The only ones wearing a long white coat should be doctors (& MAYBE pharmacists)

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When shadowing at my school's hospital, the physician said that the doctors constantly get yelled at for not wearing their coats around the hospital. He said they don't because then patients or other people stop them in the halls and bother them with stupid questions.
Nurses, on the other hand as he explained, got yelled at for wearing them around the hospital and when people would address them as 'doctor' they never would correct them.
I found it funny
 
In an effort to better identify who the doctors are i propose the following:

Henceforth doctors shall wear tight fitting spandex underwear, capes, and forehead reflectors
 
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I actually like it. I also wear a shirt and tie everyday though, even when I was rounding on my surgery and obgyn rotations.

Somewhat related to the "who is really the doctor" issue, does anyone else's school state that you should introduce yourself as "student doctor x"? I absolutely refuse to call myself "student doctor".
 
lomia said:
I actually like it. I also wear a shirt and tie everyday though, even when I was rounding on my surgery and obgyn rotations.

Somewhat related to the "who is really the doctor" issue, does anyone else's school state that you should introduce yourself as "student doctor x"? I absolutely refuse to call myself "student doctor".
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My school insists on "student pharmacist" for us pharmacy students. I like to keep it simple with "pharmacy student" (it sounds less ridiculous).
 
lomia said:
I actually like it. I also wear a shirt and tie everyday though, even when I was rounding on my surgery and obgyn rotations.

Somewhat related to the "who is really the doctor" issue, does anyone else's school state that you should introduce yourself as "student doctor x"? I absolutely refuse to call myself "student doctor".
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My school actually requires us to say "Medical Student" and specifically tells us not to use "student doctor"... this makes me happy.
 
Am I the only one who didn't know that doctors actually wore white coats until I started applying to medschool? I never saw anyone in my FP doc's practice wear a white coat except the tech who collected urine/blood/etc. Nobody in my allergy docs office wore one and the ER docs who sewed me up on a few occasions were wearing scrubs.

The first time I walked onto a medschool campus I was thinking "Dang, this reminds of the walmart photo people back when we still used film"
 
Untraditional said:
B...B ....But "we don't want to be Doctors, we just have a doctorate of nursing!!!"

Some uniform standards would really be nice but with all the nurse ego in play its unlikely.
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I don't mean to intrude and rekindle an old thread, but isn't just as likely that the medical student and physician ego is similarly at play? As an NP student thinking of continuing on to medical school, I see so much white coat grab ass going on that I just laugh -- Coming from NP students, student physicians, floor nurses, you name it. It all is just a bright, bleached, pressed, and tailored status symbol that is simply unnecessary. All of us are at fault for it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I can see with the WCC that the coat itself really does seem like a powerful thing...a tool even perhaps. A status symbol, almost definitely. Nurses sometimes treat our stethoscopes with the same kind of fondness...but then again at least they actually have a practical function. Other than catching germs (which albiet stethoscopes do too), getting filthy, and holding gadgets in-pockets, I don't see a real use for white coats other than as a fashion statement -- Something medical students seem to need to make themselves feel more important. Yes, I've seen nursing students pull this one off too...but you know what??? It all gets down to knowledge, experience, expertise, and making theory and practice jive. If you can't do that, no amount of white cloth about you will make up for that.

Check out this from PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11865752). Interesting read.
 
kChoRN said:
I don't mean to intrude and rekindle an old thread, but isn't just as likely that the medical student and physician ego is similarly at play? As an NP student thinking of continuing on to medical school, I see so much white coat grab ass going on that I just laugh -- Coming from NP students, student physicians, floor nurses, you name it. It all is just a bright, bleached, pressed, and tailored status symbol that is simply unnecessary. All of us are at fault for it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I can see with the WCC that the coat itself really does seem like a powerful thing...a tool even perhaps. A status symbol, almost definitely. Nurses sometimes treat our stethoscopes with the same kind of fondness...but then again at least they actually have a practical function. Other than catching germs (which albiet stethoscopes do too), getting filthy, and holding gadgets in-pockets, I don't see a real use for white coats other than as a fashion statement -- Something medical students seem to need to make themselves feel more important. Yes, I've seen nursing students pull this one off too...but you know what??? It all gets down to knowledge, experience, expertise, and making theory and practice jive. If you can't do that, no amount of white cloth about you will make up for that.

Check out this from PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11865752). Interesting read.
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I'm pretty sure most med students would agree the short white coat is awful. This thread is about the long white coat and how MDs are the only people who should walk around and interact with patients wearing them.
 
