Enclothed Cognition

We're a company founded on the principles of exceptional customer service, and whether I'm writing it now or a thousand posts from now, I will never tire of repeating that we listen to YOU. Responding to customer and colleague feedback, we recently set out to make a few changes to the design of our Lucy H.T. dental lab coat for women. Here are the recent upgrades: Snaps: We replaced all the buttons on the Lucy H.T. with snaps, as per customer feedback. The Elsie G. lab coat has snaps, and most female dentists and hygienists who wear their coat closed, preferred the snap closure. Raised Lower Snap: We always think about the motion required of the wearer when we design our coats. So we’ve now raised the lowest snap on the coat to the upper hip area - allowing dental professionals to be most comfortable in a seated position, poised for procedures. Chest Pocket: Our dental customers told us that they don't typically use the chest pocket in the original design, so we removed it. This omission allowed for a surprisingly clean, polished, and refined look of this one-of-a-kind dental jacket. Knit Cuffs: In addition to the DuPont™ Advanced Dual Action Teflon® fabric protector already applied to the 100% cotton performance fabric, we added stain technology to the ribbed cuffs, as well. This repel technology by DuPont prevents fluid, soil, and stains (including blood and impression material) from seeping into the fabric, ensuring that your lab coat and your cuffs remain white and clean. Sleeves: Enhancing the ergonomic design of the Lucy H.T. dental lab coat, we introduced additional shaping to the sleeves that replicates a true position of function and prevents any tension at the elbow. This very slight pattern change to the sleeve ensures added comfort during procedures and improved durability long-term. So there you have it - a few small details that make a big difference to the comfort of our customers. As a colleague of Medelita, you should feel as proud as we do - that your valuable feedback has helped us to create another exceptionally thoughtful, flattering, and comfortable lab coat.

I am a small animal veterinarian working at a small animal veterinary hospital. I am trained to care for small animals, aka cats and dogs. Pretty straight forward. However, over the years I have had my fair share of requests very far from small animal medicine. The first one happened years ago, when I was practicing as a solo vet in a small rural town in the East of France. Back in France, where I was born, I could pick up the phone without saying my name and play receptionist. Here in the US, my French accent gives me away after half a second, and here goes the free medical advice for clients all too happy to get a direct line to the doctor! Back in France then, I picked up the phone. "Clinique Veterinaire, Bonjour." "Hello, I would like to cancel Sophie's appointment today because she is having her period." "Oh, ok," I said a little surprised, while trying to locate Sophie on the appointment book. Keep in mind that in rural France it is fairly common to have pets not spayed or neutered. I offered to reschedule even though I could not find any Sophie on the book for today. "And what were we seeing your pet for today?" The client took a second to breathe and shouted, "My pet? What do you mean my pet? That is not a way to talk about your patients! What kind of clinic is this? Sophie was scheduled for her Pap smear of course!" I was not sure how to respond... "Well, I am sorry Madam, we are a clinic, a vet clinic (Clinique Veterinaire)." I found out later that the local OBGYN office had a number pretty similar to ours. I wonder if they ever had calls from our confused clients. I can only imagine a frantic call regarding a patient who had already given birth, in the bedroom closet nonetheless, to six healthy babies with the seventh one being stuck in the birth canal! By Medelita Guest Blogger, Julie Pearson, DVM

