"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
22 November 2006Young doctors in loveYoung doctors, claims a Miami physician in The New York Times, are dressing inappropriately:
Among older and middle-aged physicians (like myself), tales of salacious and sloppy trainee attire abound. One colleague commented that a particularly statuesque student "must have thought all her male patients were having strokes" when she walked in their exam room wearing a low-cut top and a miniskirt. Another complained about a male student who came to class unshaven, even though he hadn’t been on call the night before. One Midwestern medical school dean reported that her school instituted a formal dress policy after administrators noticed students revealing too much flesh while sunbathing on a small patch of grass outside the school building, directly below patients’ hospital room windows.
Patients and colleagues may dismiss a young doctor’s skills and knowledge or feel their concerns aren't being taken seriously when the doctor is dressed in a manner more suitable for the gym or a night on the town. There are also hygiene considerations: open-toed shoes don’t protect against the spills that commonly occur in patient care, and long, flowing hair can potentially carry harmful bacteria. Well, okay. Dr Pamela A Rowland, director of the Office of Professional Development at Dartmouth Medical School, says that it can also affect the outcome of oral exams for board certification:
"You don’t want to look too attractive to be serious," she said, adding that "a certain amount of the nerd factor" can help a doctor’s performance.
As a rule, I shy away from That Which Is Medical, and therefore I have little anecdotal evidence to cite here, though I did once (okay, more than once) avail myself of the services of a dentist who seemed to fulfill the Texas Babe stereotype: slender and rangy, moderately-big blonde hair, endless legs. However, it must be pointed out that, at the office anyway, she dressed more like Lubbock than Dallas — no effort to be trendy — and she didn't go out of her way to dazzle you with any of that Dr McLusciousness stuff. Meanwhile, Lindsay Beyerstein has her doubts:
It's always newsworthy when someone claims that an unexpected group of women is dressing wantonly: six-year-olds, pro bowlers, physicians.... It's the sort of thing the public needs to know about right away. You don't necessarily have time to establish whether one person's anecdotes [are] representative, or even plausible.
Unfortunately, the NYT couldn't find any of these scantily-clad doctors in time, so the editors had to make do with a more impressionistic illustration. And indeed, the Times illustration reeks of stockphotohood; I don't know any physicians who look like that, and if I did, the first thing I'd want to know is "Is she in our network?" Posted at 4:34 PM to Almost Yogurt , StemwareI lost my mother to brain cancer in 2000. During her treatment, her brain surgeon showed up in her hospital room making calls in cut-off jeans, a Nascar t-shirt and a ball cap. To say the least, I was a little disconcerted that he cared so little for his professional appearance. I was told, "That's just him." Well, okay. The NY Times could have had a perfect example right here in Oklahoma City at Baptist Hospital. Posted by: MikeSw.... at 6:21 PM on 22 November 2006 |