Why Lab Coats Turned White(asimov.press) |
Why Lab Coats Turned White(asimov.press) |
Of course this was just us sloppy men - female techs carried useful things like notebooks (paper) and biros.
And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.
Yeah, they were banned in the name of hygiene (sleeve length) not that long ago. 2007 in England & 2014 in Scotland I think.
The BMA has some lingering objection to it from what I understand, but since Covid they're all in scrubs anyway. If they want prestige and distinction from nurses/PAs it would probably make more sense to do differently coloured scrubs, as they do in some US TV shows (but not all; no idea about reality).
It depends on the hospital and it might also be regional.
At the hospital I go to in California, green is for surgery and everyone else seems to be in a free for all. I know they reserve dark red for visiting specialists, but the doctors and nurses both wear whatever they want.
https://www.workwearexpress.com/blog/NHS%20Uniform%20Colour%20CodesI wonder how people handle this now? With IP68 tablets, you can probably just dunk the whole thing in alcohol.
(Also thanks for sharing such an interesting anecdote)
I agree with you about the use of tablets in hospitals though. I don't think I ever saw one being sterilised las time I was in hospital for a bit.
The environmental impact of that laundry problem has been reduced but at the cost of 3M Corporation producing trillions of post-it notes that carry such tidbits of information around labs instead.
> "our coats were white because we used to write on them"
Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical staff didn't routinely write on their clothes.
I wasn't a medic, I was a microbiologist. And I can assure you we did write all over them.
> "our coats were were from white"
The understanding of the original post was "our coats were white because", which implied the purpose of the coats being white, was to allow them to be written on.
The post was edited to read:
> "our coats were far from white"
What an odd thing to say
In the first group meeting I attended, I jokingly asked why no one was wearing a white coat, but my colleagues didn't get the reference, so my joke fell down with a thud.
This is a really compelling read with several historical sources, with a title that can be answered in a single sentence buried deep in the article. I'm a little sad to see such quality writing with a title that could be mistaken for a slop blog post.
And it is an interesting article well worth the time spent reading it, so no harm done.
I don't think there's a rule about it though, it's just what they stock & launder. I don't think they're mandatory for doctors at all – my understanding is they pushed to be allowed to wear them during the pandemic, at least at the hospital she was at at the time, and it just stuck, 'nobody' wanted to go back to 'professional clothes' and washing them at home, and it'd be hard to enforce once you've dropped it I imagine.
Edit: see this doc (2024), seems it's being standardised nationally, and there's nothing for doctors at all: https://azuksappnpdsa01.blob.core.windows.net/datashare/NHS-...
(So what they'll do in practice, no pun intended, when the trust moves to this system I have no idea... Keep using the old ones washing them at home? Buy Figs etc.? Stop wearing scrubs?)
The HN user zabzonk's profile description says "Ex C++ programmer and project manager".
It'd be interesting to understand more about their crossover from microbiology into C++ (or vice-versa).
My observation about female technicians was in no way meant to be derogatory - I had several female managers who I liked very much, and I've always admired female tech's aseptic technique, and other techniques compared with mine.
> "I can assure you we did write all over them"
This seems irrational, inexpedient, and inappropriate for anyone delivering any aspect of medical care.
I did say we were sloppy.
We were not in contact with any patients and at least in the UK, no-one that is ever wears a white coat these days.
I find it somewhat offensive that I am lying and/or unprofessional about this.
> I find it somewhat offensive that I am lying and/or unprofessional about this.
The whole process would raise so many questions.
> "You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to lose your labcoat"
I have a whole bunch of white t-shirts, and wear a white t-shirt pretty much every day. It's never once occurred to me to write an appointment-time, a phone number, or a shopping-list on my t-shirt.
It's possible some folks have thin skin.
> notebooks are hard to sterilize
There isn't a library of lab coats which contain notes written on them, for future consultation.
A notepad page is also easier to permanently sterilize (via incineration) than a lab coat.
I think it's pretty clear they were taking ephemeral notes, not using them for long-term archiving.