The effect of white coats and gender on medical students’ perceptions of physicians

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Adam Bass¹  Malika Ladha¹  Kevin McLaughlin¹  Aleem Bharwani¹  Henry T. Stelfox² 

[1] Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, 1403 29th Street NW, T2N 2T9, Calgary, AB, Canada;Departments of Critical Care, Medicine and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada;

关键词: Attire;    Bias;    Gender;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-017-0932-1

 received in 2017-01-12, accepted in 2017-05-18,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDespite the fact that medical schools spend a considerable effort to rate clinical instructors, there is limited evidence regarding the effect of physical characteristics on instructor ratings. White coats have been shown to alter patients’ perceptions of physicians although it has not been determined if preceptors who wear white coats are rated differently than their colleagues.MethodsSecond year medical students were administered a questionnaire with four clinical scenarios depicting medical errors accompanied by a picture of a physician of different sexes and ethnicities. The packages were randomized so that the physicians depicted either had or did not have a white coat.ResultsWhite coats did not alter the perception of physicians’ ratings by medical students although sex and ethnicity/case were associated with the perception of trustworthiness, physician management, competence, professionalism and the perception of medical error.ConclusionsPhysical characteristics may alter students’ ratings of physicians.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017