You’ve heard the phrase “We’ve come a long way.” It was once used as a slogan for the women’s movement in the 1970’s. Now, it’s been adopted to describe the racial diversity that we see in today’s workforce. The phrase has become a cliché, granted, but cliché or not, the phrase has a lot of truth to it. If you compare today’s workforce to what America had just twenty years ago it’s almost unrecognizable. There is more racial diversity at our workplaces then at any time in history, especially in today’s knowledge-based jobs.

This is especially true if you look at the medical field. I’m not just talking about racial diversity either. It used to be that men were doctors and women were nurses. Today these lines are beyond blurred, they no longer exist. Today people of every sex, race, creed, color, shape, size and affiliation hold highly touted positions. This diversity has changed not only the way that the public looks at medical professionals, but also how medical professionals like to look. It used to be that lab coats were plain white, had one fit and only served one purpose: to keep of dirt and possibly hold a prescription pad.

To borrow a cliché line: lab coat lines have come a long way.

Now with a bigger variety of people needing medical apparel, the lab coat industry has found a need to evolve their designs. Lab coats now feature such necessities as breathable fabrics, stain resistant materials, deeper pockets for more equipment and custom deigns which allow for a more comfortable fit. All of this might not mean much for non-medical professionals, but for those in the industries these improvements have been a god-send. As my personal physician, who had been in the industry for thirty years, told me “You cannot imagine what these improvements have meant to us.” He said that old lab coats used to be so bulky and uncomfortable that you couldn’t wait to take them off. Now, he says, he often forgets he even has them on.

This explosion of diversity in the field has also meant that the plain white lab coat is also a thing of the past. Companies have begun to offer a variety of colors and embroidering for their clients. Expect to see more light brown, blues and soft pink lab coats in the future. As the workplace grows more diverse, different people want different things and the lab coat companies are more than happy to oblige.

Author Kim Green has friends in the medical profession who need comfortable clothing such as lab coats for work.

For centuries, doctors in lab coats have been an important part of the comedic landscape. This is especially true in the world of animated programming.

Lab Coats have a long history in the annals of comedy. Somebody, a long time ago, decided that a doctor in a lab coat could be just as funny as a clown in makeup or a straight-man wearing a suit.

This is especially true for animated shows. For decades animated shows have cast doctors in the role of comedic fodder, usually as slightly inept professionals who are always there with a funny line or a comical diagnosis. For a perfect example of this type of character you have to look no further then Julius Hibbert, the resident physician at Springfield Hospital on the hit animated show The Simpsons.

Modeled after Bill Cosby’s character on the Cosby Show, creators even went as far as to give Dr. Hibbert a pension for colorful sweaters and children who resemble Cosby’s on-screen progeny. Dr. Hibbert is a smart man, though he has a tendency to laugh even at the most tragic news. Most of his comedy comes from either comedic diagnosis, or clever one-liners, which vary form person to person. He is a doctor but also seems to be a pediatrician and a surgeon (he has performed surgery on Homer Simpson several time). He seems to be a good father, fairly ethical (though a tool for the HMO circuit) and has hairstyles that reflect famous black actors depending on which decade you see him (dreadlocks, a Mr. T flattop, etc.).

On Family Guy, the resident doctor is a much more inept doctor than Mr. Hibbert is. His running joke is that when giving diagnosis he always mentions whatever bad stuff is on his mind before getting to the actual information (for example: when telling Peter Griffin what his cancer test said he starts by noting “No, no, this isn’t very good at all…”. After a brief pause he then holds up a picture that his son drew “This doesn’t look like me at all”). He seems to kind of know what he’s doing, though he has a tendency to be too stupid to be believable at most times (putting his hand in a used needle draw thinking it’s where he keeps his rubber gloves).

Not often do you see a lobster- like alien wearing a lab coat, but that’s exactly what you saw if you were a fan of Futurama which aired on FOX in 2000-2003. The running joke with Zoidberg, besides the fact that he was broke and…ummm… had claws… was that he was a terrible doctor usually giving wrong diagnosis or, because it was the future, curing them in weird ways. Frankly, he was hilarious, and just the latest in a long line of funny doctors on animated TV shows.

Author Kim Green has worked in the medical field and has had the opportunity to wear different styles of lab coats and medical scrubs – Medelita is the company she prefers to buy from.

Thanks to show like Grey’s Anatomy, doctors have become major sex symbol, at least on TV. When did all of this start exactly?

When did wearing a lab coat make someone a sex symbol? I know your mother always wanted you to grow up and marry a doctor, but I never really grew up thinking that doctors were sex symbols. Lab coats are essentially work clothes developed to keep gross stuff off of a doctor. What’s sexy about someone who looks down people throats and has handwriting so terrible that you need some kind of amulet to decipher it.

Apparently, in the past twenty years things have changed. Thanks mostly in part to TV shows the idea of doctors as sex symbols has gained much traction. It probably started with General Hospital. For those of you who have never watched the show, General Hospital is a long running ABC soap opera where a bunch of beautiful people work in a hospital. Typical soap opera stuff occurs in droves: lots of sexy doctors with their shirts off, lots of casual hookups, etc.

