centered image

centered image

What Not To Wear: Do doctors Need a Dress Code?

Discussion in 'Doctors Cafe' started by Ghada Ali youssef, Jan 6, 2017.

Tags:
  1. Ghada Ali youssef

    Ghada Ali youssef Golden Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2016
    Messages:
    2,488
    Likes Received:
    93
    Trophy Points:
    4,175
    Gender:
    Female
    Practicing medicine in:
    Egypt

    881455b11b36dce1360ad7f84c128b31.jpg

    Most patients want to see their doctor dressed in a white lab coat or a suit. But fancy threads take a back seat to scrubs when it comes to emergency or critical care.

    For a new paper, researchers compiled the findings of 30 studies on physician attire involving 11,533 adult patients in 14 countries.

    Read Also:
    Taking Your Clothes Off In Front Of Your Doctor

    How To Dress According To Your Body Shape And Type

    Age and culture
    How patients feel about how their doctors dress depends a lot on age and culture, the research shows.

    In general, Europeans and Asians of any age, and Americans over age 50, trust a formally dressed doctor more, while Americans in Generation X and Y tend to accept less-dressy physicians more willingly.

    “As physicians, we want to make sure that we’re dressing in a way that reflects a level of professionalism and also mindful of patients’ preferences,” says lead author Christopher Petrilli, an internal medicine resident at the University of Michigan Health System.

    “Many studies have looked at various aspects of physician attire, so we wanted to look across this body of literature to find common threads. But at the same time, we found a lack of detailed guidance from top hospitals to their physicians about how to dress.”

    One size does not fit all
    In all, 21 of the 30 studies found that patients expressed clear preferences about what they felt doctors should wear, or said that attire affected their perceptions of a physician. In 18 of those studies, formal attire or a white coat was preferred.

    Four of the seven studies that involved surgery patients reported that attire choice didn’t matter or that scrubs were preferred. The same was true of four of five studies that involved patients receiving emergency care or intensive care.

    Patient satisfaction now influences how doctors, and hospitals are paid—making the impact of patient perceptions of their doctors’ knowledge, caring, professionalism, and trustworthiness all the more important, says Vineet Chopra, assistant professor of internal medicine.

    The findings, published in the journal BMJ Open, suggest that a “one size fits all” approach to policies and guidance for doctors won’t work.

    “In order to better tailor physician attire to patient preferences and improve available evidence, we would recommend that healthcare systems capture the ‘voice of the customer’ in individual care locations, such as intensive care units and emergency departments,” Chopra says.

    The subject of what to wear isn’t covered directly in medical school. Even for physicians in practice at hospitals on the US News & World Report Best Hospitals ranking, specific guidelines are few and far between. Only five of those surveyed offer official guidance for physicians about attire at all, and most just recommended it be “professional.” The others offered no formal guidance.

    The researchers are currently preparing to launch their own international study of the impact of physician clothing choices, under the name “Targeting Attire to Improve Likelihood of Rapport” or TAILOR.

    The study will survey patients in outpatient general medicine and specialty clinic waiting rooms and inpatient medical units. Hospitals in three countries have signed on to participate, making it the largest such study of its kind. Pediatric patients and their parents will not be included, but the researchers say that is another area ripe for research.

    “Everything is supposed to be evidence-based in medicine,” Petrilli says. “With this review and our new study, we can provide compelling evidence to influence the way physicians dress.”
    Funding for the research came in part from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

    Source
     

    Add Reply

    Attached Files:


  2. Dr.Scorpiowoman

    Dr.Scorpiowoman Golden Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2016
    Messages:
    9,028
    Likes Received:
    414
    Trophy Points:
    13,075
    Gender:
    Female
    Practicing medicine in:
    Egypt
    Appearance impact first impressions greatly.
     

    Ghada Ali youssef likes this.
  3. Ghada Ali youssef

    Ghada Ali youssef Golden Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2016
    Messages:
    2,488
    Likes Received:
    93
    Trophy Points:
    4,175
    Gender:
    Female
    Practicing medicine in:
    Egypt
    yes ,, I guess it's unfair to people who are really professional but drop this appearance thing
     

Share This Page

<