These past few weeks have been especially crazy.
Just two weeks ago, I spent the better part of my Saturday morning committing myself to a life in medicine from my parents’ living room. We heard speaker after speaker extol medicine as the “most noble of professions” and give us the reassurance that the path ahead would be incredibly difficult. We donned our white coats, recited a variation of the Hippocratic Oath, and began our journeys into the difficult yet wonderful world of medicine.
As I write this, I constantly glance over at my white coat sitting on a hanger in my closet. I’ve never owned such an authoritative garment. The white coat itself is a symbol of the authority, respect, and poise that comes with being a physician. Sure, I’ve worn the white coat a few times before, as an intern scurrying around the hospital and as a passive observer trying not to be seen or heard. And many of those times, I was mistaken for a healthcare professional, as someone who knew what they were doing. Nothing, dear reader, was further from the truth.
The white coat is a descendant of the functional lab coat donned by researchers and scientists. While it’s original purpose seemed to be to protect the wearer from ruined clothes, it was adopted quickly to physicians to display themselves as members of the scientific community.[1][2] Today, the white coat itself is a commanding presence in the clinic. Some studies even found evidence of increased patient compliance and trust when physicians are dressed “professionally”, white coat and all.[3][4] Patients often stop what they are doing when a white coat enters the room, and the presence of a white coat can even be a source of anxiety for some. Truly, a coat like this has a lot of power.
But in the famous words of Stan Lee, power comes with great responsibility. Donning the white coat is a privilege, but more importantly, a commitment to uphold the values of the profession. A medical student at a health policy seminar I attended put it in a great way: when you put that white coat on, people listen. Whether it’s on the steps of the Capitol or in the hallways of the surgical ward, people listen.
And while the white coat can help doctors advocate for change, it can also work in the opposite direction. A simple internet search reveals countless stories of physicians using their authority to peddle drugs or endorse therapies with questionable clinical value. A recent viral photograph depicts “America’s Frontline Doctors”, all in white coats, spreading harmful misinformation about COVID-19 and touting hydroxychloroquine as a wonder drug. (Many of these physicians had never even worked on the frontlines of COVID-19, and some have even had their licenses revoked.)[5] TV personality physicians have undergone scrutiny for using their authorities as physician to promote weight loss pills and vitamins with little scientific support.
As we put on our short white coats for the first time, we make an important choice– we pledge to uphold the values of this profession and advocate for those placed in our care rather than selfishly benefit from the authority we are given. Over the years, our bright white coats will see countless patients, births, deaths and more. They will see innumerable coffee stains. They will be weighed down by books, stethoscopes, and other knick-knacks. And one day, when we graduate and begin practicing medicine, we will lead, heal, and cure—and stay true to the values and ideals we pledged to uphold while entering the noblest of professions.
As I think back to the white coat ceremony and the circumstances that forced it to be a glorified Zoom meeting, I realize how appropriate it was that I got to ceremoniously begin my medical journey from my living room. Sometimes you don’t have to stray far from home to make the journey of a lifetime.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3101961/#CR4
[2] https://moodle.swarthmore.edu/pluginfile.php/77258/mod_resource/content/0/Blumhagen-_Doctor_s_White_Coat.pdf
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3101961/#CR4
[4] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2005.04.026
[5] https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87797
Very interesting thoughts, I enjoyed reading this!