As a company originally founded by a female clinician, for female clinicians, it's only natural that a majority of our customers and colleagues are women. As dedicated fans of Medelita, customers often want to continue wearing our garments through their pregnancies, and so we get a lot of requests for maternity scrubs. While we wish wholeheartedly that we could develop a full maternity line, unfortunately being in the early stages of growth as a new company, it isn’t feasible to introduce a new line without a certain level of consumer demand and anticipated volume of sales. However, all is not lost for our loyal and pregnant customers. Medelita founder, Lara Manchik Francisco, PA-C, learned a great deal about comfort during her pregnancy - not very long ago - and offers some insight. "Most clinicians settle for unisex scrubs a few sizes too big and then tie the drawstring over the top of their belly. But it's awkward and can make you feel very self-conscious," said Lara, "At a time when comfort is paramount, it's unfathomable to be in unisex scrubs that are more unattractive than ever before – a tough thing to accomplish." Much to her surprise, Lara found that she was able to wear her Medelita scrubs through month eight of her pregnancy. In addition to designs that naturally accommodate the female figure, our scrubs feature a wide athletic waistband, akin to a pair of lululemon® pants. By wearing incrementally bigger sizes throughout her pregnancy, Lara explained that she was never uncomfortable. By the 8th month, she'd gone up about 2 sizes in both the scrub top and scrub pant. But it wasn't until the 9th month that she stopped feeling comfortable, although she readily admits that really nothing felt ‘comfortable’ in that final month when everything 'popped and dropped'. In addition, Lara found the functionality of Medelita scrubs extremely helpful. As her internal temperatures fluctuated, the moisture-wicking drirelease® fabric kept her dry, fresh, and free of odors. "I was so grateful for that," she said with a chuckle, "It's the little things like that when you're pregnant that make you happy." Sanita® clogs were another of those little things that made all the difference. For our customers, who often spend so much time on their feet even through their pregnancy, a shoe with good arch support and a comfortable fit is essential. According to Lara, "Going up one size was enough for my entire pregnancy. In the last two months, I wore the Sanita clogs every single day. Even to the birthing center, I wore my clogs." If you don't want to pay full price for scrubs that you may only wear for a few months, try our Web Specials. Our Certified Seconds are especially reasonable, as garments with slight fabric or sewing imperfections. These are garments that didn’t meet our own extremely high standards of perfection, but are still garments that could be worn proudly - and are perfect as an option for buying larger sizes to be worn as maternity scrubs.

"Nature makes penicillin; I just found it." Indeed, Alexander Fleming's discovery of Penicillin was a product of serendipitous events, far more than scientific planning and intent. Sir Alexander Fleming was born in 1881 at Lochfield, a farm outside Darvel, a small town in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the third child, with seven other brothers and sisters. He completed his education at Regent Street Polytechnic, in London in 1897, and several years later, he went to St. Mary Hospital to study medicine where he continued to work after graduation. During the First World War in 1914, Fleming joined the British Royal Army Medical Corps to develop a cure to reduce the number of soldiers dying from infected wounds. He argued that antiseptics were not effective in preventing wounds from becoming infected. His argument was, however, rejected and little was done to relieve the suffering of many wounded soldiers. Alexander Fleming was no stranger to chance discoveries. In 1922, Fleming discovered lysozyme when his nose leaked into a petri dish and killed the bacteria he was researching. Fleming concluded that the natural enzyme found in tears and nasal mucus helps the body fight germs. Possibly the luckiest scientist in the history of the world, Fleming's most famous discovery came with a similar story of chance. On a September morning in 1928, Alexander Fleming sat at his work bench at St. Mary's Hospital after having just returned from a vacation with his family. Before he had left on vacation, Fleming had piled a number of his Petri dishes to the side of the bench so that someone else could use his work bench while he was away. Fleming was sorting through the long unattended stacks and placing the contaminated dishes in a tray of Lysol. His work was interrupted by a visit from a former lab assistant, and while complaining about the amount of extra work he had since the assistant's departure, Fleming pulled out several Petri dishes from the tray not yet submerged in the disinfectant. While picking up one particular dish to show the assistant, Fleming noticed that the mold that had grown inside it had killed the bacteria sample. The mold that had contaminated the experiment turned out to contain a powerful antibiotic, penicillin. However, though Fleming was credited with the discovery, it was over a decade before someone else turned penicillin into the miracle drug for the 20th century. We chose to honor Alexander Fleming with our own traditional and professional Medelita Men's Fleming lab coat. With a flattering lapel and collar and functional pockets throughout, the 30" Fleming lab coat is ideal for professionals who wear a consultation-length or student-length lab coat. The Fleming lab coat also boasts breathable, 100% cotton pre-shrunk DuPont™ certified performance fabric that repels fluid, soil, and stains – including blood, while helping to maintain the bright white coat color that signifies prestige and professionalism. A perfect blend of quality and functionality. Learn more about the Fleming lab coat.

