In most professions, a person’s attire speaks volumes about their work. And though remote work has left many former office dwellers in less professional garb daily, other professions are still inseparable from their professional “uniforms.”
On that list, doctors are pretty high up with their recognizable white coats – also adorned by medical students. And the reason why these coats are worn is always assumed to be the antiseptic, clean, and sterile nature of a doctor’s work. However, that wasn’t always the case – and the history of physicians’ white coats is more complex and interesting than you might think.
If you want to learn more about how one of the world’s most recognizable symbols of the medical profession came to be – read on!
The History Of White Coats
As a medical student, you might eagerly await your white coat ceremony – and for good reason! It symbolizes your first step into the exciting but difficult world of medicine! However, you might be amazed to learn that this was not always the case.
In fact, before the dawn of the 19th century, doctors were garbed in black – the same as clergymen. Back then – and to a similar extent today – black attire was seen as the most formal way to dress. And seeing as medical encounters have always been viewed as serious, formal affairs, doctors wore the equivalent of today’s tuxedo.
Just like clergymen when they came into contact with their parishioners, the black attire of doctors was meant to symbolize their solemn and serious nature. Some also claim that people did not ask for medical advice from doctors as often as they do today, especially before the industrial revolution and the rise of modern medicine. Back then, medical advice was usually one of the last recourses before death – another explanation for doctors’ black clothes.
In the United States, the white coats worn by today’s doctors became the norm later than you might think. Thomas Eakins, one of America’s most renowned realist painters, treated the subject of medicine in two separate works: The Gross Clinic in 1875 and, a decade and a half later, The Agnew Clinic.
The difference between them was quite stark – while the earlier work depicted doctors in black, solemn suits, the Agnew Clinic portrayed them as neatly dressed, serious professionals in white coats.
Both the surgeon and his assistant were white, and this image was the first to show doctors as particularly sanitary and clean compared to the surrounding laymen. Now, it’s unknown whether this particular painting started the trend or, perhaps more likely, was the first to depict it – but from then on, physicians would start wearing white en masse.
The Symbolism Behind White
It’s worth pointing out that the medical profession was much less rigorous and well-defined before the late 19th century. Hence, history was filled with charlatans and snake-oil salesmen who routinely cheated their way to wealth with bogus cures.
However, as the Victorian era waned and the medical profession became more standardized, white short-sleeved coats became the doctor’s or medical student’s uniform – usually worn over their ordinary clothes.
Among other things, those white cloaks became symbols of a common, standardized practice based on laboratory science – one that stood firmly opposed to many other quasi-medical practices and educational institutions.
The work of late 19th-century physicians quickly spread the values of antisepsis and general cleanliness – laying them as the foundations of modern medicine and the norms we still follow today. Because of this, the white coats also became symbols of purity and medical excellence – only with increased momentum throughout the tumultuous 20th century.
By the middle of World War One, white coats were already standard uniforms for all surgeons. And by the time the next world war ended and antibiotics appeared, the same coats were worn by nurses, doctors, fellows, residents, and medical students across North America and Europe.
White Coat Ceremonies
While white coats are a long-standing tradition, white coat ceremonies are actually a far more recent custom. This rite of passage appeared at medical schools in the 1990s, with the first two appearing at Columbia University and the University of Chicago between 1989 and 1993.
To give the new students a more professional look, the white coat ceremony was created – one in which students would receive their first physician coats. This is also the first time incoming students would publicly recite the famous Hippocratic Oath – before this, the recitation was only performed at graduation.
However, that was in line with Hippocrates’ original concept, in which students recited their oaths once their apprenticeships began. So, the tradition introduced with the white coat ceremony was more in line with the ancient roots of medical science. Soon enough, the ceremony became standard practice all across the country.