Some unique but recognizable insignia to discern an EM PHYSICIAN from the other white-coat wearers.

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
RustedFox

RustedFox

The mouse police never sleeps.
Lifetime Donor
Verified Member
15+ Year Member
Gold Donor
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
8,327
Reaction score
14,645
Just thinking out loud.

We all recognize that its a problem that MLPs (especially the Noctors), RT staff, admins, etc all walk around wearing the long white coat, co-opting the symbol of our profession. It's nauseating at best.

So I thought (as I was browsing Amazon): "What if I put an easily recognizable patch on my white coat to indicate to the muggles that I'm in charge of their care."

I ended up buying two nonspecific "Red Cross" patches (2x3'') because I'm probably going to put them on a tote bag or something else, which doesn't solve my original question.

Ideas ? Would I look like a giant toolbag with just such a patch on my left lapel to indicate: "this is a real doctor".
I mean, we all know its not enough to have a giant namebadge with our picture and the designation: "EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN" on it, I think largely because of alarm fatigue e.g: ("you've all got namepatches; I can't read them all", said the muggles)

Looking for a different solution.
And before anyone says: "Have the docs wear a different COLORED white coat", realize that you just admitted that you're okay with ceding the symbol of our profession to the wannabees. Then, hit yourself.
Members don't see this ad.
 
plague-doctor-rendering-e1547665082279.jpg
 
Members don't see this ad :)
RustedFox said:
Just thinking out loud.

We all recognize that its a problem that MLPs (especially the Noctors), RT staff, admins, etc all walk around wearing the long white coat, co-opting the symbol of our profession. It's nauseating at best.

So I thought (as I was browsing Amazon): "What if I put an easily recognizable patch on my white coat to indicate to the muggles that I'm in charge of their care."

I ended up buying two nonspecific "Red Cross" patches (2x3'') because I'm probably going to put them on a tote bag or something else, which doesn't solve my original question.

Ideas ? Would I look like a giant toolbag with just such a patch on my left lapel to indicate: "this is a real doctor".
I mean, we all know its not enough to have a giant namebadge with our picture and the designation: "EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN" on it, I think largely because of alarm fatigue e.g: ("you've all got namepatches; I can't read them all", said the muggles)

Looking for a different solution.
And before anyone says: "Have the docs wear a different COLORED white coat", realize that you just admitted that you're okay with ceding the symbol of our profession to the wannabees. Then, hit yourself.
Click to expand...
I like the idea in theory, but you know that the only thing that will happen as a result is that every PA/NP/LMNOP society is just going to release an official insignia that looks similar enough at first glance as to make the original insignia indiscernible from the others.
 
BoardingDoc said:
I like the idea in theory, but you know that the only thing that will happen as a result is that every PA/NP/LMNOP society is just going to release an official insignia that looks similar enough at first glance as to make the original insignia indiscernible from the others.
Click to expand...


Don't we have laws to stop things like that?
No?

Damn.
Back to the drawing board.
 
Did a double take the other day upon seeing a social worker and the administrative assistant to the chair of surgery wearing long white coats. I guess the second one bothered me less because at least she isn’t interacting with any patients... it’s more of an out-of-season Halloween costume at that point.
 
There are two "hospital managers" (unclear on their exact title) that spend 90+ percent of their time in a closet converted into an office at my shop; but you BET your arse they're always rocking a long white coat
 
IIRC, when I interviewed at Cook County years ago, the physicians wore gray-blue long coats.

I wonder if the support staff and midlevels ever asked for those coats too.

HH
 
lol Still wearing a white coat? Spent more time using one as a lab tech than as a physician. I usually just wear black scrubs and never get mistaken excep when I sometimes wear the same color Blue as my nurses ( my spare scrubs)
 
You could just choose not to worry about it that much. That is what I have chosen to do about getting mistaken for a nurse, clerk, or whatever other role besides doctor. If the people who need to follow my orders do them and the patients comply with me as much as they can then they are going to get better and leave. I tell them I am their doctor
If that isn't enough then it isn't worth my time worrying about how to make them know my role.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Where I am everyone from social work to managerial staff wears the long white coat. Even we Med students get the longs ones for some reason. It’s actually policy that those staff wear them at all times.

