7 ms·

Why Lab Coats Turned White

82 points by mailyk 8mo ago

icapybara 8mo ago
So they can see spills easily
- ErroneousBosh 8mo ago
  "It's just you've got mustard on your... right there, on the..."
hx8 8mo ago
> 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.
- the_af 8mo ago
  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.
zabzonk 8mo ago
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.
- manarth 8mo ago
  > "our coats were white because we used to write on them" It's hard to tell whether this is a deliberately trolling statement, a fantastical Walter Mitty style statement, or something else. Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical staff didn't routinely write on their clothes.
  - zabzonk 8mo ago
    > 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.
    - manarth 8mo ago
      > "I can assure you we did write all over them" 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.
      - zabzonk 8mo ago
        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.
        manarth 8mo ago
        > 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.
ashwinnair99 8mo ago
Never thought about this. The kind of question that sounds trivial until you actually try to answer it
JohnnyLarue 8mo ago
[dead]
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
dvh 8mo ago
Because of chalk?
xkcd-sucks 8mo ago
I'm sure the article is broadly correct but in 3 separate academic institutions I've worked for in labs the assigned/monogrammed PPE coats were light blue, light red, and dark blue. Likewise my father in law's corporate research lab coats i've received as castoff gifts have all been light blue or dark blue
nabbed 8mo ago
At one point, I worked in the labs division of a big internet company, where I was a regular software developer surrounded by people with the title "scientist" (basically, programmer/statisticians with PhDs who were running engagement and revenue experiments on our user base). 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.

82 points by mailyk 8mo ago

icapybara 8mo ago

So they can see spills easily

ErroneousBosh 8mo ago
"It's just you've got mustard on your... right there, on the..."

hx8 8mo ago

> 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.

the_af 8mo ago
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.

zabzonk 8mo ago

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.

manarth 8mo ago
> "our coats were white because we used to write on them" It's hard to tell whether this is a deliberately trolling statement, a fantastical Walter Mitty style statement, or something else. Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical staff didn't routinely write on their clothes.
- zabzonk 8mo ago
  > 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.
  - manarth 8mo ago
    > "I can assure you we did write all over them" 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.
    - zabzonk 8mo ago
      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.
      - manarth 8mo ago
        > 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.

ashwinnair99 8mo ago

Never thought about this. The kind of question that sounds trivial until you actually try to answer it

JohnnyLarue 8mo ago

[dead]

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

dvh 8mo ago

Because of chalk?

xkcd-sucks 8mo ago

I'm sure the article is broadly correct but in 3 separate academic institutions I've worked for in labs the assigned/monogrammed PPE coats were light blue, light red, and dark blue. Likewise my father in law's corporate research lab coats i've received as castoff gifts have all been light blue or dark blue

nabbed 8mo ago

At one point, I worked in the labs division of a big internet company, where I was a regular software developer surrounded by people with the title "scientist" (basically, programmer/statisticians with PhDs who were running engagement and revenue experiments on our user base). 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.