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Dral said:
Found this on Pubmed:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24052762
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So what do we do when a patient prefers a white doc, or male, or Asian etc etc
Pts also prefer (feel taken care of) when someone does repeated blood draws on them, or when they get an echo q 6 months, but does that just adds to costs w/o any change in outcomes
Same reason why Press-Gainey scores are a crock
 
Why does this even merit discussion? Who cares if others want to wear coats? Let them. As long as I don't have to, I'm happy. Who wants to be instantly recognized as a doctor all the time?

Besides, it'll amusing to watch random people ask them, "Excuse me Dr..." and them be all like "No, no, you see, I'm actually..."
 
FutureInternist said:
So what do we do when a patient prefers a white doc, or male, or Asian etc etc
Pts also prefer (feel taken care of) when someone does repeated blood draws on them, or when they get an echo q 6 months, but does that just adds to costs w/o any change in outcomes
Same reason why Press-Gainey scores are a crock
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At least as outpatient, the pt gets to decide what they prefer (in general). We alter the things we can to keep pts happy (wear white coat opposed to tank top, Bermuda shorts, and crocs).
 
Brain Bucket said:
Why does this even merit discussion? Who cares if others want to wear coats? Let them. As long as I don't have to, I'm happy. Who wants to be instantly recognized as a doctor all the time?

Besides, it'll amusing to watch random people ask them, "Excuse me Dr..." and them be all like "No, no, you see, I'm actually..."
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I've never seen a charge nurse (not even talking about Pharmacist/DNP/DPT) correct a patient when called a Doctor by a patient. N=3 personally for me.
 
evilbooyaa said:
I've never seen a charge nurse (not even talking about Pharmacist/DNP/DPT) correct a patient when called a Doctor by a patient. N=3 personally for me.
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There are so many ways you can have fun with the white coat thing if they do that.

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If I were to be an attending physician. I don't ever wish to wear the white coat. I understand, the white coat symbolizes professional competency. It had been a long standing symbol of medicine. However, the white coat to me can seem intimidating to some patients. I think all that is needed is a badge that says "Dr. First Last, MD". That to me and introducing myself as a physician to patients is enough.
 
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Maybe I've over-idealized it, but I really thought that it was absurd that even in medical school you receive your white coat immediately after orientation. It's definitely no longer a mark of high achievement or advanced training.

The fact that ARNP's have been known to self-describe themselves as "doctor nurses" or thereabouts is a whole different discussion...
 
My med school waits until we've had our first series of exams in October before the white coat ceremony. But then again, my med school hands out full length white coats to med students and not the half length stuff.
 
SBR249 said:
My med school waits until we've had our first series of exams in October before the white coat ceremony. But then again, my med schools hand out full length white coats to med students and not the half length stuff.
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:eyebrow:
 
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SBR249 said:
My med school waits until we've had our first series of exams in October before the white coat ceremony. But then again, my med school hands out full length white coats to med students and not the half length stuff.
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Blasphemy, how else are you supposed to tell a student who knows nothing apart from a resident who knows nothing? I mean besides the badge with the different colors that say 'Medical Student' and 'Resident' on them? How else will we belittle our medical students other than giving them excessively short coats that look ****ing ridiculous on them if they're taller than, IDK, like 5'8"?
 
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evilbooyaa said:
Blasphemy, how else are you supposed to tell a student who knows nothing apart from a resident who knows nothing? I mean besides the badge with the different colors that say 'Medical Student' and 'Resident' on them? How else will we belittle our medical students other than giving them excessively short coats that look ******* ridiculous on them if they're taller than, IDK, like 5'8"?
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You can get "short" white coats that fit. You're a student who has no actual clinical responsibility = hence the short white coat.
 
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I secretly think my school does it so it wouldn't have to deal with the logistics of supplying a different set of white coats to just the students. But that's just me...
 
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DermViser said:
You can get "short" white coats that fit. You're a student who has no actual clinical responsibility = hence the short white coat.
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The short white coat I have (which is the biggest size my school offers) is 2-3 inches short on the sleeves and comes to just a smidge below my belly button. I wear my pants relatively high so that it at least covers my belt.
 
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evilbooyaa said:
The short white coat I have (which is the biggest size my school offers) is 2-3 inches short on the sleeves and comes to just a smidge below my belly button. I wear my pants relatively high so that it at least covers my belt.
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You must be really tall.
 
6' 3". There are people taller than me that look even more ridiculous. Sleeves end closer to the elbow than the wrist.
 