The ED Docs and surgeons all wear north face or Patagonia jackets with their speciality and name MD/DO on them.

It usually takes the patients 1-2 visits to figure out who the physicians are.
 
There's a nurse with the CMG who periodically appears at the shop to observe and grade our patient interactions. He wears a long white coat. I am annoyed by the whole thing, so I was actually able to avoid him last time (I think because my face screamed "go away" pretty hard when he came up to try to follow me). I always introduce myself and everybody who comes into the room with me. So I imagined going into the room with him like, "Hi, I'm Dr. Cinclus, I'll be your emergency doctor today. This is my scribe, so-and-so, and this is *insert first name of long white coat nurse guy here*; he's not a doctor, he just dresses like one." I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from doing that if he shows up again and ends up awkwardly in a room with me.
 
Cinclus said:
There's a nurse with the CMG who periodically appears at the shop to observe and grade our patient interactions. He wears a long white coat. I am annoyed by the whole thing, so I was actually able to avoid him last time (I think because my face screamed "go away" pretty hard when he came up to try to follow me). I always introduce myself and everybody who comes into the room with me. So I imagined going into the room with him like, "Hi, I'm Dr. Cinclus, I'll be your emergency doctor today. This is my scribe, so-and-so, and this is *insert first name of long white coat nurse guy here*; he's not a doctor, he just dresses like one." I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from doing that if he shows up again and ends up awkwardly in a room with me.
Click to expand...

OK...wow. No, just no.
 
Cinclus said:
There's a nurse with the CMG who periodically appears at the shop to observe and grade our patient interactions. He wears a long white coat. I am annoyed by the whole thing, so I was actually able to avoid him last time (I think because my face screamed "go away" pretty hard when he came up to try to follow me). I always introduce myself and everybody who comes into the room with me. So I imagined going into the room with him like, "Hi, I'm Dr. Cinclus, I'll be your emergency doctor today. This is my scribe, so-and-so, and this is *insert first name of long white coat nurse guy here*; he's not a doctor, he just dresses like one." I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from doing that if he shows up again and ends up awkwardly in a room with me.
Click to expand...

I'd be fired from such a job in short order. My disdain for the lackey in the white coat would become clearly self-evident, and I'd refuse to let them be in the room for CONFIDENTIAL patient discussions. They would likely dismiss me for "not being a team player" or violating the core focus-grouped values of the company.
 
Cinclus said:
There's a nurse with the CMG who periodically appears at the shop to observe and grade our patient interactions. He wears a long white coat. I am annoyed by the whole thing, so I was actually able to avoid him last time (I think because my face screamed "go away" pretty hard when he came up to try to follow me). I always introduce myself and everybody who comes into the room with me. So I imagined going into the room with him like, "Hi, I'm Dr. Cinclus, I'll be your emergency doctor today. This is my scribe, so-and-so, and this is *insert first name of long white coat nurse guy here*; he's not a doctor, he just dresses like one." I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from doing that if he shows up again and ends up awkwardly in a room with me.
Click to expand...

Do it!!!! Just do it!!!! Gosh I want you to say it. I'll give you a standing O!
 
thegenius said:
Do it!!!! Just do it!!!! Gosh I want you to say it. I'll give you a standing O!
Click to expand...

My internal voice would be f-off and I'd want to show up at corporate to shadow their interactions! In reality I would just be passive aggressive. If I were an independent contractor I would probably just ask the shadow to leave.
 
Hamhock said:
IIRC, when I interviewed at Cook County years ago, the physicians wore gray-blue long coats.

I wonder if the support staff and midlevels ever asked for those coats too.

HH
Click to expand...


That's definitely widespread in Chicago, at least at the academic places I know - Northwestern, Rush, UIC/Cook County. And the grey coat was actually limited to Attendings and Fellows only. Every hospital also had it's own shoulder patch, which I imagine was useful at the places where there was significant mixing of trainees like the VA.
 
