Wear White Coat To Shadow Faculty?

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LoveandHate

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Now that you're in medical school do you wear a whitecoat when you're shadowing?
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At my school, we are required to wear our white coats whenever there's patient interaction.
 
Marcus Brody said:
Why wouldn't you?
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Well maybe I misunderstood what the OP meant by "shadowing." Are you talking about shadowing that is associated with or required by your school, or something you do on your own?

If it is a school event I could see wearing the white coat (or really, whatever the school wants you to wear). If it is something else, I would never. I still occasionally shadow the doc I was working with before I applied to school, and I think I would be misrepresenting myself if I were to wear the coat at this point. The coat also has my school's name on it, and when I'm doing shadowing I'm not officially representing the school. I don't think wearing it would be appropriate.
 
ucbsmd said:
We wear them at our school. It looks a lot more professional.
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Me too.:oops:
g.php
 
Ilovewater said:
At my school, we are required to wear our white coats whenever there's patient interaction.
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Same here. It did feel a little awkward during my first shadowing session last fall (I'm a first year), though--I was terrified I'd be mistaken for someone who actually had some idea as to what was going on.
 
fiznat said:
Well maybe I misunderstood what the OP meant by "shadowing." Are you talking about shadowing that is associated with or required by your school, or something you do on your own?
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you should wear your white coat either way. also you should be doing a little bit more than just "shadowing" now that you're a med student.

fiznat said:
If it is a school event I could see wearing the white coat (or really, whatever the school wants you to wear). If it is something else, I would never. I still occasionally shadow the doc I was working with before I applied to school, and I think I would be misrepresenting myself if I were to wear the coat at this point. The coat also has my school's name on it, and when I'm doing shadowing I'm not officially representing the school. I don't think wearing it would be appropriate.
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you should stop doing this because it's completely worthless
 
I did some shadowing over the winter break in the ED affiliated with my medical school but wasn't sanctioned by the university; I did it on my own for something to do. I wore scrubs, white coat and badge as I felt it was appropriate to identify myself and what role I played (that mainly being not being pre-med). Granted, there is no role as a first year med student with one semester under his belt. It was helpful because the residents who knew I was a first year (or assumed I was a really dumb 3rd year) would ask me to do things so that was nice. I don't view it as douchey and definitely wasn't trying to do that when I did it.
 
skinMD said:
you should wear your white coat either way. also you should be doing a little bit more than just "shadowing" now that you're a med student.



you should stop doing this because it's completely worthless
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To be fair: I was shadowing a general/retinal Ophtho. I don't know enough to do anything useful... lol. He was nice enough to prompt me through a few eye exams with him standing over my shoulder (though I honestly have no idea what normal eyes look like yet).
 
The general rule at my school is if you see a patient, you dress professionally (with white coat).
 
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LoveandHate said:
To be fair: I was shadowing a general/retinal Ophtho. I don't know enough to do anything useful... lol. He was nice enough to prompt me through a few eye exams with him standing over my shoulder (though I honestly have no idea what normal eyes look like yet).
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if you're actually interested in doing an ophtho residency your time would be much better spent doing ophtho research
 
hobbes23 said:
White coats are a symbol of arrogance and a transporter of germs. I haven't worn mine in a year.
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If the faculty you're working with is wearing one, you'll be wearing one. If its patient contact that is tied to your institution, you SHOULD be wearing one. To avoid provider confusion you should probably wear one as well since all ancillary staff, providers, etc. that I have interacted with know what a short coat means. Just remember to stress to the patient you are a student.
 
hobbes23 said:
White coats are a symbol of arrogance and a transporter of germs. I haven't worn mine in a year.
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And wearing jeans/crappy chinos and a button down with no tie is a sign of someone who doesn't care about their patients, just like they don't care about looking professional.

See, I can make blanket statements, too!

(P.S. do you wash your whitecoat? Try doing that.)
 
hobbes23 said:
White coats are a symbol of arrogance and a transporter of germs. I haven't worn mine in a year.
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That seems presumptuous to assume the doc you're shadowing would feel the same. I think of white coats like I think of ties. Wear one the first day and ask what to do subsequent days. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
 
We don't wear them to shadow at my school. We wear our official nametags and dress professionally, but no coats. I'm not even sure the clerks at my school wear the coats all that much.
 
fiznat said:
You couldn't be more wrong.
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since this doc you are shadowing is not affiliated with your school is he affiliated with a hospital you would like to do residency in in the future and is in the field you are looking to go into? if not and this person is just some community FM doc then you are absolutely wasting your time.

if having this doc on your side might land you an interview at a place you want to be come residency apps then it might be a good idea to keep the relationship strong though some might argue that you've already built a relationship and it would be completely understandable if you stopped showing up once you start med school.
 
Ilovewater said:
At my school, we are required to wear our white coats whenever there's patient interaction.
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Pretty much. Whenever I've gone in to shadow residents or faculty, I've brought my white coat. The only time I didn't keep wearing it is when I was shadowing OBs up on the floor and they had me change into scrubs.
 
The only time I've worn my white coat this year was during surgery rounds bc it was useful to carry supplies. Other than that, I've only worn it during CS. I wore it more during the required clinical classes m1/2 than during the clinical years.
 
drizzt3117 said:
The only time I've worn my white coat this year was during surgery rounds bc it was useful to carry supplies. Other than that, I've only worn it during CS. I wore it more during the required clinical classes m1/2 than during the clinical years.
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You didn't have a ****-ton of stuff to carry on your other rotations? My coat was loaded down during IM.
 
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