title: Patient attitudes toward emergency physician attire.
abstract: Previous studies have suggested that Emergency Department (ED) patient satisfaction is unaffected by physician attire. We conducted a before-and-after trial to test this hypothesis. A convenience sample of ED patients was surveyed during a 2-week period. In the first week, emergency physicians wore white coats and formal attire. In the second week, the same physicians wore scrubs. Patients were asked to indicate on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) their ratings of physician appearance, satisfaction, and professionalism. The primary outcome was the difference in VAS scores between the two dress styles. There were 111 patients surveyed. There were no significant differences between patients' evaluation of appearance (Delta=-.68 mm VAS, 95% confidence interval [CI] -5.5 to 4.1), satisfaction (Delta=.83 mm VAS, 95% CI -3.0 to 4.6), or professionalism (Delta=-.46 mm VAS, 95% CI -3.6 to 2.6) between the two dress styles. Emergency physician attire does not affect patient satisfaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Jacobi Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Siu Fai
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003020:Clothing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations