Dr. Howard, one of Clancy’s attending physicians pulled her aside yesterday. Apparently another doctor in the area has taken issue with Clancy’s fashion sense. Actually, Clancy more-or-less sticks to scrubs and the other doc thought that it might be a good idea - since she is about to be a third-year resident - to dress more “professionally.”
This isn’t the first time that this has been an issue. During a rotation in rural Shoshone, she was asked not to wear the scrubs she’s more or less consistently worn since medical school. Part of it is a comfort issue, part of it a money issue, and right now part of it a size issue. Clancy and I are both trying to lose some weight (both of us are “overweight” but neither “obese”) and she is loathe to buy clothes that are bigger than her normal size.
I completely understand where she’s coming from. I’ve more-or-less stuck to size 36-32 pants for the past three years, whether I’m 200 pounds or 230 and have adjusted my pant-height accordingly (as well as, at 230, learning to suck in my gut for however long it takes to get them on). I’ve also declined to move up a shirt size because I want my weight to go down and not my clothes size to go up.
On top of all of this, Clancy is not much of a shopper. I’m actually a bigger shopper than she is. It turns out that Dr. Howard and another that overheard the conversation feel the same way. Something about women in medicine, I suppose. But Dr. Howard volunteered to take Clancy out shopping soon to help her out.
But it could be a good thing. For one thing, going to nicer places will become easier (it’s amazing how easily you can get scrubs to “blend,” but even so. But for another thing, it may help with a problem that she’s pretty consistently run in to. She’s a young, female MD that actually looks younger than she is. Consequently, she is assumed to be a nurse unless otherwise identified (and even then). When she actually wore a characteristic doctor-white coat, people became slightly better about it. Hopefully dressing less comfortably will help, too.
I was actually just discussing that very thing with my mom today. She was asking me if I wanted to ship back all my clothes, esp. the winter ones that may be currently too small. I said that I still wanted to see if I could drop that 25 lbs. that I’ve meaning to before I give up. Grrr… I would agree that scrubs are probably way more comfortable, and I usually think a doctor looks like a stiff jerk without them (though white lab coat is good to tell that it is a doc and not a nurse).
Comment by Becky — May 18, 2005 @ 10:15 pm