[HN Gopher] Why Lab Coats Turned White
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Why Lab Coats Turned White
Author : mailyk
Score : 60 points
Date : 2026-03-18 18:16 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.asimov.press)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.asimov.press)
| icapybara wrote:
| So they can see spills easily
| ErroneousBosh wrote:
| "It's just you've got mustard on your... right there, on
| the..."
| hx8 wrote:
| > The real driver of white lab coats was the hygienist movement.
|
| This is a really compelling read with several historical sources,
| with a title that can be answered in a single sentence buried
| deep in the article. I'm a little sad to see such quality writing
| with a title that could be mistaken for a slop blog post.
| the_af wrote:
| Well, you need a hook to get readers to start reading.
|
| And it is an interesting article well worth the time spent
| reading it, so no harm done.
| zabzonk wrote:
| When I worked in the NHS, our coats were far from white because
| we used to write on them, in magic marker, things like specimen
| numbers, doctors and nurses names, phone numbers etc. that we had
| to deal with queries about. I was always impressed that the
| laundry managed to get them pristine white again.
|
| Of course this was just us sloppy men - female techs carried
| useful things like notebooks (paper) and biros.
|
| And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white
| coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms.
| At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.
| manarth wrote:
| > "our coats were white because we used to write on them"
|
| It's hard to tell whether this is a deliberately trolling
| statement, a fantastical Walter Mitty style statement, or
| something else.
|
| Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical staff
| didn't routinely write on their clothes.
| zabzonk wrote:
| > Coats weren't white for anyone to write on, and clinical
| staff didn't routinely write on their clothes.
|
| I wasn't a medic, I was a microbiologist. And I can assure
| you we did write all over them.
| manarth wrote:
| > "I can assure you we did write all over them"
|
| You and your colleagues _deliberately_ chose to carry a
| magic-marker (and no paper), in order to deliberately write
| on your clothes, rather than the more simple expedient of
| paper and pen /pencil?
|
| This seems irrational, inexpedient, and inappropriate for
| anyone delivering any aspect of medical care.
| zabzonk wrote:
| Yes, we did all that - we had to carry markers to label
| culture media in containers such as petri dishes and
| universal containers. You can easily misplace a notepad,
| but its hard to lose your labcoat.
|
| I did say we were sloppy.
|
| We were not in contact with any patients and at least in
| the UK, no-one that is ever wears a white coat these
| days.
|
| I find it somewhat offensive that I am lying and/or
| unprofessional about this.
| manarth wrote:
| > I find it somewhat offensive that I am lying and/or
| unprofessional about this.
|
| It's an extraordinary claim, which usually would require
| extraordinary proof. I've also worked in UK healthcare,
| albeit in a patient-facing role rather than a back-office
| or technician role.
|
| The whole process would raise so many questions.
| > "You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to
| lose your labcoat"
|
| Surely if notes were taken on a labcoat, these would then
| have to be copied into a more permanent form? As you've
| said, the coats are washed, which makes the coat a very
| short-term data-storage device.
|
| I have a whole bunch of white t-shirts, and wear a white
| t-shirt pretty much every day. It's never once occurred
| to me to write an appointment-time, a phone number, or a
| shopping-list on my t-shirt.
| infinitewars wrote:
| I think it makes sense, notebooks are hard to sterilize.
| manarth wrote:
| > notebooks are hard to sterilize
|
| Washing / sterilizing the lab coat has the same effect as
| erasing the data written on it.
|
| There isn't a library of lab coats which contain notes
| written on them, for future consultation.
|
| A notepad page is also easier to permanently sterilize
| (via incineration) than a lab coat.
| infinitewars wrote:
| The labcoat is a kind of L1 data cache.
| NicuCalcea wrote:
| The commenter acknowledges this: "I was always impressed
| that the laundry managed to get them pristine white
| again."
|
| I think it's pretty clear they were taking ephemeral
| notes, not using them for long-term archiving.
| throwaway173738 wrote:
| I don't find it hard to believe. I've written tons of
| notes on my arms and hands when working product support.
| When I briefly framed houses we would do all our math and
| diagramming on lumber. Either studs in the wall or scraps
| from the floor. You write on whatever you have handy.
| manarth wrote:
| NB: The original post said: > "our coats
| were were from white"
|
| Which appeared to be a typo.
|
| The understanding of the original post was "our coats were
| white because", which implied the purpose of the coats being
| white, was to allow them to be written on.
|
| The post was edited to read: > "our coats
| were far from white"
|
| Which has a very different meaning. Still questionable, but
| changes the context from "it was expected that we would write
| on our clothes", to "we wrote on our clothes".
| infinitewars wrote:
| Did you write on them because a notebook could cross
| contaminate while the coats are sterilized safely? Did you wash
| the markers?
|
| I wonder how people handle this now? With IP68 tablets, you can
| probably just dunk the whole thing in alcohol.
|
| (Also thanks for sharing such an interesting anecdote)
| zabzonk wrote:
| No, after a couple of days (or even halfway through a day)
| our lab coats were about as contaminated as could be!
