Do your Doctors wear lab coats?

[Jules A, MSN]

All the inpatient psych units I have worked, toured or know people who work on in the Baltimore/Washington DC area have the Doctors and NPs wearing white lab coats.

On the NP section someone just enlightened me that none of the inpatient units they have worked over the course of 40 years have had providers who wear lab coats and their opinion is that lab coats on inpatient psych is dangerous.

What is the tradition on your units?

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I've worked three hospitals (two were general hospitals with psych units and one was a psych hospital) and two outpatient clinics-no one in any of the units or clinics wore white lab coats. It was considered a reference to the "men in the white coats," so it just wasn't done.

[elkpark]

I've been in more units than I can count, in five states (so far), over the years and I haven't seen psychiatrists, or anyone else other than students who were wearing them as part of their student dress code, wearing white coats in inpatient psych. I currently work on the psych consultation & liaison service for a large academic medical center, and we wear white coats in the general hospital setting, but that's because all the other services in the medical center do (and, even then, a bunch of our psychiatrists just don't bother). Our colleagues in the psychiatric facility don't.

[Psychcns]

Never seen or worn a white coat on a psych unit. 30 years experience. 3 states.

[Jules A, MSN]

Maybe its a geographic area thing? I've worked at 6 different hospitals in the Baltimore/DC area and at least 5 of them had providers wearing white lab coats over business casual although sometimes the residents wore scrubs under their lab coats. The 6th? was the VA and I'll be darned if I can remember what the heck they wore there. :)

[elkpark]

I'm sure there is some geographic variation and preference.

[A&Ox6, MSN, RN]

At my job, staff nurses wear either solid scrubs in the hospital color or business casual with a white lab coat. I often wonder which is preferable. Both are institutional.

[Psychcns]

When I went to my BSN program in the early 80's I remember psych patients lamenting the nurses not wearing white uniforms anymore. They liked knowing who the nurse is. Hard to know if psych patients care now. Business casual is the norm everywhere I have worked.

[marshmallowstar, BSN, RN]

I work for the largest inpatient psych hospital in Baltimore, no coats.

[Jules A, MSN]

I work for the largest inpatient psych hospital in Baltimore, no coats.

Maybe I'll see you on the Retreat some day.

[missannabelle]

Ours wear business casual, no coats.

[newrpn]

Ours all wear business casual as well.