SAN DIEGO – The next time you enter an exam room without first donning your white coat or name tag, you might consider backtracking to retrieve them.
According to a survey of patients presenting to a family medicine clinic, 51% hold some opinion about your attire. "Even if they don’t admit that they care about those things, patients are picking the options of having physicians wear a white coat and having a traditional look," study author Dr. Seema Tayal said in an interview during a poster session at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "Traditional looks still matter."
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"Even if they don’t admit that they care about those things, patients are picking the options of having physicians wear a white coat and having a traditional look," said Dr. Seema Tayal.
For the study, Dr. Tayal, a third-year resident in the family medicine department at the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Hospital Center, and her associates set out to determine what effects exist between the patient’s perception of a physician’s physical appearance and the patient’s compliance with medical recommendations. They distributed anonymous questionnaires to 200 patients who presented to the practice.
More than half of respondents (59%) were between the ages of 18 and 50 years, while the remaining 41% were over age 51. The majority (69%) were female.
When asked, "Do you feel your decision to follow a physician’s advice is influenced by his/her gender?" 91% responded yes and 9% responded no.
When asked, "Do you feel your decision to follow a physician’s advice is influenced by his/her appearance?" 83% responded yes and 17% responded no.
Dr. Seema Tayal
When asked, "Do you feel your decision to follow a physician’s advice is influenced by his/her age?" 85% responded yes and 15% responded no.
When asked about the preference of a physician’s attire, 49% had no preference and 51% did. Among those who did have a preference, the appearance accessory rated as most desirable was a white coat (52%), followed by a name tag (41%), stethoscope (25%), a "clean" look (33%), scrubs (15%), dress pants (14%), a tie and dress shirt (12%), dress shoes (10%), cologne/perfume (8%), short hair (6%), and jewelry (4%).
In another part of the questionnaire, respondents were asked to choose the most professional-looking image from a set of six photographs depicting medical personnel, including one of Dr. Gregory House, the fictional physician played by actor Hugh Laurie on the "House" television series. The "winning" image depicted a clean-looking young female with short hair who wore a white coat and a stethoscope.
The researchers stated that they had no relevant financial conflicts to disclose.