When I worked in the NHS, our coats were far from white because we used to write on them, in magic marker, things like specimen numbers, doctors and nurses names, phone numbers etc. that we had to deal with queries about. I was always impressed that the laundry managed to get them pristine white again.
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.
You and your colleagues deliberately chose to carry a magic-marker (and no paper), in order to deliberately write on your clothes, rather than the more simple expedient of paper and pen/pencil?
This seems irrational, inexpedient, and inappropriate for anyone delivering any aspect of medical care.
Yes, we did all that - we had to carry markers to label culture media in containers such as petri dishes and universal containers. You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to lose your labcoat.
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.
It's an extraordinary claim, which usually would require extraordinary proof.
I've also worked in UK healthcare, albeit in a patient-facing role rather than a back-office or technician role.
The whole process would raise so many questions.
> "You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to lose your labcoat"
Surely if notes were taken on a labcoat, these would then have to be copied into a more permanent form? As you've said, the coats are washed, which makes the coat a very short-term data-storage device.
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.
I don’t find it hard to believe. I’ve written tons of notes on my arms and hands when working product support. When I briefly framed houses we would do all our math and diagramming on lumber. Either studs in the wall or scraps from the floor. You write on whatever you have handy.
> The real driver of white lab coats was the hygienist movement.
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.
When I worked in the NHS, our coats were far from white because we used to write on them, in magic marker, things like specimen numbers, doctors and nurses names, phone numbers etc. that we had to deal with queries about. I was always impressed that the laundry managed to get them pristine white again.
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.
Did you write on them because a notebook could cross contaminate while the coats are sterilized safely? Did you wash the markers?
I 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)
Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical staff didn't routinely write on their clothes.
> 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.
This seems irrational, inexpedient, and inappropriate for anyone delivering any aspect of medical care.
Yes, we did all that - we had to carry markers to label culture media in containers such as petri dishes and universal containers. You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to lose your labcoat.
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.
The whole process would raise so many questions.
Surely if notes were taken on a labcoat, these would then have to be copied into a more permanent form? As you've said, the coats are washed, which makes the coat a very short-term data-storage device.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.
I don’t find it hard to believe. I’ve written tons of notes on my arms and hands when working product support. When I briefly framed houses we would do all our math and diagramming on lumber. Either studs in the wall or scraps from the floor. You write on whatever you have handy.
I think it makes sense, notebooks are hard to sterilize.
Never thought about this. The kind of question that sounds trivial until you actually try to answer it
So they can see spills easily
"It's just you've got mustard on your... right there, on the..."
> The real driver of white lab coats was the hygienist movement.
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.
Well, you need a hook to get readers to start reading.
And it is an interesting article well worth the time spent reading it, so no harm done.