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A white coat or laboratory coat is a knee-length overcoat worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in significant laboratory work to protect their street clothes. The garment is made from white cotton or linen to allow it to be washed at high temperature and for safety in case the garment catches fire.
Like the word "suit", the word is sometimes used to denote the wearer, i.e. the scientific personnel in a biotechnology or chemical company.
The phrase is also used as a verbal shorthand for psychiatric orderlies, and usually indicates lunacy on the part of the person at whom the phrase is directed. For example, "Anyone who believes that needs a visit from the men in white coats". Used this way, the phrase contributes to a pop culture understanding of psychiatrists as remote, non-human figures.
White coats are sometimes seen as the distinctive dress of physicians. Recently, white coat ceremonies have become popular amongst those starting medical school.
A recent study found that the majority of patients prefer their doctors wear white coats, but the majority of doctors prefer other clothing, such as scrubs. The study found that psychiatrists were among the least likely to wear white coats, perhaps in part due to the stereotyping that the pop culture phrase suggests. Some medical doctors view the coats as hot and uncomfortable, and many feel that they spread infection.
Some doctors in institutions such as the Mayo Clinic are instructed to wear business attire, to convey professionalism, as the clinic dislikes the message that white coats represent to the patient.Mayo Clinic article
In Argentina white coats are worn by students and teachers of most public primary schools as a daily uniform.
It is also interesting to note that until the mid 1920's, students who were examining cadavers would wear black lab coats to show respect for the dead. Black lab coats were used in early biomedical and microbiology laboratories because any dust (i.e. contamination) that settled on them was easily visible.
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"White coat"