Yup. Dietitians, RTs, nps, nursing managers, everyone and their grandmother in the hospitals I work at wear long white coats. The doctors do NOT wear white coats. We are the ones strolling around in a casual dress shirt/pants/scrubs with a stethoscope around our neck. Though one cardiologist decided to round in his biking shorts I was momentarily blinded with hysterical blindness.
 
BigRedBeta said:
That's definitely widespread in Chicago, at least at the academic places I know - Northwestern, Rush, UIC/Cook County. And the grey coat was actually limited to Attendings and Fellows only. Every hospital also had it's own shoulder patch, which I imagine was useful at the places where there was significant mixing of trainees like the VA.
Click to expand...

I believe UIC wears brown coats, but your point stands.
 
your fav-fit t-shirt with the word DOCTOR on the front (customize font, etc)
 
BigRedBeta said:
That's definitely widespread in Chicago, at least at the academic places I know - Northwestern, Rush, UIC/Cook County. And the grey coat was actually limited to Attendings and Fellows only. Every hospital also had it's own shoulder patch, which I imagine was useful at the places where there was significant mixing of trainees like the VA.
Click to expand...
I’ve seen nps and pas wearing the grey coat at Chicago area hospitals. Some even at the places you mentioned.

it’s just another example of the bastardization of medicine.

when will physicians stand up for themselves and stop giving away the profession to non-physicians?
 
Last edited:
Cinclus said:
"bad-ass"
Click to expand...
My assumption was it stood for "bad as f--- ER doc"
Come to think of it, that would make a nice neck tat, especially with the dashes. That would show everyone you're an ER doc, that you're bad to the bone, but still respect PC culture and trigger warnings so as not to offend.
 
I really don't understand the fascination with white coats. We stole the white coats from scientists when we tried to make medicine more legitimate. It made some sense when physicians drew blood and ran tests. Now it's just a costume and a fomite. They can have it. I'll stick with business casual or overpriced luxury scrubs and the boutique shoes social media is always trying to sell me. And Patagonias.
 
The only people having any business wearing a white coat in a hospital are the lab techs folks and pathologists. Procedurialists should be in scrubs and people not potentially doing interventions should just look professional. I never understood why anyone wanted to wear a white coat.
 
Rendar5 said:
The only people having any business wearing a white coat in a hospital are the lab techs folks and pathologists. Procedurialists should be in scrubs and people not potentially doing interventions should just look professional. I never understood why anyone wanted to wear a white coat.
Click to expand...

I would rather not wear one.
But I also would rather not deal with patients who say that they "never saw the doctor".
 
dpmd said:
If they say that after you introduce yourself as their doctor then no amount of insignia or regalia will help them.
Click to expand...

Yet, the "satisfaction surveys" largely determine a lot of things for me.

Look, let me be clear on this:

Once upon a time, I was like: "White Coats are FOMITES and for lab people and whatever."
I wore that Patagonia fleece every day.
I was told by admin that the fleece vest was a "hard stop"
So many patients complained that they "never saw the doctor", despite me being the only person to contact them besides the RN.
I got called into a meeting to address these complaints.

So, I decided to start wearing the white coat.
I rolled up the sleeves HARD, so that they grabbed my elbows and stayed there.
I wore the name badge. I have "DOCTOR RUSTEDFOX" embroidered in RED on the left chest.

It had some positive effect.
Its probably because 90%+ of my patients are 70 and older, and expect a guy in a crisp, clean, white coat, with glasses to look learn-ed, and some grey around the temples.

I'm 38.
I look 28.
Trim. No gut. Biceps and traps can tell you that I'm in the gym.
Full head of rough-tousled but well-trimmed hair.
I still get "carded".
No grey on my noggin.

Yet, these surveys keep getting returned saying: "I don't know who my doctor was."

OK BOOMER.

Yes, I know that the phrase is a rallying cry of the hated "millennial" set [I am categorically a Gen-X'er], but you know what ?

They're getting it right.

Listen, BOOMER.

You are the generation that screams: "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER", yet - you can't name your medications, or why you take them.
"Ahhh take that metalpronoun and the LINT-i-zeeen an' th' ZO-Pan-OLL (this one is common, and I have no idea what they mean) and I take a couple'a HEART pills".