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evilbooyaa said:
Blasphemy, how else are you supposed to tell a student who knows nothing apart from a resident who knows nothing? I mean besides the badge with the different colors that say 'Medical Student' and 'Resident' on them?
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Not all schools/hospitals have the colored badges. My school didn't... the med student badges looked identical to the attending badges, except that in small print beneath our pictures, we had 'Medical Student' and 'Class of 20xx' listed instead of our department. The only badges that looked different were OB nurses, who had purple backgrounds on their badges. I think they might've had one with a red background for volunteers as well, but I don't remember seeing it that often.
 
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evilbooyaa said:
6' 3". There are people taller than me that look even more ridiculous. Sleeves end closer to the elbow than the wrist.
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You have a really tall class. The tallest person in my class is probably 6'2" and there are maybe 7 guys that are 6'+?
 
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evilbooyaa said:
I have a big medical school class. Like in terms of total # of people. There's all sorts of statistical anomalies in it.
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I think it's ridiculous whem med schools take like >200 students. How is everyone supposed to meet everybody?
 
Don't have time to read the whole thread - will circle back - but just wanted to share a related story:

Go to my school to pick up my white coat for the completely unnecessary white coat ceremony.

Arrive at bookstore, get my short white coat.

Look on the racks at bookstore, see LONG white coats with "XXX College of Nursing" emblazoned on them.

Realize that doctors are the Night's Watch of medicine: We may haze our initiates, but at least we're holding to a principle.
 
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White coats simply demonstrate who stays on top of laundry.
 
My med school has a class of 240 people. I feel camaraderized without knowing everyone.

mvenus929 said:
Not all schools/hospitals have the colored badges. My school didn't... the med student badges looked identical to the attending badges, except that in small print beneath our pictures, we had 'Medical Student' and 'Class of 20xx' listed instead of our department. The only badges that looked different were OB nurses, who had purple backgrounds on their badges. I think they might've had one with a red background for volunteers as well, but I don't remember seeing it that often.
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I'm pretty sure my white coat just has my name on it and that's it. You can tell I'm not a doctor because I don't have MD after my name and no department under it either.

lomia said:
Somewhat related to the "who is really the doctor" issue, does anyone else's school state that you should introduce yourself as "student doctor x"? I absolutely refuse to call myself "student doctor".
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That's funny, my dean specifically told us not to say "student doctor" as that implies we were already "doctors" or have some competency. He said to say "medical student [name]" or "[name], first/second year medical student".
 
SBR249 said:
That's funny, my dean specifically told us not to say "student doctor" as that implies we were already "doctors" or have some competency. He said to say "medical student [name]" or "[name], first/second year medical student".
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And yet NPs have no problem calling themselves doctors.
 
lomia said:
Somewhat related to the "who is really the doctor" issue, does anyone else's school state that you should introduce yourself as "student doctor x"? I absolutely refuse to call myself "student doctor".
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My school does the same thing. I also felt uncomfortable with it at first. But we get called out in class and are always addressed as "student doctor so-and-so." After hearing it thirty times a day, I'm slowly getting used to it.
 
Why don't we start wearing a different colored coat to stand out?
 
Marcus Brody said:
We should just get even longer white coats, like dragging on the ground long. They should actually be more like long white robes and come with a magic wand and a special hat, too.
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I put on my robe and wizard hat...

Oh, and this 2012 thread would like to thank everyone for reviving it.
 
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DeadCactus said:
Physicians just need to start wearing white coats with epaulets on them. And stars. Like 20 stars on each shoulder so the patient knows you're the one in charge. Maybe a big gold medal with MD around the neck. And a giant gold scalpel in a sheath at the left hip...
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No, I think you should wear long coats lined with ermine. Sure, it would be impractical and pretty hot, but you'd be the royalty of the hospital.
 
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:laugh:. Coat one-upsmanship.

Man, I don't get what's desirable about a white coat though. They're hot, horrible, ill-fitting fomites. Status? The C&L psych fellow in my hospital dresses in impeccable sharpness in properly fitted clothes. No coat required. That's wassup. Can't wait to get of out this stupid coat. I want to slip unnoticed between populations.

This wanting to look like a real doctor I think factors into our other thread. Where a few of us are befuddled at the notion of medical students lining up for these horrible but Real Doctory sorts of fields.
 
SBR249 said:
I'm pretty sure my white coat just has my name on it and that's it. You can tell I'm not a doctor because I don't have MD after my name and no department under it either.
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My white coat had my name and "School of Medicine" beneath it. I can't remember what the resident or attending coats read. My resident white coat has my name and MD and I think 'Resident Physician' or something under it. I'm in a field where no one except the old school docs and gunners wear their white coats though, so mine is hanging up in our lounge until I do outpatient cardiology. We identify the students as the ones wearing their coats.
 
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