erik wrote:
FWIW, short coats are traditionally for medical students, not doctors. Which might be confusing for patients who know that tradition. I'd personally be confused if I were being treated by a resident in a short coat, because I'd think they were in med school and would wonder where supervising physician is. If you work/get care in a teaching hospital the coat length is a pretty quick way to figure out who is who. That seems like a reasonable reason to give up a stupid tradition, but not because people felt like they didn't get the respect they deserved.
I like what they do in iowa where i live now. All doctors name tags say DOCTOR. If people are in training (residents, fellows), it says DOCTOR in yellow. For attendings it's white. Makes it very clear for patients.
This guy gets it.
Short coats for medical students make sense. Unlike a resident, they generally can't write orders without a co-sign, probably shouldn't lead a resuscitation, etc. You don't want a nurse to mistake a medical student for a resident/doctor, and it is probably fair to patients to make the distinction, too.
First-year residents, on the other hands, are absolutely able to write orders, manage patients and run the ward. They will seek help from a senior resident or staff doctor where needed, but in the absence of those higher in the hierarchy, what they say goes.
Distinguishing first-year residents but not medical students not only fails to reflect the basic reality of hospital function, is may be harmful in cases where patients or nurses balk at the word of the doctor in charge, who can definitely be a first-year. Saying so isn't a "snowflake" opinion.
Being butthurt because more educated people than you are trying to improve their system is the real "snowflake" opinion here.