When we started a blog here at Medelita, we had one main goal in mind – vibrantly friendly and interesting communication with our unique and engaging audience of medical professionals. I'm glad to announce that we've recently decided to further that goal by inviting new voices from among our customers and colleagues to share their own stories. Our first official Medelita guest blogger is veterinarian, Julie Pearson, DVM. "My mom is a doctor, my dad is not a doctor, he works!" Meet my daughter Claire, 3 years old. Apparently, practicing as a "animal doctor" is not work. And in a way, she is right. Nothing about my profession is routine. Every day is different, I never know what is going to come through the door of our hospital. As many said before me, being a veterinarian is not a job, it is a way of life, and little Claire has already caught on to that. Unfortunately this comes with a price, as all working moms know too well. There are many evenings when Claire is asking for attention while I can not take my mind off the challenging cases of the day. There are many early mornings when I have to pull my sleepy child out of bed to take her to daycare when it is still dark out. However, Claire's days are filled with impromptu visits to our hospital. She gets to cuddle with fluffy rescued kittens, visit with my team members, share drawings with them, read kids stories, and play ball in the waiting room at lunch time. She gets to watch bloody surgeries from the best seat in the OR, on her daddy's shoulders when he visits us. She also loves to assist me in the exam room, sitting on the counter, watching every single step of my physical exam. How many young kids get to do that? Her childhood is different, rich in experiences and memories that I hope she will keep forever. There is nothing I liked more as a kid than following my dad, a general practitioner, for his house calls. Every visit, was different, exciting, unknown. I can tell that so far, Claire enjoys this very much, as she asks almost every evening "Can we go to the clinic?" as I pick her up from daycare.

Our Founder, Lara Manchik, PA-C, has a history of medical missionary work and has instilled the value of contribution and charity into who we are as a company. Recently, we discovered that a customer, Jane Petro, MD, was involved in a non-profit volunteer organization, Healing the Children. Dr. Petro works with Healing the Children Northeast, headquartered in Connecticut. Dedicated to giving care to children in need, Healing the Children provides donated medical, surgical and dental services for children in the United States and abroad. Since 1985, medical professional volunteers have treated more than 33,000 children worldwide. Healing the Children envisions a world where every child has access to medical care. It's a vision that we are all too happy to share, and Medelita was proud to donate several men's and women's lab coats to their cause. Our lab coats will be traveling with the next missionary team to Santa Marta, Columbia at the end of October, where the Facial Plastics & Cleft team of surgeons, doctors, nurses, speech therapists and administrators led by Dr. Manoj T. Abraham will be assisting children and teenagers born with cleft lip palates and other facial deformities. During the week long mission, the team will provide life altering surgery and care to more than 50 children free of charge. If you know of any non-denominational charity or organization in need, please email us at contact.us@medelita.com. We're always happy to donate lab coats or scrubs for a worthy cause.

You spoke, and we listened. As the use of iPads in the medical industry has increased, so have the requests we receive from customers for iPad accessible pockets in our lab coats. In addition to making the paperwork easier, iPads allow doctors to easily bridge the gap between physician and patient understanding - having access to information in a visual format assists physicians with the often challenging task of communicating surgery, anatomy, and advanced medical information with patients.
Currently, we do offer select styles and sizes that fit an iPad 2, as detailed below.

However, we're dedicated to remaining on the cutting edge of the convergence of technology in medicine, and, above all else, committed to meeting the needs of our customers. After several months of designing and testing (and redesigning!), I'm excited to tell you that Medelita will be adding iPad accessible pockets to all sizes of some of our most popular lab coat styles by the end of this year.
I can't stress more that YOU are the reason we've put so much work into redesigning our pockets, without compromising the styles and tailored look that Medelita is known for. We want you to look professional and classy, but we also want our lab coats to meet your needs for functionality. We welcome your feedback, and any questions or comments can be sent to suggestions@medelita.com. Your opinions will greatly influence our future direction as a company.

As I stand on the verge of turning 30, in many ways, there is still a 3-year-old child in my head obsessed with one question: "Why?" That question is why I studied psychology in college, why I love the challenges and mysteries of an ever-evolving marketing career, and why I have an undying love and fascination for history - our past is the answer to so many present day queries of "Why?"

