LITERATURE
REVIEW
A white laboratory coat is a knee length overcoat / smock worn by
professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work to
protect their street cloths. The garment is made from white cotton or linen
while others are made from a blend of cotton and polyester. This allows it to
be washed at high temperature and make it easy to see if it is clean
(Wikipedia, 2011).
In the middle of the 19th
century, science had damaged the respectability of medicine by demonstrating
that its cures were worth less thus relegating much of medicine to the realm of
quackery and healing cults. While scientists were admired, physicians were
distrusted. The medical profession turned to science. After all, it was
thought, the laboratories whose inventions could transmit messages instantaneously
and had revolutioned transportation could certainly providebreak through advances in curing disease (Jones, 1999). Physicians seeking to represent themselves as scientists thus adopted the scientific laboratory coat as their standard of dress (Jones, 1999). In Canada, the laboratory coat was introduced into medicine by Dr. G. Armstrong (1855-1933), who was a surgeon at the Montreal General Hospital and President of the Canadian Medical Association (Wikipedia, 2011).
Interesting enough, earlier in the
history of medicine, the white laboratory coat was not white at all. It was
black for a while (Jones, 1999). But after realizing that black conveyed a
sense of mourning and approaching death, the colour was changed to beige and
then finally white. The colour white was chosen because it represents purity
and is a visual reminder of the physician’s commitment to do no harm. It
communicates the physician’s medical intent and serves as a symbolic barrier
that maintains the professional duties, as prescribed by Hippocrates, to lead
their lives and practice their art in uprightness and honour, (Jones, 1999).
Perhaps most importantly the laboratory coat is a cloak of compassion (Lewis,
1994).