Should doctors wear white coats? The patient's perspective

Tiwari, Alok; Abeysinghe, Neil; Hall, Alison; Perera, Prasanna; Ackroyd, Jenny S.

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2753.2001.00293.x

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…These findings are similar to those of Harnett, 4 Tiwari et al, 5 and Dunn et al 2 who found that 59% of oncology patients (n = 180), 62% of inpatients at Harlow hospital (n = 160), and 65% of inpatients (n = 200) respectively, favoured white coats. This differs from the more recent findings of Dover 1 and Gooden et al 3 who found that 48% of patients (n = 300) and 36% of inpatients (n = 154), respectively, favoured white coats.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

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Should doctors wear white coats?

Douse

Derrett-Smith

Dheda

et al. 2004

Postgraduate Medical Journal

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Objective: To compare the views of doctors and patients on whether doctors should wear white coats and to determine what shapes their views. Methods: A questionnaire study of 400 patients and 86 doctors was performed. Results: All 86 of the doctors' questionnaires were included in the analysis but only 276 of the patients were able to complete a questionnaire. Significantly more patients (56%) compared with their doctors (24%) felt that doctors should wear white coats (p,0.001). Only age (.70 years) (p,0.001) and those patients whose doctors actually wore white coats (p,0.001) were predictive of whether patients favoured white coats. The most common reason given by patients was for easy identification (54%). Less than 1% of patients believed that white coats spread infection.Only 13% of doctors wore white coats as they were felt to be an infection risk (70%) or uncomfortable (60%). There was no significant difference between doctor subgroups when age, sex, grade, and specialty were analysed. Conclusion: In contrast to doctors, who view white coats as an infection risk, most patients, and especially those older than 70 years, feel that doctors should wear them for easy identification. Further studies are needed to assess whether this affects patients' perceived quality of care and whether patient education will alter this view.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Previous studies have all looked at relatively small numbers of patients and have shown great variation in results. [1][2][3][4][5] We therefore embarked upon a study in a large cohort of patients to clarify the viewpoints of our patients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Should doctors wear white coats?

Douse

Derrett-Smith

Dheda

et al. 2004

Postgraduate Medical Journal

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show abstract

“…These findings when relate to medical specialties we establish that Harnett 14 Tiwari et al 15 , and Dunn et al 6 had found that 59% of oncology patients (n=180), 62% of inpatients at Harlow hospital (n=160), and 65% of inpatients (n=200) respectively, favoured white coats.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Should Dentist wear white coat or not? A cross-sectional study

Deshmukh¹

2013

IOSR-JDMS

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“…Our study also differ from other different study performed at different places. 5,8,12,[15][16][17] This vast difference in patient perspective could be because in our hospital most of patient came from village areas and they think that doctors should wear white coat. While asking the patient regarding reasons for wearing white coat, 87.7% of our patients replied that its for identification and to prevent infection which is similar to study performed by Douse et al 11 , but several other studies showed that white coats and nurses uniforms suggest potential risk of bacterial contamination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%