White Coats

Started by ProteinTreasure
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ProteinTreasure

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Hello!

Do doctors in the US wear white coats?

I have noticed on photos on social media/websites, more and more doctors wearing business casual clothes in the hospital.

Do you choose what to wear, or the hospital has a policy? How about scrubs?
 
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I have not worn a white coat since graduating from medical school and I’m a PGY-5. I’m a combined Peds and anesthesia resident and white coats scare the children. Also, everyone who is not a physician (from phlebotomists to NPs) seems to wear a white coat, so it’s not like it would serve to differentiate me from any other health professional.


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physicsnerd42 said:
Also, everyone who is not a physician (from phlebotomists to NPs) seems to wear a white coat,
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Yep. A white coat doesn’t mean you’re a doctor, just another person in the hospital these days unfortunately.

I could go on a long diatribe on how non-physicians have successfully coapted the white coat as symbol to blur the lines between physician and other practitioner... but I’ll hold off.
 
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AdmiralChz said:
Yep. A white coat doesn’t mean you’re a doctor, just another person in the hospital these days unfortunately.

I could go on a long diatribe on how non-physicians have successfully coapted the white coat as symbol to blur the lines between physician and other practitioner... but I’ll hold off.
Click to expand...

This is a very interesting view that the white coat is associated with identification only. In other countries, the entire healthcare gamut wears white coats and they get distinguished by their badges.
 
I am also a fellow in peds (technically a PGY-4, but I had a year as an attending between residency and fellowship) and I think I wore my white coat one time in residency because I left my non-hooded jacket at home and was cold. I have a bunch of them--one from residency, one from a gift from family, and two from fellowship with my name embroidered on them, but I haven't actually worn any of them.

So... I really haven't worn a white coat as a doctor.

As far as scrubs... at my hospital in residency, you could wear scrubs if you were in one of the ICUs, the ED, or working nights/weekends. The rest of the time, you wore business casual. There are some attendings who only wear scrubs (typically ED, ICU, Cards, sometimes surgery), but most wear business casual.
 
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I wear mine in the office only (Partially out of habit and partially since I like having all the pockets when running around; I also like some protection from pus/drain fluid/blood/whatever getting on my clothes). Don't wear one in the hospital so typically I'm either in scrubs or clinic clothing. However, most docs seem to wear them in my hospitals except for the various surgeons.
 
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I'm a firm believer in the white coat for physicians at all times except for instances where it might impede patient care (peds, psych, nursing homes, although that can be variable too). If it's too out of place for your workplace.... that is a consideration.

Otherwise, if it's appropriate, I think it should be worn, even if you could "get away" with not wearing one.

(Side note rant, I sorta don't like this trend where it feels like people are looking for excuses/reasons to "get out of" wearing the coat. I don't think it's something to be avoided but something to be embraced.

Many professions, especially service positions or ones of authority, wear uniforms or the like. I think it's an important symbol and one that physicians should take advantage of as it is in other fields. Many, like those in the police, military, law, judges, politicians, etc etc, might initially feel silly in whatever they are expected to wear, before it may come to be worn with pride. Which is how I think it should be worn.

It's likely an old study and possibly contradicted, but my understanding was that there is some evidence that patients preferred physicians to wear the coat.

There's certainly a body of cultural anthropology and evolutionary psychology that supports the importance of these things. Leverage it in your care.)
 
Raryn said:
I wore it fairly religiously in residency, stopped about halfway through fellowship. Haven't gotten my attending coat yet (they took a coat size and are presumably getting me one, but I only started a month ago and haven't bothered to follow up).
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Congratulations on your new position! Good luck! And do please get your white coat.
 
Crayola227 said:
I'm a firm believer in the white coat for physicians at all times except for instances where it might impede patient care (peds, psych, nursing homes, although that can be variable too). If it's too out of place for your workplace.... that is a consideration.

Otherwise, if it's appropriate, I think it should be worn, even if you could "get away" with not wearing one.

(Side note rant, I sorta don't like this trend where it feels like people are looking for excuses/reasons to "get out of" wearing the coat. I don't think it's something to be avoided but something to be embraced.

Many professions, especially service positions or ones of authority, wear uniforms or the like. I think it's an important symbol and one that physicians should take advantage of as it is in other fields. Many, like those in the police, military, law, judges, politicians, etc etc, might initially feel silly in whatever they are expected to wear, before it may come to be worn with pride. Which is how I think it should be worn.

It's likely an old study and possibly contradicted, but my understanding was that there is some evidence that patients preferred physicians to wear the coat.

There's certainly a body of cultural anthropology and evolutionary psychology that supports the importance of these things. Leverage it in your care.)
Click to expand...


I absolutely agree with you!
 