|
| I agree with you about the use of tablets in hospitals
| though. I don't think I ever saw one being sterilised las
| time I was in hospital for a bit.
| OJFord wrote:
| > And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a
| white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses
| uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.
|
| Yeah, they were banned in the name of hygiene (sleeve length)
| not that long ago. 2007 in England & 2014 in Scotland I think.
|
| The BMA has some lingering objection to it from what I
| understand, but since Covid they're all in scrubs anyway. If
| they want prestige and distinction from nurses/PAs it would
| probably make more sense to do differently coloured scrubs, as
| they do in some US TV shows (but not all; no idea about
| reality).
| clort wrote:
| They do this at my local hospital at least. There is a
| plethora of colours for different staff roles. I understand
| this is not consistent across the whole NHS but in general
| the principle is mostly followed. eg, see htt
| ps://www.workwearexpress.com/blog/NHS%20Uniform%20Colour%20Co
| des
| enoint wrote:
| I didn't see maroon on there for anesthesiologists.
| OJFord wrote:
| Oh, interesting. The few hospitals I've been familiar with
| through my wife's working there have all been single colour
| (or slightly different shades with different ages of
| stock!).
|
| I don't think there's a rule about it though, it's just
| what they stock & launder. I don't think they're mandatory
| for doctors at all - my understanding is they pushed to be
| _allowed_ to wear them during the pandemic, at least at the
| hospital she was at at the time, and it just stuck,
| 'nobody' wanted to go back to 'professional clothes' and
| washing them at home, and it'd be hard to enforce once
| you've dropped it I imagine.
|
| Edit: see this doc (2024), seems it's being standardised
| nationally, and there's nothing for doctors at all: https:/
| /azuksappnpdsa01.blob.core.windows.net/datashare/NHS-...
|
| (So what they'll do in practice, no pun intended, when the
| trust moves to this system I have no idea... Keep using the
| old ones washing them at home? Buy Figs etc.? Stop wearing
| scrubs?)
| karlgkk wrote:
| > as they do in some US TV shows
|
| It depends on the hospital and it might also be regional.
|
| At the hospital I go to in California, green is for surgery
| and everyone else seems to be in a free for all. I know they
| reserve dark red for visiting specialists, but the doctors
| and nurses both wear whatever they want.
| mock-possum wrote:
| > Of course this was just us sloppy men - female techs...
|
| What an odd thing to say
| infinitewars wrote:
| The writer is retired and probably in his 70s now, so keep
| that in mind
| manarth wrote:
| I assume you're referring to the HN user zabzonk, rather
| than the article author Donna Vatnick.
|
| The HN user zabzonk's profile description says "Ex C++
| programmer and project manager".
|
| It'd be interesting to understand more about their
| crossover from microbiology into C++ (or vice-versa).
| zabzonk wrote:
| Well, as you ask, I got fed up with dealing with human
| excrement, urine, blood, pus from wounds etc. I was
| developing an interest in computing using things like the
| TRS80, and so decided to switch over. The two
| (microbiology and microcomputers) had nothing in common.
| I quickly started using & programming things like DEC VAX
| & DecSystem10, IBM VM/CMS, Unix in various forms and so
| on. Now (at 72 years old) I'm retired, but do like to
| keep my hand in a little.
|
| My observation about female technicians was in no way
| meant to be derogatory - I had several female managers
| who I liked very much, and I've always admired female
| tech's aseptic technique, and other techniques compared
| with mine.
| fennecbutt wrote:
| I think it's more that it's implicitly derogatory to
| other men. People get annoyed when you speak for them,
| sort of deal.
| arwineap wrote:
| I'm a male, I don't write notes on my clothing, and I
| found the whole comment hilarious
|
| It's possible some folks have thin skin.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| As a lab worker, what the hell? Post-its perhaps?
| saltcured wrote:
| In modern times, as I understand it, there has been a complex
| trade-off.
|
| The environmental impact of that laundry problem has been
| reduced but at the cost of 3M Corporation producing trillions
| of post-it notes that carry such tidbits of information around
| labs instead.
| ashwinnair99 wrote:
| Never thought about this. The kind of question that sounds
| trivial until you actually try to answer it
| dvh wrote:
| Because of chalk?
| xkcd-sucks wrote:
| I'm sure the article is broadly correct but in 3 separate
| academic institutions I've worked for in labs the
| assigned/monogrammed PPE coats were light blue, light red, and
| dark blue. Likewise my father in law's corporate research lab
| coats i've received as castoff gifts have all been light blue or
| dark blue
| nabbed wrote:
| At one point, I worked in the labs division of a big internet
| company, where I was a regular software developer surrounded by
| people with the title "scientist" (basically,
| programmer/statisticians with PhDs who were running engagement
| and revenue experiments on our user base).
|
| In the first group meeting I attended, I jokingly asked why no
| one was wearing a white coat, but my colleagues didn't get the
| reference, so my joke fell down with a thud.
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