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The thread about what working hours are acceptable got me wondering--are there office designs, that while technically professional (i.e. they contain a desk and chairs, no offensive decor) are officially taboo? Would someone come around and assess a fine for creepy aesthetics or something? Seriously does office set up fall into any category of professional ethics?
During my first year of med school I visited an alternative medicine doctor for a preceptorship once a week. His office, I swear, had not been revamped since the late 60s, including the green metal patient chair covered in green shag rug which he made me "sit" in while he talked about muscle pain and electrolyte management, although sit isn't quite the word, since I really just slumped in the shag. Not only that but the chair was jammed into a corner between a bookshelf and the office door. His collection of small greek statues looked like it hadn't been dusted since the 60s either. Oh and the garbage was overloaded with McDonalds wrappers. He also had a battery operated fountain in the front, and a book stand with a cardboard cutout of himself advertising a book he'd written. Even the building his office was in was scary--it was encased in scaffolding and the scaffolding was always leaning and raining debris, like the entire thing might collapse any second.
I'm just saying that there is quite a bit of leeway for how you set up an office. In med school they make it seem like there's only one possible way the medical world runs but I happen to know a lot of doctors are weird and I bet those rules break down the minute you leave academia.
This could be extended to professional attire. I know there are basic principles governing professional dress, but a person could meet these rules and yet still dress 30 years behind the times. If I wore 70s era beige polyester pantsuits as a resident, for example, would I get spoken to? It's very hard to criticize beige.
I can think of lots more examples of aesthetic weirdness in medicine, despite all the talk about professionalism and propriety! I'm sure patients are totally on to all of it. They just have nowhere to run because of their insurance.
During my first year of med school I visited an alternative medicine doctor for a preceptorship once a week. His office, I swear, had not been revamped since the late 60s, including the green metal patient chair covered in green shag rug which he made me "sit" in while he talked about muscle pain and electrolyte management, although sit isn't quite the word, since I really just slumped in the shag. Not only that but the chair was jammed into a corner between a bookshelf and the office door. His collection of small greek statues looked like it hadn't been dusted since the 60s either. Oh and the garbage was overloaded with McDonalds wrappers. He also had a battery operated fountain in the front, and a book stand with a cardboard cutout of himself advertising a book he'd written. Even the building his office was in was scary--it was encased in scaffolding and the scaffolding was always leaning and raining debris, like the entire thing might collapse any second.
I'm just saying that there is quite a bit of leeway for how you set up an office. In med school they make it seem like there's only one possible way the medical world runs but I happen to know a lot of doctors are weird and I bet those rules break down the minute you leave academia.
This could be extended to professional attire. I know there are basic principles governing professional dress, but a person could meet these rules and yet still dress 30 years behind the times. If I wore 70s era beige polyester pantsuits as a resident, for example, would I get spoken to? It's very hard to criticize beige.
I can think of lots more examples of aesthetic weirdness in medicine, despite all the talk about professionalism and propriety! I'm sure patients are totally on to all of it. They just have nowhere to run because of their insurance.
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