Most med schools, if not all, have a white coat ceremony during orientation week just before M1 year officially starts. Four years ago, I remember really looking forward to this ceremony and finally getting to wear a white coat. (I didn't even mind that it was going to be a short one.) To me, it symbolized a level of achievement and finally my first official step to becoming a physician.
I also thought it'd help me seduce foxy bombshells, by compensating for the anticipated deterioration of my personality alongside my vanishing social life. 👎
There weren't many opportunities, especially M1 year, to wear the white coat. Occasionally, however, we'd have hands-on classes for physical exam skills with mock patients. I remembering actually looking forward to these classes largely in part so I could wear the coat. By M2 year, even though it had lost much of its luster, I still had positive associations with it.
When M3 year began, the short white coat began taking on an entirely different meaning for me. It instantly communicated to everyone in the hospital that I, as a medical student, not only had the least experience and least clinical knowledge on the healthcare team, but was also target practice for attendings who loved doling out pimp questions. The coat signaled that my role in the hospital was to get in the way, or at best, to stay out of the way.
Combined with the little hazing rituals of M3 year (e.g. being referred to by residents/attendings as "the med student" rather than by my name) and all of the b.s. that M3 year entailed, I quickly began to really loathe the short white coat. And this is to say nothing of how heavy the coat was...it may not seem like much at all, but you'd be really surprised how just a stethoscope and a few pocket manuals can feel quite heavy on the shoulders after a long day. You'll see what I mean. The bulging of the pockets on your sides as you carry other tools, PDA, etc., isn't so flattering either.
By the halfway point of that year, I was already looking forward to opportunities to not wear the short white coat.
And by M4 year, I was actively finding ways to avoid wearing it. I'd take it off right after rounds, hang it on chairs, avoid bringing it to the hospital altogether on certain rotations, etc.
I also recall, throughout the past four years, seeing a few med students walking around downtown in public with their short white coats - for no good reason other than to show off. I had actually considered this at one point early in my training, and when I saw others actually doing it, I realized what enormous tools they were (and what an enormous tool I was for even having entertained the idea).
Even the occasional resident, with his longer knee-length coats, looked douchebaggedly insecure strolling around in public away from the hospital.
So those are my thoughts regarding the white coat. I am a bit saddened to realize how early on, I had idealized the short white coat, and how I eventually came to view it with such disregard. I think at the root of it, I just dislike the heirarchy and ego issues accompanying the white coat (short or long). I really hope that as a resident next year and as an attending someday, I'll be able to use my seniority as a vehicle for mentorship rather than as a "status symbol" or a badge of some sort of silly superiority.
In case you were wondering whether this was meant to be a humorous post or an honest one, it's both. It's a bit funny because of its admittedly embarrassing truth. And through conversation, I've discovered that a good handful of my classmates share a remarkably similar love-hate relationship with their short white coat too.
I also thought it'd help me seduce foxy bombshells, by compensating for the anticipated deterioration of my personality alongside my vanishing social life. 👎
There weren't many opportunities, especially M1 year, to wear the white coat. Occasionally, however, we'd have hands-on classes for physical exam skills with mock patients. I remembering actually looking forward to these classes largely in part so I could wear the coat. By M2 year, even though it had lost much of its luster, I still had positive associations with it.
When M3 year began, the short white coat began taking on an entirely different meaning for me. It instantly communicated to everyone in the hospital that I, as a medical student, not only had the least experience and least clinical knowledge on the healthcare team, but was also target practice for attendings who loved doling out pimp questions. The coat signaled that my role in the hospital was to get in the way, or at best, to stay out of the way.
Combined with the little hazing rituals of M3 year (e.g. being referred to by residents/attendings as "the med student" rather than by my name) and all of the b.s. that M3 year entailed, I quickly began to really loathe the short white coat. And this is to say nothing of how heavy the coat was...it may not seem like much at all, but you'd be really surprised how just a stethoscope and a few pocket manuals can feel quite heavy on the shoulders after a long day. You'll see what I mean. The bulging of the pockets on your sides as you carry other tools, PDA, etc., isn't so flattering either.
By the halfway point of that year, I was already looking forward to opportunities to not wear the short white coat.
And by M4 year, I was actively finding ways to avoid wearing it. I'd take it off right after rounds, hang it on chairs, avoid bringing it to the hospital altogether on certain rotations, etc.
I also recall, throughout the past four years, seeing a few med students walking around downtown in public with their short white coats - for no good reason other than to show off. I had actually considered this at one point early in my training, and when I saw others actually doing it, I realized what enormous tools they were (and what an enormous tool I was for even having entertained the idea).
Even the occasional resident, with his longer knee-length coats, looked douchebaggedly insecure strolling around in public away from the hospital.So those are my thoughts regarding the white coat. I am a bit saddened to realize how early on, I had idealized the short white coat, and how I eventually came to view it with such disregard. I think at the root of it, I just dislike the heirarchy and ego issues accompanying the white coat (short or long). I really hope that as a resident next year and as an attending someday, I'll be able to use my seniority as a vehicle for mentorship rather than as a "status symbol" or a badge of some sort of silly superiority.
In case you were wondering whether this was meant to be a humorous post or an honest one, it's both. It's a bit funny because of its admittedly embarrassing truth. And through conversation, I've discovered that a good handful of my classmates share a remarkably similar love-hate relationship with their short white coat too.
