New gift options

Everyone knows that the holiday gift giving season is approaching. But if the gift you’re seeking is for someone attending medical school, or a physician you care about, you may not be aware of some new gift options to consider. Some of these options are responses to demographic changes. Some are based on a growing awareness of the message that’s communicated to patients, their families, and fellow medical staff members, by a haggard appearance. But regardless of the motivation behind their creation, the result is a greatly enhanced appearance and first impression for women in medicine.

Female physicians need and deserve better uniform options.

Beginning a few years ago, women, for the first time, began to constitute the majority of applicants to med school. During their training, and later when they begin their practice, these female students, interns, residents, and physicians, will be required to wear either a set of scrubs, a lab coat, or both. The style of scrubs they’ll be expected to wear is different from that worn by nurses. It is a boxy, shapeless style worn by both male and female physicians known as unisex scrubs. And when we say they’re worn by both male and female physicians, we don’t just mean scrubs that look similar – they are literally the exact same garment! Somehow, unisex scrubs are supposed to fit two completely different anatomical shapes. Perhaps men can get by with them, women cannot.

It’s not much different when it comes to lab coats. Most lab coats are made of inexpensive fabrics, with little differentiation between male and female styling. In most cases, the typical lab coat offers no functionality whatsoever. Most are made of fabric so thin you can see right through it.

Innovation and tradition can be compatible.

This past year, innovation has at last been introduced to medical scrubs and lab coats, especially those worn by female physicians. Thinking outside the “box,” pun intended, a few creative uniform companies have emerged with high tech fabrics that are dramatically more comfortable to wear, more functional in numerous ways, and shaped to not only fit the female body, but enhance it. The best of these uniform suppliers accomplish all this while maintaining the traditional look of the unisex scrub set. These designs are so new that many female physicians are just beginning to learn they exist.

Gift certificates make giving them easy.

The best sources for these uniforms have websites that display the beauty of these lab coats and scrubs and describe in detail the numerous features available. A few of the very best even have personalized gift certificates available that allow you to give someone you care about a beautiful lab coat or scrubs while allowing the recipient to choose the style, color, size, and embroidery details exactly as they wish. Whether the recipient is a female physician to be, or a practicing female physician, there are few gifts that will be as appreciated or enjoyed more than these new lab coats and scrubs.