By Adrian Chen
The American Medical Association voted Tuesday to recommend that hospitals ban doctors' iconic white lab coats, citing evidence that the garment contributes to the spread of infection. Indeed, a number of studies have shown that the coats harbor potentially harmful bacteria (and may cause "white coat hypertension"). If white coats are so bad, why do doctors still wear them?
Because a white lab coat says "I am a scientific healer." The knee-length coat in medicine crossed over from the laboratory sciences at the turn of the 20th century. Before that time, medicine was generally seen as the haphazard province of quacks and frauds, and physicians wore street clothes even in the operating room. As the field developed into a respected branch of applied science in the early 1900s, doctors adopted the costume of the laboratory as a way of bolstering their scientific credibility.
The American Medical Association voted Tuesday to recommend that hospitals ban doctors' iconic white lab coats, citing evidence that the garment contributes to the spread of infection. Indeed, a number of studies have shown that the coats harbor potentially harmful bacteria (and may cause "white coat hypertension"). If white coats are so bad, why do doctors still wear them?
Because a white lab coat says "I am a scientific healer." The knee-length coat in medicine crossed over from the laboratory sciences at the turn of the 20th century. Before that time, medicine was generally seen as the haphazard province of quacks and frauds, and physicians wore street clothes even in the operating room. As the field developed into a respected branch of applied science in the early 1900s, doctors adopted the costume of the laboratory as a way of bolstering their scientific credibility.
In pre-white-coat times, physicians used primitive tools and techniques and had little formal training. (Medical school could be finished in a year.) Early doctors competed for legitimacy (and patients) with other healing arts like homeopathy and medical eclecticism. But the development of antiseptics and anesthesia, among other things, demonstrated the exceptional power of science to improve health. Doctors strove to become more scientific, in practice and in dress. The lab coat served both purposes by providing a (supposedly) sterile work environment and soothing patients with its air of scientific authority. The traditional lab coat was beige, but doctors adopted white because the color symbolizes life and purity. (In earlier times, doctors were more likely to wear black, in keeping with the high mortality rates seen at hospitals. The nuns who served as nurses often wore black habits.) By 1915, physicians working in hospitals had for the most part switched from street clothes to white coats and pants.
Indeed, it is useful information why doctors use coats. Last month, I bought womens labs coats from figs which is a reputed store for medical clothing. Glad that I found a reliable store which is providing wide variety of lab coats in different colors.
ReplyDelete