Recently we posted a picture of a 'Dental Caduceus' created by our talented embroidery team, and an enlightened Facebook Fan informed us that it wasn't a Caduceus, but rather a Rod of Asclepius. The discovery caught me by surprise, as the ADA uses the term Caduceus. A little research revealed a widespread and common confusion between the two symbols, leading some websites to claim that they were interchangeable despite having two very different historical meanings - naturally, I wanted to know why, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is more to the story than 'serpent plus staff equals medicine'.

Both symbols have their roots in Greek Mythology, but despite being treated as interchangeable, only one of them is historically accurate as a representation of medicine. The Caduceus, two snakes wound around a staff and often bearing wings, belonged to Hermes, the Greek messenger of the Gods. How he got it is a subject of debate - some sources claim that Apollo gave it to him as a sign of friendship, while others claim it came from a man who made it his mission in life to stop snakes from reproducing by hitting them with a stick (I'm not kidding).

Hermes (or Mercury as the Romans called him) was gifted with a wide variety of associations, from commerce and negotiation, to thievery and death (oops), to alchemy and printing. Its false application to medicine is believed to have originated from a combination of early medical texts bearing the 'printer's caduceus' and the quest of alchemists everywhere (in addition to turning everything into gold) to find a 'panacea' - a cure for all diseases and the secret to immortality.

The mistake was further cemented in North America in 1902, when the US Army medical corps adopted the Caduceus at the insistence of a single officer. A widely viewed symbol, it could be called the first domino in the rapid succession of symbolic confusion throughout the United States.

So what of the Rod of Asclepius, the rightful king of medical symbols? This symbol has an equally fascinating story as well. The rod, a single snake wound around a staff, belonged to Asclepius, the Greek God of medicine and healing. Asclepius, the son of Apollo, had several daughters, including Hygieia ("Hygiene"), Iaso ("Medicine"), Aceso ("Healing"), Aglaea ("Healthy Glow"), and Panacea ("Universal Remedy" - and yet another association to those alchemists and their caduceus). Consequently, Hippocrates was a worshipper of Asclepius, whose priests interpreted the dreams and visions of patients to prescribe an appropriate therapy, kept non-venomous snakes in their shrines and clinics, and used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.

It's also been theorized that the symbol itself stems from a popular method of treating the infection of the parasitic guinea worm, also known as Dracunculus medinensis ("the fiery serpent" or "the dragon of Medina"). The worm, still a widespread problem in some parts of the world, infects a patient by means of contaminated drinking water and then spends a year beneath the skin as it matures and works its way down to the lower extremities - where it creates a wound and a burning sensation, depositing eggs into the water when the foot or leg is submerged to reduce discomfort.

To rid a patient of this parasite, doctors would cut a slit on the patient's skin just in front of the worm's path and then curl it around a stick (and yes, just typing this makes me squeamish). Slowly winding a few millimeters a day until the worm was removed, the process took weeks or even months, and is still a popular method of dealing with guinea worm infections. The illness was so universally common in the past that many doctors would advertise their skill by placing a sign of a worm on a stick on their clinics. Over time, and with the help of the Asclepian priests, the worm became a snake, representing fertility and rebirth due to its ability to shed its skin.

While many organizations have wrongly adopted the caduceus, most medical professionals have remained true to the Rod of Asclepius. In 1992, Walter Friendlander surveyed 242 logos of American organizations relating to health or medicine dating from the late 1970s to early 1980s. He found that 62% of healthcare professionals used the Rod of Asclepius, while 76% of commercial healthcare organizations used the Caduceus. The exception was hospitals, where only 37% used a Rod of Asclepius and 63% for the Caduceus. Friedlander theorized that healthcare professionals are more likely to have a real understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have. I, for one, am grateful that we have such knowledgeable and insightful customers, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to explore the history of this common misconception.

