More calls to eliminate the white coat

Mike has posted several times recently on white coats as vectors for the transmission of hospital pathogens.  William W. Motley, a PhD candidate at the NIH and the University of Oxford, has a nice post in the PLoS Medicice blog titled: "Are White Coats Turncoats?"  I suggest you read the full post, but have pasted my favorite sections below:

I realize that gaining the trust of a patient is an important part of effective doctoring and that this uniform helps instill confidence...But I hope that my communication skills (learned in medical school and before) and knowledge will be more effective tools than an infrequently laundered coat.

I think that more medical schools should start welcoming students with a stethoscope ceremony. White coats are superfluous uniforms; stethoscopes are important diagnostic tools. Stethoscopes also symbolize an even better way to gain the trust of a patient: by listening to them, and by listening to the evidence.

I agree, as long as the stethoscopes are cleaned between exams. (insert smiling emoticon)