Doctors, professors, laboratory workers… these occupations seem to require regular white coat work. But why wear it like this? The white coat does look tall, but it is long and easy to get dirty. Can’t you wear more convenient clothes?
Image credit: Grey’s Anatomy
Oak Village Answers
Labs have used white coats as work clothes for at least a hundred years, so as a tradition, the historical reasons at that time need to be considered.
In those days, the experiment was quite dangerous, and it was easy to get some strange things on the clothes, so it needed a kind of protective clothes over normal clothes /strong> stuff. And this thing also needs to be easy to find dirty, easy to clean, and even go through relatively harsh procedures such as high temperature disinfection. In this way, the white coat is a good choice. It is easier to see the dirty things on the white, and it will not fade after repeated cleaning, because there is no dyeing. Then the tradition was carried on.
Up to now, there are still many laboratory occasions that need to wear this kind of protective clothing, to protect the clothing, and also to protect the exposed limbs, which is part of labor protection, Whether such protection is required depends on the specific work being performed. It is easy to understand the role of the white coat in this environment. Of course, the experimental environment has changed completely. Many experimental situations no longer require such protection, so it is not necessary in some situations.
However, in situations where management is relatively strict, uniform dress is still a must, so there are all kinds of work clothes. And even for laboratory work that requires work clothes, as the specific working environment has different requirements for color, the color and clothing style are also different, and it is not necessarily a white coat.
Karlson Answers
First of all, Nowadays, many hospitals are no longer limited to white coats. Many doctors in the operating room have blue-green coats, but most of them still have white coats. Dress as usual uniform.
One of the benefits of white clothes is that they are easy to spot when dirty. You also mentioned doctors and laboratories. These two places have a common requirement, which is cleanliness. Dirt and pollution are easy to spot in white clothes, and white also looks clean. In this regard, I also asked my doctor friends, The current uniforms include blue and white coats. In addition to cleanliness, there is another requirement – anti-static. Nowadays, there are many electronic devices, and many medical devices are also very precise instruments. The influence of static electricity on the equipment may mislead the diagnosis and treatment results.
This is evident from the stills of Doctor Strange
Image source: Movie screenshot
In fact, a long time ago, doctors wore gray robes instead of white coats, and nurses wore black robes (mainly nuns). The disadvantage of gray robe and black robe is obvious, it is very convenient to hide dirt, and human beings, if they do not find dirt, they lazily wash it, so there are many bacteria, not only dangerous to patients, but also to Doctors and nurses are also dangerous.
After the establishment of microbiology, especially after the phenomenon of infection leading to failure of surgery attracted attention, British doctor Joseph Lister improved the doctor’s dress, and then the white gown became the standard. From the evolution of the gray robe to the white robe, the level has increased, and the death caused by infection has also decreased.
By Oak Village, Karlson
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