I am more than half way through my academic journey and am nearing on my final year of clinical rotations, but prior are two more semesters of 24 hour-cram sessions, coffee stains, and 3am study breaks at Waffle House. P3 is rumored to be the toughest year, with the tenth circle of Hell lectures with the likes of Therapeutics (sulfamethoxawhatnow?), Biostatistics (step 1: find the population mean...wait...wait huh), and Physical Assessment (...I'm not touching that).
This past June I completed an introductory hospital practical rotation in clinical pharmacy. All of my prior experience is actually on the hospital side, having many years under my belt as a pharmacy volunteer and technician (with schools loans as high enough as they are, gonna need some beer money!) Still, I learned a lot from my month of free labor, and looked forward to adorning the mandatory white-coat and tie to signify my intern position. So no...my egocentricism doesn't go as far as trying to look like your attending Doc ;)
I always wear my blue OCBD during my official school photos with my lab coat, and carry this in practice. White shirts tend to lead to a "floating head" effect, and light blue is calming against the crispy white. Plus it visually relates to the medical field. Here, I matched the shirt color to the subtle blue accents of the tie and socks.
Lands End Tailored fit OCBD
Brooks Brothers Regent gabardine dress pants
Brooks Brothers Argyle and Sutherland tie, made in USA
Trafalgar Engine Turned Plaque and dark brown Calf belt strap
Brooks Brothers argyle socks
Cole Haan Penny Loafers
Bucherer Dress Watch
It's been hovering in the 90s to 100s plus humidity this entire month. Went with the classic summer look of a pink OCBD and black knit tie combo.
Brooks Brothers Slim fit OCBD, made in USA
Brooks Brothers Clark fit Chinos
TheTieBar.com 2" black knit tie and 1.75" engine turned tie clip
Trafalgar Engine Turned Plaque and dark brown Calf belt strap
Ralph Lauren Bird's Eye socks
Cole Haan Penny Loafers
Seiko 5 Watch
Had fun with this outfit. I tried matching the orange-brown of the deer motif with the belt, shoes, and socks.
Ralph Lauren multi-colored windowpane dress shirt
Ralph Lauren tie
Duck Head fatigue green chinos
LL Bean belt, made in USA
Brooks Brothers argyle socks
Allen Edmonds Westchester Loafers, made in USA
Hamilton Khaki Field Watch
My preceptor and I took a field trip to a community health pharmacy. Sunny and a high of 95 degrees. Time to breakout the seersucker. This was the only time I wore a white shirt, and I added a bowtie to further amplify the PepBoys floating head.
LL Bean OCBD
Mystic Rivers bowtie with school colors
Brooks Brothers Seersucker Pants
Lands End navy blue Surcingle Belt
Cole Haan Saddle Bucks, made in USA
I really like the dark green of the tie with the quiet white dots.
Brooks Brothers light violet sport shirt OCBD
Lands End Tailored fit chinos
Brooks Brothers argyle socks (green to match the tie)
Cole Haan Penny Loafers
Christian Dior Tie, vintage, inherited from my father
TheTiebar engine turned tie bar
Some may argue that health professionals should remain void of personality in their attire, and this rule applies especially to training interns. I can understand the sentiment, but I think if anything, my youth adds to my advantage. I don't intend to appear holier than thou nor pretend like I'm in the 1% (that's definitely laughable!) I simply enjoy clothing as much as you, the reader, and use these opportunities to express my artistry. I believe there is a fine line between elegant creativity and outspoken flamboyancy when in comes to professional dress affairs. For the rightly-so conservative health care field, medium tones of primary colors such as my pants below, "Blueberry", can work if done tastefully, while it would be unacceptable to dress in the louder preppy pastels like Nanny Red chinos or Kelly Green linen, which would be seen as too ostentatious in the patient-focused work setting. For us, the attention should be on the person you are treating, not the other way around. So outfits like above and below represent some of the extremes of where I'd be willing to go without crossing into an offensive state of appearance.
This particular outfit was for my third Friday, and I certainly did not dare to wear something like this the first week. Only when my preceptor and staff got comfortable with me and accustomed to my flâneur clothing did I try something different from the 50 shades of grey. I tried coordinating the blue accents of the tie and socks with the pants.
Brooks Brothers Tattersall OCBD with alternating light brown, dark brown, and blue.
Ralph Lauren Prospect fit Chinos
LL Bean belt, made in USA
Ram The Makers Tie, vintage
Brooks Brothers argyle socks
Allen Edmonds Westchester Loafers, made in USA
Seiko 5 Watch
Many health professionals are forgoing neckwear due to their potential of harboring harmful pathogens. Known as "fomites", many primary caregivers are leaving their ties at home to reduce this chance. This is a just practice, although a necessary evil in terms of tradliness. Thankfully as a hopeful future administrative pharmacist, my career aspirations do not deal greatly with the public (major reason why I didn't want to be a physician: can't handle bodily fluids) so I look forward to increasing my tie collection once I get into the field. And in your local retail drug store setting, it's nice to see your pharmacist in a clean white lab coat and a tie, much like how it was in the good ol' days. Just do me a favor and don't scream at them expecting your meds to be dispensed like fast food!
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