Beneath the White Coat

by Ian Gabrielle Cuyno

New York Times ran an article last April 29, 2019 entitled “Why Your Doctor’s White Coat Can Be a Threat to Your Health”. The said article mentioned various studies pointing out that the white coat is a particularly dangerous fomite, carrying numerous pathogens from one patient to another. No less than the American Medical Association has long studied the possibility of abandoning the long white coat, much to the chagrin of doctors. One doctor puts it succinctly: “The coat is part of what defines me, and I couldn’t function without it,”.

This reaction is not entirely unexpected: after all, white coats have a crucial role in the mythos of the medical profession, signifying the integrity and professionalism of the wearer. It is also seen as a status symbol, earned after over a decade of education and training, and thus seemingly marking the wearer to be above everyone else in the hospital. According to studies, while 25% of physicians wear the white coat to be easily recognized in the hospital, 7% wear it primarily to reinforce their status as doctors. No wonder then that the word “clinical” also means coldly detached. It could also be argued that the white coat is the physical embodiment of the physician-patient barrier, lending its name to the eponymous White Coat Syndrome.

To be a doctor is to put the health and welfare of others before oneself; why is it then that some doctors place more value on white coats than patient safety? Why is it that doctors continue to wear their white coats even in settings where these are not needed such as outside the hospital, violating the principal doctrine of medicine: primum no nocere (Do no harm)? While the road to a medical degree is undoubtedly not easy, does this justify the perpetual wearing of the white coat, seemingly as a bragging right?

Despite some doctors, such as pediatricians and psychiatrists, forgoing the white coat in order to close the gap with their patients, white coats are unlikely to be abandoned any time soon. However, what needs to go is the attitude of doctors towards the white coat, and to an extent, to the medical profession itself. Doctors need to be comfortable without their metaphorical white coat - without the status, prestige, or power that comes with being an M.D. - in order to be able to truly serve humanity. Doctors also need to learn to let go to let go of their white coats every once in a while, and embrace their inner self; they are not just doctors, they are also parents, partners, friends. Medical training should put this into consideration, allowing for a less stifling schedule with actual breaks or rest periods in order to allow doctors to simply be themselves, without the burden or the expectations that come with the white coat. ■