Despite TV image, patients want docs to be well-dressed

CHICAGO -- Despite the casual appearance of their TV counterparts, doctors who want to be hip to patients should dress formally and shun blue jeans, sandals and clogs, a study suggests.

Name badges, white coats and dress shoes are preferable for both male and female doctors, patients said in the study.

"A carefully dressed provider might convey the image that he or she is meticulous and careful," said the researchers, Drs. Matthew Kanzler and David Gorsulowksy, two northern California dermatologists.

The findings, based on 275 patients surveyed in dermatology offices in San Jose and Fremont, Calif., appear in April's Archives of Dermatology.

The informal image of doctors in television shows such as "ER" is "far different from that of past television physicians such as Marcus Welby, MD and Dr. Kildare," but apparently hasn't greatly influenced patients' preferences for their own doctors' appearances, the researchers said.

In an Archives editorial, Dr. W. Mitchell Sams Jr. of Charlottesville, Va., said that while society is entering an "age of casualness," the findings echo those of similar surveys conducted two decades ago.

Professional appearance helps instill a sense of trust, and patients expect doctors to convey professionalism, Sams said.