because you're wearing it is a detriment to everyone.
I mean, people in research have long coats. And, actually, it's hard to discern if they're not an MD because it's identical to MD coats. I still have my long coat from research. I tossed both aside because it didn't serve much purpose when I found the utility of scrubs. lol. Seriously... Put your wallet in the inside pocket of your pants and you have a back pocket for all your papers (even a tablet if it's the smaller ones).

Going to look back on this post as the turning point of clerkships.

 

[Mad Jack]

Yeah because attendings have enough status to walk around in a suit or just scrubs and still command respect. People who wear the white coat are borrowing authority and prestige from a symbol of medicine. But as more and more people coopt that symbol, it starts to lose its cachet. Basically a white coat means that you have stepped foot in a hospital at least once.

I'm assuming something similar happened to degrees. Letters behind your name meant something but now people just collect letters as if quantity was equivalent to quality

It's funny- the hospital I trained at in my community college respiratory care program had everyone in white coats- RT students, nurse practitioner students, medical students, radiation therapy students- then we all shed the coats when we graduated, aside from attendings. Each coat had a particular badge on the shoulder with your designation, making the coat itself meaningless, and the patch all that mattered. I was never so happy as the day I was able to toss that thing.

And then I got into medical school, and now I find myself wearing a white coat again. And not just any white coat, but a short one at that. I just long for the day when I can wear scrubs again, or maybe business casual. White coats are a meaningless symbol of the past.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

I tried to explain to my parents why the white coat, and therefore the white coat ceremony have lost meaning. Went right over their heads, as I suspect it would for the majority of the lay public.

 

[Psai]

The scrubs my hospital uses have no side pockets (wish they did but I think it makes them harder to clean thoroughly, which defeats the point). They do have 4 pockets total. One on the inside of the pants, one on the outside of the pants, one on the inside of the shirt, one on the outside of the shirt.

I usually put my wallet on the inside of the pants, notepad on the outside of the pants, keys in the inside of the shirt and phone and pen in the outside of the shirt.

The only issue I have with this system is that I can't really bend over too far or my phone falls out of my pocket. I just have to bend at the knees if I need to pick something up or tie my shoes.

Phone in inside pocket of shirt will work wonders for you

 

[Kaustikos]

Phone in inside pocket of shirt will work wonders for you

Seriously,
I found this out by trial and error and ultimately found out that inside pockets are great.
I also hide my pens in the inside shirt pocket so people don't see them.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Kind of random question, but do most scrubs not have pockets on the sides? I wear a coat just because my scrubs have no freaking side pockets

I've never seen hospital issued scrubs with side pockets.

The ones some nurses and other hospital personnel have might but I'd guess that most are as described above: two (inside and out) on top and bottom vs two on outside of top (tends to be hospitals which have separate tops for women's scrubs.

 

[Armadillos]

Seriously... Put your wallet in the inside pocket of your pants

damn, im an intern and have been wearing scrubs for 2 months straight and this never occurred to me, genius.

 

[Psai]

damn, im an intern and have been wearing scrubs for 2 months straight and this never occurred to me, genius.

Just have to think outside the box

 

[Kaustikos]

damn, im an intern and have been wearing scrubs for 2 months straight and this never occurred to me, genius.

See? Allo can still be helpful 0.001% of the times!