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The white coat and the liaison psychiatrist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alan N. Wear*
Affiliation:
Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE
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Medical care in general hospitals is a collective activity and liaison psychiatrists may become part of this process. Cornerstones of successful management are co-operation with colleagues and ‘teamwork’, although these elusive goals are not always achieved. A shared uniform is one possible solution to improve this teamwork, the white coat being the livery of the hospital doctor. Furthermore, patients may appreciate a uniform. One survey of 200 North American general hospital in-patients showed the white coat to be surprisingly popular (Dunn et al, 1987); 65% of those replying wanted to see their doctor in a white coat. But the white coat is often unpopular with doctors and perhaps a more relevant question is whether it makes any difference to patient behaviour.

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Articles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990

References

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Dunn, J. J., Lee, T. H., Perclay, J. M., Fitz, J. G. & Goldman, L. (1987) Patient and house officer: attitudes on physician attire and etiquette. Journal of American Medical Association, 257, 6568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R. H., Pillsbury, J., Bushey, M. & Snell, S. (1972) Psychiatric staff: uniform or street clothes? Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 1922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rinn, R. C. (1976) Effects of nursing apparel upon psychiatric behaviour. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 43, 936945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockwell, F. (1972) The Unpopular Patient. London: Royal College of Nursing. Pp. 6768.Google Scholar
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