Just like the quintessential little black dress that every woman should own, every pharmacist should have a white lab coat. And in some facilities length does matter! Short coats are often used to signify a student- pharmacist still in training while a longer coat marks the licensed practitioner.
Many bedside providers are ditching their white coats along with neckties due to the potential for increased risk of contamination. Although there’s no hard evidence establishing a link, there is concern that these clothing items can lead to the spread of infections from one patient to the next. Recently published recommendations state that if you continue to wear a lab coat and/or neck tie, that they be laundered frequently. Specifically, they state that coats should be laundered in hot water then dried and/or ironed in order to eliminate bacteria.
This white coat is a cloak of wonders- it can identify you more readily to others as part of the healthcare team than the badge that you wear. Although we don’t want to be respected based on the white coat that can be purchased at any scrub store, it is sometimes a gateway to get attention so that we have the opportunity to establish respect.
Without my coat, I feel like I am in disguise. I visited a friend at the beginning of the year in a hospital where I have never worked. I asked for directions to the wing where I knew that my friend was a patient. The person tried to send me through a hallway with badge access. When I told him that I couldn’t get through there, he said, “I thought you worked here!” I don’t know what about me made him think that I worked there. Maybe even without the coat I look like a healthcare worker. They say that people who have been married for a long time start to look alike. Perhaps after more than 20 years of working in hospitals I just look like I belong there.
Aside from all of the other reasons for wearing the coat, I find it a necessity because of its wonderful storage space. Inside my lab coat pockets are enough random items to help someone survive in the wilderness for at least a week. Not really, but there is certainly enough to rival any purse. I have tissues, lip balm, pens, pencils, in house telephone, cell phone, notepads, laminated pocket cards for various dosing guides, highlighters, a ponytail holder, business cards and the Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy (oops- just realized that’s from 2010, may want to update that). Where do you carry all of that stuff if you do not wear a lab coat?