Doctors' white coats and facial piercings turn-off for patients

David Galler

Patients like their doctors best when dressed in semi-formal clothes, but they are going off white coats, and facial piercings make them positively edgy, a study has found.

White lab coats and a formal suit and tie once held sway among doctors, but the Christchurch Hospital study reveals the new trends.

Visits to hospitals now show white coats have become a rarity, ties are far from universal and medical students sometimes push the boundaries of casual. At Auckland's Starship children's hospital, even the nurses were long ago freed of uniforms in favour of tidy casual dress.

The Christchurch study, published in the British Medical Journal, says white coats may be a source of cross infection between patients.

The study of 451 patients put long trousers, long sleeves and closed shoes at the top of the preference list for their male doctors, while dyed hair and facial piercing made them feel uncomfortable.

The patients felt most comfortable with their women doctors in long sleeves, with hair tied back and a long dress, and least comfortable if they had facial piercings or short tops.

Dr David Galler, a Middlemore Hospital intensive care specialist and adviser to the Director-General of Health and Minister of Health, is one doctor who takes unconventional dress very seriously.

"You've got to be able to carry it if you're going to be out of uniform," said Dr Galler, whose usual attire includes shorts and a bright shirt.

He believes doctors ought to normalise medicine for patients, rather than "hiding" behind a white coat and tie. He had never received complaints about his style and he thought patients liked it.

"What patients want is people who are honest, clean, respectful and knowledgeable," he said.

The Christchurch researchers, medical student Marianne Lill and associate professor Tim Wilkinson, found that even more popular with patients than doctors in semi-formal dress were doctors in the same style with the addition of a smile.