Wow. Stephanie Dancer has written an editorial for the British Medical Journal lashing out at the apparent plague of doctors who, by not wearing neckties, "...intimate a lack of personal hygiene and correspondingly lower standards of hygienic behaviour". She wants all such "scruffiness" to stop immediately, because lack of a tie could "indicate something more sinister".
Several studies (like this and this) have found that neckties carry pathogens, which is hardly surprising as they are a) handled by ungloved hands, b) apt to brush up against contaminated surfaces and c) rarely laundered.
Mike Edmond has disposed of the more incoherent of Dancer's objections and arguments. But it's pretty clear from the spluttering tone of the editorial that it is really all about maintaining status because "Doctors are members of a distinguished profession and should dress accordingly". I suspect that her notion of an ideal patient-doctor relationship would look a bit like this:
No one has ever proved that a patient was infected by a contaminated necktie (or long-sleeve shirt, or lab coat), but ... really? I would think that knowing you are carrying around a contaminated item of clothing would be all the evidence that's needed to make a change. Unless of course your first priority is to look like a TV doctor.
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