Stopped wearing it pretty quickly as a peds resident where it was easy to scare the little ones.

In fellowship, wore it nearly every day - was one of those places where the residents wore white coats, fellows and attendings wore grey. The difference in the color communicated your place within the system so it made life easier. As an attending now, never wear it. I could wear scrubs every day if I wanted to, but choose to wear business casual except on the weekends or nights.
 
I Don’t wear a white coat. In peds it’s deeply frowned upon where I am and when I’m on medicine I just am not in the habit. I tend to have a hard time keeping them clean too. I got in trouble in med school for having dog paw prints all over mine even tho I tried to wash em out 🙁
 
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togaedere said:
I Don’t wear a white coat. In peds it’s deeply frowned upon where I am and when I’m on medicine I just am not in the habit. I tend to have a hard time keeping them clean too. I got in trouble in med school for having dog paw prints all over mine even tho I tried to wash em out 🙁
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The cheaper ones are harder to keep clean. When I started this job (where wearing a white coat is encouraged), I splurged on the Medelita brand. They wash very well, although I also admit that I try to wash them fairly frequently too.
 
It definitely depends on the hospital/specialty culture.

I’m in peds. At my hospital the attendings tend to wear white coats and the residents/fellows usually don’t but we can if we want to (it’s just not required). I personally wear mine most of the time because as a petite female I feel that it helps with being taken seriously. I don’t find that it intimidates most kids (but have taken it off for specific kids). I also like the pockets. (ETA: I forgot! I spent a lot of money to get mine professionally tailored, so that gives me more incentive to wear it both to get my money’s worth out of it and because it actually FITS.)

We wear scrubs in the ED, on calls, in the nursery so we can go to c section deliveries, and on the weekend. My hospital doesn’t really care though so some residents wear them more often. We also wear the ubiquitous residency fleece hahaha! I personally kind of hate scrubs bc I like clothes/fashion! So I don’t wear them unless I need to.
 
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In my program on internal medicine it is required, and on peds I only where it if I'm in scrubs for the available pockets. It's really location dependent.
 
I wear mine around 5 days out of a 6-day work week. On that sixth day, I tend to ditch the white coat in favor of our program's fleece jacket simply to break the monotony. I'm more likely to do this if it happens to be a weekend day, or a more chill afternoon on a consult service. The many pockets of the white coat come at the expense of several major disadvantages: weight, stains, and innoculum.
 
Crayola227 said:
I could explain why I love the white coat. I haven't really understood why people despise it?
Click to expand...

For me it’s a few things:
-One, it’s a symbol of the remoteness of the physician. You put it on and suddenly it doesn’t matter how competent or nice you are, people must listen to you. And that’s not the way I view medicine—I appreciate the hierarchy and its power but to me respect must be earned. The doctor makes the white coat, not the other way around.
-Two, in some surgical residencies, including mine, interns were forced to wear a short coat as a symbol that they were still not worthy enough of the long coat. Like it’s some amazing feat to achieve, given the fact that everyone and their mother now wears long white coats (we even once had a medical student from Florida who had a long white coat, which made for confusing rounds). I purposefully avoided said coat like the plague, even on grand rounds when it was required, I’d show up in scrubs and a fleece. (I was also the hardest working resident on the service so I didn’t get too much flack.)
-Three, it gets so gross and dirty at the sleeves that for most people it’s far from white.


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OrthoTraumaMD said:
For me it’s a few things:
-One, it’s a symbol of the remoteness of the physician. You put it on and suddenly it doesn’t matter how competent or nice you are, people must listen to you. And that’s not the way I view medicine—I appreciate the hierarchy and its power but to me respect must be earned. The doctor makes the white coat, not the other way around.
-Two, in some surgical residencies, including mine, interns were forced to wear a short coat as a symbol that they were still not worthy enough of the long coat. Like it’s some amazing feat to achieve, given the fact that everyone and their mother now wears long white coats (we even once had a medical student from Florida who had a long white coat, which made for confusing rounds). I purposefully avoided said coat like the plague, even on grand rounds when it was required, I’d show up in scrubs and a fleece. (I was also the hardest working resident on the service so I didn’t get too much flack.)
-Three, it gets so gross and dirty at the sleeves that for most people it’s far from white.


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Click to expand...

i never wear a white coat, and i am rarely mistaken for anything other than a doctor...even when I wear a sweater, turtleneck, and sweatpants (they are nice sweatpants) as a hospitalist at night (during the day I usually wear a nice dress when I'm the endocrinologist).
 
rokshana said:
i never wear a white coat, and i am rarely mistaken for anything other than a doctor...even when I wear a sweater, turtleneck, and sweatpants (they are nice sweatpants) as a hospitalist at night (during the day I usually wear a nice dress when I'm the endocrinologist).
Click to expand...