You are the people that scream "BE STRONG AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!", yet your adipolipodystrophy (fat wattles) and your amazing deconditioning astound me. You can't even walk thru the grocery store. You get a motorized cart. You park in the fire lane because "you'll ONLY be a FEW minutes!"

You say things like: "I'm very active! I walk all the time!", yet you only walk to the mailbox and the kitchen before plopping your ass on the couch from noon to 8pm to watch FOX/CNN (depending on your politics) with a bag of high-calorie snacks in your lap, then you poison the air with your partisan rhetoric (both sides). THAT'S NOT BEING ACTIVE, BOOMER! That's called "sedentary living".

[Write your own BOOMER contradiction here; I could go on forever.]

If you're too old to identify the meds you take, then you don't get a PG-survey where you can say: "I never saw the doctor."
 
Last edited:
RustedFox said:
Yet, the "satisfaction surveys" largely determine a lot of things for me.

Look, let me be clear on this:

Once upon a time, I was like: "White Coats are FOMITES and for lab people and whatever."
I wore that Patagonia fleece every day.
I was told by admin that the fleece vest was a "hard stop"
So many patients complained that they "never saw the doctor", despite me being the only person to contact them besides the RN.
I got called into a meeting to address these complaints.

So, I decided to start wearing the white coat.
I rolled up the sleeves HARD, so that they grabbed my elbows and stayed there.
I wore the name badge. I have "DOCTOR RUSTEDFOX" embroidered in RED on the left chest.

It had some positive effect.
Its probably because 90%+ of my patients are 70 and older, and expect a guy in a crisp, clean, white coat, with glasses to look learn-ed, and some grey around the temples.

I'm 38.
I look 28.
Trim. No gut. Biceps and traps can tell you that I'm in the gym.
Full head of rough-tousled but well-trimmed hair.
I still get "carded".
No grey on my noggin.

Yet, these surveys keep getting returned saying: "I don't know who my doctor was."

OK BOOMER.

Yes, I know that the phrase is a rallying cry of the hated "millennial" set [I am categorically a Gen-X'er], but you know what ?

They're getting it right.

Listen, BOOMER.

You are the generation that screams: "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER", yet - you can't name your medications, or why you take them.
"Ahhh take that metalpronoun and the LINT-i-zeeen an' th' ZO-Pan-OLL (this one is common, and I have no idea what they mean) and I take a couple'a HEART pills".

You are the people that scream "BE STRONG AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!", yet your adipolipodystrophy (fat wattles) and your amazing deconditioning astound me. You can't even walk thru the grocery store. You get a motorized cart. You park in the fire lane because "you'll ONLY be a FEW minutes!"

You say things like: "I'm very active! I walk all the time!", yet you only walk to the mailbox and the kitchen before plopping your ass on the couch from noon to 8pm to watch FOX/CNN (depending on your politics) with a bag of high-calorie snacks in your lap, then you poison the air with your partisan rhetoric (both sides). THAT'S NOT BEING ACTIVE, BOOMER! That's called "sedentary living".

[Write your own BOOMER contradiction here; I could go on forever.]

If you're too old to identify the meds you take, then you don't get a PG-survey where you can say: "I never saw the doctor."
Click to expand...

OMG we could be twins. We need to meet for beer one day.
 
If your patients can't tell there is something different about you than everyone else they've spoken to during their admission to your ER, no garment is going to change that. My guess is that they can, you're just too snake bit to realize it...sorry 'bout that. I think you're going to be OK....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
EM Physician stabbed in the chest while on shift
Replies
20
Views
3K
xaelia
xaelia
B
Experience from the other side
Replies
4
Views
2K
Apollyon
A
D
Canadian Family Physician Interested in US EM Residency PGY-2 Spot
Replies
9
Views
2K
gamerEMdoc
gamerEMdoc
B
EM Alliance
Replies
1
Views
621
RustedFox
RustedFox
M
Sleep Medicine from EM update
Replies
2
Views
2K
Just D.O. it
Just D.O. it
Top