alt Hacker NewsWhen I worked in the NHS, our coats were far from white because we used to write on them, in magic marker, things like specimen numbers, doctors and nurses names, phone numbers etc. that we had to deal with queries about. I was always impressed that the laundry managed to get them pristine white again.
Of course this was just us sloppy men - female techs carried useful things like notebooks (paper) and biros.
And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.
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Did you write on them because a notebook could cross contaminate while the coats are sterilized safely? Did you wash the markers?
I wonder how people handle this now? With IP68 tablets, you can probably just dunk the whole thing in alcohol.
(Also thanks for sharing such an interesting anecdote)
> Of course this was just us sloppy men - female techs…
What an odd thing to say
> "our coats were white because we used to write on them"
Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical staff didn't routinely write on their clothes.
> And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.
Yeah, they were banned in the name of hygiene (sleeve length) not that long ago. 2007 in England & 2014 in Scotland I think.
The BMA has some lingering objection to it from what I understand, but since Covid they're all in scrubs anyway. If they want prestige and distinction from nurses/PAs it would probably make more sense to do differently coloured scrubs, as they do in some US TV shows (but not all; no idea about reality).