We're grateful to have an extremely vocal customer base. The amount of feedback we receive makes us feel truly special because we know that you care as much as we do about improving our garments and being at the forefront of medical apparel innovation. You're passionate about it, and so are we. What makes us proud is knowing that you're going to wear Medelita garments professionally for the rest of your career, and you have a vested interest in helping us improve. We're a young, clinician owned, and extremely customer-centric company - and we can't succeed without the opinions, suggestions, and excitement of our customers. One of the most recent suggestions we've received was to sew an extra button onto the coat. We're on a mission that I've mentioned before to ensure that our buttons never fall off. Let My People Go Surfing, by Patagonia Founder, Yvon Chouinard, has served as an inspiration: "Let’s take a close look at a loose button and the consequences depending on who happens to discover it. Say the button falls off in your customer’s hand as she pulls the pants out of the washing machine. Your entire company, and your partners, have failed in the grossest possible way. That hard-earned customer will never again fully trust your claim to quality." Over the past year, we've been constantly improving the quality and strength of our buttons, and continue to do so. Our button mission hasn't been perfected yet, but we're gaining ground towards our goal. We're passionate about not allowing those buttons to fall off, and we're working on it every day - searching the world for the perfect solution. We won't stop looking until we find it, and we're doing everything we can to ensure that you never have to worry about losing a button. We currently include an extra button with your purchase, but going forward that button will be sewn inconspicuously onto the inside of the coat - so if you ever need it, you don't have to search for it.

When you give a Medelita lab coat as a gift, you're giving more than an object, more than a simple garment - you're giving the gift of pride and helping to transform an often uncomfortable and shapeless uniform into a source of style and sophistication. But when is a good time to give such a gift? In my opinion, there's no such thing as a bad time to give a great gift, but here are a few suggestions.

1. Holidays
Birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, Father's Day, Mother's Day, even Valentine's Day! Every gift-giving holiday is a good occasion to give the medical professional in your life a lab coat that they will cherish every time they wear it.

2. White Coat Ceremonies
"For many students, dreams of putting on the white coat begin the day they are accepted into medical school. This coat finalizes our hard-fought journey toward gaining admittance as years of constant, rigorous work have finally paid off; all of the pre-requisites of high school, SATs, college, MCATs, AMCAS, and every other acronym you can think of are behind us; and becoming a doctor seems to be in sight at last," said medical student Timothy Dempsey.

What better way to celebrate such a major accomplishment than with a high-quality student length lab coat like the Elizabeth B. or Fleming, that medical students will feel proud to wear? Medelita has a school discount program. Personalized for each participating educational institution, the Medelita School Discount Program offers students in medical fields an opportunity to save up to 40% on lab coats purchased in bulk for White Coat Ceremonies.

3. Graduation
What often distinguishes a student from a practitioner is the length of the lab coat. After all of that hard work, and the long hours of studying and passing board exams, the short white coat can (finally) be replaced by a long white coat. It's a source of pride and accomplishment, and the occasion deserves much more than a poor quality, ill-fitting unisex tent of white fabric. A Medelita full-length lab coat is the perfect way to say "congratulations."

4. Saying Thank You
Doctors change lives, and oftentimes the people whose lives they have changed search for a way to say thank you. If a medical professional has changed or saved your life, or the life of a loved one, a fruit basket can seem like an insufficient way to express your gratitude. If you're looking for an extra special way to say "thank you", there is no better gift than an embroidered lab coat. Worn an average of 2000 to 3000 hours a year, a Medelita lab coat is a beautiful and lasting reminder each day of how grateful you are for the physician in your life. It means a great deal to everyone here at Medelita when we know we're a part of something so special.

5. You Deserve It
Not all gifts have to be bought for someone else. As a physician, you work long and often stressful days. You grab meals between rounds, and you spend your life rushing from one place to the next. Your commitment to others is astounding and admirable, but you rarely take a moment out of giving to others to simply give something back to yourself.

Medelita has taken a great deal of time and care to ensure that the comfort and wellbeing of our customers always comes first. Every Medelita lab coat and set of scrubs is geared towards making you look and feel your very best. Treat yourself to a lab coat that you will love - you deserve it.

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Sometimes giving a lab coat as a gift can a little bit stressful because you have a lot of choices to make - style, size, and embroidery. At Medelita, we're experts at helping people choose the perfect gift. We even offer gift-wrapping option as a finishing touch. Call us Monday-Friday 8 AM – 5 PM PST at (877) 987-7979 and we can help you take care of everything in one easy phone call.