The continuing popularity of soaps like General Hospital led to an explosion in prime time hospital dramas in the 1990s. Famously two hospital dramas premiered in the 1994-95 season. Chicago Hope and ER both featured sexy doctors in dramatic situations. It made sex symbols out of people like George Clooney and Noah Wyle and essentially set the stage for what was to come for doctors in prime time for decades to come. Of course, Chicago Hope only lasted a few season while ER lasted for 15 years and become one of the most beloved dramas in television history.

While ER might have kick started the “sexy” doctor genre, it was ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy which came to symbolize just how “sexy” a doctor in a lab coat could be. It was a show that featured just as many in hospital hookups as medical cases. They actors were so sexy, in fact, that they were given sexy nicknames like “McDreamy and “McSteamy”. The female doctors were not hacks either. Katherine Heigl became a big star thanks to the show as she seems to spend as much time in tight clothing as she does in doctor’s gear.

Of course Grey’s Anatomy has led to a slew of copy cats on television. Now each network has their Grey’s knockoff featuring sexy doctors hooking up and working on cool cases in random city hospitals. I don’t really watch any of them but I know the stars thanks to the buzz. Are they sexy? Sure. Is it an accurate portrayal of doctors? Not really. Do real doctors mind being thought at as sex symbols? I’m sure they don’t.

Author Kimberly Green used to work in the medical field. Back then, wearing a lab coat was not at all sexy!

If you are in the medical profession you understand how important a lab coat is throughout the day. Chances are, you also know that there is a difference between a men’s and a women’s lab coat.

There are many things in the clothing universe that you just don’t think about. Like for example: is there a difference between men’s lab coats and women’s lab coats? I guess it really doesn’t matter unless you wear a lab coat all day, but if you do wear one then you probably know the answer: yes, there is. It might be subtle, but for doctors subtle is important.

In recent years a big industry has sprung up for both male and female specific lab coats. Maybe it’s all these doctor show’s starring beautiful people which are fueling this industry, but women have specific needs when it comes to fit and comfort just like men do. It’s not just the medical industry either, many companies have ditched unisex uniforms for male and female uniforms which are tailored to each sexes individual needs.

In the medical field, uniforms are very common. From receptionists to nurses to doctors to surgeons, everyone you see seems to be wearing a specific uniform tailored for their tasks. For nurses, scrubs are usually the norm. While there is not a huge difference in the tailored pattern for each sex, there are definitely design differences. For example, there is a huge market for themed scrubs. For women you can get anything from a pattern of cats to Big Bird from Sesame Street. For men, well, they usually go plain but the sky is the limit for them to. Scrubs can also run the gambit in cost from cheap pairs which you can change daily to something designer and expensive that can last the long haul.

For doctors, uniforms are a bit difference. For his time in his office a doctor will usually wear either slacks and a dress shirt, or a dress and pant suit, depending on the sex. When it’s time to visit the patients, though, it’s usually time to don a lab coat over your outfit. Most hospitals or clinics will usually allow doctors to pick their own lab coats and though most look the same (some variation of the color white and a few pockets), not all lab coats are created equal. Besides having different styles for both men and women, lab coats can feature different designs, strain protectors, fabrics and even pockets. Cost wise, they can go from a basic lab coat that will need to be tossed after a few months for around $30 to a designer lab coat that can repel stains and stay white for a couple hundred dollars. Since they spend so much time in them a doctor will usually invest in a more expensive coat so they don’t need to keep replacing them.

So there you go. There is a difference in men’s lab coats and women’s lab coats. See, you learn something new every day.

Author Kimberly Green is truly impressed with the men’s lab coats she has seen on medelita.com

Author: Kimberly Green

On the morning of Tuesday, January 23, 1849, a woman stood on the platform of the Presbyterian Church in Geneva, N.Y., and received a diploma showing she had earned a degree of Doctor of Medicine. This woman was Elizabeth Blackwell and she became the first woman to complete a course of study at a medical college and receive the M.D. degree.

Since that day the door for woman Doctors has been wide open and today women lead in all fields from health care to research. They have been a driving factor in developing new medicines, cures and have saved countless lives along the way. Women have thrived in a world that once relegated them to nurses or caretakers but the world of medicine; one that was traditionally male dominated has struggled to keep up with the demanding needs of the female professional. Since 1849 women have been serving the public with their knowledge, skill and caring in the doctor offices and hospitals but the attire (the well known lab coat and medical scrubs) have been designed for the male practitioner.

Of course those medical scrubs have been given flowery patterns, silly designs and sometimes with demeaning connotations. If you were lucky you could find scrubs designed in a pale shade of pink but that has been as close as you could get to scrubs designed purely with women in mind.

With recently new advancement in technologies and with a renewed sense of female empowerment companies have been developing new scrubs that are designed fit the female body and that are designed for practicality and comfortableness while working those long shifts in the emergency room. A new generation of clothing has been put out on the market that has rejuvenated medical scrubs and lab coats. No longer do you have to suffer with square scrubs made from uncomfortable materials.

Some manufactures have started using materials that effectively help to move moisture away from the body to help keep you cool on those busy days. Not only does this help to keep you dry he helps to repel any unwanted fluids that might otherwise get soaked into your scrubs. These manufactures have also designed scrubs that help repel odors from scrubs so they remain fresh. This helps them last longer so your investment ends up saving you money in the end because you will replace them less often.

With today’s changing tides in the medical fields it’s important to blend the traditions of yesterday with the new evolutions in technology of today and the world of medical scrubs is no different. Today’s scrubs for women are safer, longer lasting and flattering.