White Coat Trust and Confidence

We've all heard about "white coat hypertension," but what other effect might formally attired physicians have on patients? Well, a good one...in an article just published in the American Journal of Medicine, the authors found that patients (both female and male) "reported that they were significantly more willing to share their social, sexual, and psychological problems with the physician who is professionally dressed". For a more personal slant on this issue, see the New York Times essay "When Young Doctors Strut Too Much of Their Stuff".