Yes-the coat stays at the hospital. I try to keep my car as MRSA-free as I can.
And yes, it isn’t necessary. But it’s as added extra bonus. The primary reason I wear the coat is to appear more professional-patients will judge me in the first 15 seconds or so of meeting me, and my age (though I’m not that young-I was a nontrad) works against me there.
As I get older and more comfortable at the job I may stop wearing the coat and tie. But then I still run into the problem of where to put my reflex hammer and penlight. The reflex hammer is more bulky since in PM&R, we use real hammers (though mine isn’t as hardcore as the neurologists I’ve seen using a queen square with a foot-long handle...) And half the time I do keep my stetoscope in the pocket as well