I wish that were true for me.
I definitely don’t fit the orthopod stereotype—I’ve actually had patients laugh when I walk in the door #awkward
But they shut up once I open my mouth.


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rokshana said:
i never wear a white coat, and i am rarely mistaken for anything other than a doctor...even when I wear a sweater, turtleneck, and sweatpants (they are nice sweatpants) as a hospitalist at night (during the day I usually wear a nice dress when I'm the endocrinologist).
Click to expand...
You're also a guy. Half of docs are women, but, oh, the humanity!! The patriarchy!!
 
OrthoTraumaMD said:
For me it’s a few things:
-One, it’s a symbol of the remoteness of the physician. You put it on and suddenly it doesn’t matter how competent or nice you are, people must listen to you. And that’s not the way I view medicine—I appreciate the hierarchy and its power but to me respect must be earned. The doctor makes the white coat, not the other way around.
-Two, in some surgical residencies, including mine, interns were forced to wear a short coat as a symbol that they were still not worthy enough of the long coat. Like it’s some amazing feat to achieve, given the fact that everyone and their mother now wears long white coats (we even once had a medical student from Florida who had a long white coat, which made for confusing rounds). I purposefully avoided said coat like the plague, even on grand rounds when it was required, I’d show up in scrubs and a fleece. (I was also the hardest working resident on the service so I didn’t get too much flack.)
-Three, it gets so gross and dirty at the sleeves that for most people it’s far from white.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...
#1 is my main reason to not wear it.
 
How do you guys keep the white coat so clean? I have tried every stain fighter on the market and nothing works!

in before "Another non-physician wearing a white coat" lol
 
catalyzt said:
How do you guys keep the white coat so clean? I have tried every stain fighter on the market and nothing works!

in before "Another non-physician wearing a white coat" lol
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My sister lives with me and every so often she will become disgusted with my coat and go through a process which renders the coat gleaming white. Not sure what all it involves but it is a multistage process and soaking is involved at one point.
 
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catalyzt said:
How do you guys keep the white coat so clean? I have tried every stain fighter on the market and nothing works!

in before "Another non-physician wearing a white coat" lol
Click to expand...

I know a nurse who swears by Foca for all of her whites. She's laundered a few coats for med students using Foca, as a favor, and claims that it can make anything gleamingly white again.
 
I wear my white coat at work in the ER because I have found as a minority female, some older patients don't expect someone like me to be their doctor (this is a whole 'other discussion). For better or worse, I wear it at all times unless it's a trauma or laceration repair where I could get dirty. I've found that I can wear it in these situations but choose not to. On the other hand, from my observations, it seems that the average patient doesn't care what you're wearing as long as you can make them feel better. I've seen doctors wearing jeans and others wearing track pants and still get a good reception but these tend to be male doctors.

Overall, I would still wear my coat even if I didn't feel compelled by bias. I do like having my name on the coat for patient's to know me. When I was in residency, I went some days without a white coat and felt naked...I also like to be covered up to an extent, and like that my rear end is not being stared at when I turn to leave. I don't mind if others don't wear theirs.

And I also don't mind that the butcher has a white coat too.
 
pencilcase said:
On the other hand, from my observations, it seems that the average patient doesn't care what you're wearing as long as you can make them feel better. I've seen doctors wearing jeans and others wearing track pants and still get a good reception but these tend to be male doctors.
Click to expand...
I have rounded in yoga pants and a t shirt before and the patients didn't seem too put out by it. One time as a resident on home call I showed up in Capri pants and a bikini top because it was a really urgent situation (pediatric gunshot wounds are no bueno) but none of the folks that saw me before I grabbed a yellow gown said anything.
 
dpmd said:
I have rounded in yoga pants and a t shirt before and the patients didn't seem too put out by it. One time as a resident on home call I showed up in Capri pants and a bikini top because it was a really urgent situation (pediatric gunshot wounds are no bueno) but none of the folks that saw me before I grabbed a yellow gown said anything.
Click to expand...

Haha i had a similar occurrence—-showed up in the ER (already as an attending) for a degloving injury in short shorts, and a pirate flag tank top. [emoji23] awkward....


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My two partners and I have always worn white coats. I think they're professional, plus the pockets are handy. We have a linen service that provides them. We each have three coats, so we can change them twice/week if they get messed up. If they get seriously messed up, the linen service will replace them for free.
 
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While everyone from PAs to surg tech students are wearing attending length white coats there is a neurosurgeon at my hospital who wears a medical student length white coat. its cool. dude looks like a super non-trad medical student but really hes one of the true ballers of the hospital.
 
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