Enclothed Cognition

Part of my job here at Medelita is to interact with our customers on Facebook, and it's a very enjoyable part of my day. Through these social media outlets, we can engage our customers directly and place their needs at the forefront of our growth. It's a privilege to be involved with such a community of medical colleagues, experiencing firsthand the positive impact that Medelita has had in their lives.  We're a company that embodies the values of health and wellbeing that you dedicate your lives to promoting, and we love being able to share our culture with the medical community. We know you don't have a lot of spare time in your lives, so we'd be honored if you joined our Facebook community to keep up with the latest Medelita news, share your everyday stories with your colleagues, or provide feedback, directly influencing the next generation of Medelita garments. As a welcome, Medelita is launching its very first Facebook contest. Between June 15th and June 30th, you can enter to win a FREE LAB COAT OF YOUR CHOICE simply by becoming a fan of Medelita. The winner can choose from any one of our Medelita lab coats and Medelita Men's lab coats. If you've been curious about our lab coats but haven't purchased one yet, here is a perfect opportunity to try your first Medelita lab coat. If you already have one of our lab coats, then take advantage of a chance to win an extra favorite lab coat or try one of our other popular styles for the first time. If not for you, perhaps there's a medical professional in your life who deserves the prestige that comes from looking sophisticated and professional? Only one person can win, but everyone who participates in the contest will receive a code for Free Name & Title Embroidery. It's our Thank You for supporting us and continuing to inspire us here at Medelita.

Enter to Win Now

 

When talking in terms of companies or employees, we often label people as 'hard workers'. I've been thinking quite a lot lately about the role that effort plays within the context of work. It's undeniably the most important piece of the puzzle - afterall, without effort, everything else becomes irrelevant. But is effort alone enough to be successful? In my opinion, I think an understanding of expectation is just as crucial. As a company or as an individual, you can spend months tirelessly and painstakingly building a wall of impressive architectural prowess - but if the customer needs or wants a fence, then you have failed to provide a useful service. It could be said that adequate communication can bridge the gap between expectation and delivery, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, it's not always easy. As medical professionals, you are required to develop an intuition in regards to the needs of your patients - especially in situations like Emergency Medicine, where you often simply do not have the time to engage patients in substantial conversation. This intuition, whether you're working in medicine or building fences, usually only comes with time. Medelita is both fortunate and unique as a company in that it was founded by a clinician. Medelita is, in essence, led by a member of our customer base. The unacceptable state of medical apparel was not a market niche that appeared to be a good investment opportunity . . . in every way, it was a deeply personal absence of choice that affected Founder, Lara Manchik, PA-C, for nearly a decade. As a result, Medelita was created with an innate understanding of the needs of its customers. There are dozens of small design features in our lab coats and scrubs that reflect this understanding - and we are the only medical apparel company in the world that has addressed such details. As an example, our lab coats are interlined along the front edges with fusing (similar to a shirt collar) - this prevents them from easily flipping open as you walk. Every stress point on every garment we produce is also reinforced, and every lab coat is designed to provide a built-in range of motion. We've also raised the bottom button to make sure you're comfortable and still professional in your lab coat, even while sitting. These little details are the result of the experiences of our Founder. In the case of Medelita, our efforts as a company have been guided by an accurate understanding of expectation from the very beginning - and it shows, in our outstanding quality and overwhelming customer satisfaction.

I think men got the short end of the gift stick. I find it incredibly easy to buy gifts for other women, whether friends or family, but when it comes to men, it's a lot harder.  Women can appreciate non-essential things...flowers, candles, soaps, anything even remotely pretty, no matter how useless it might actually be.  However, I've noticed that the consumer world isn't as full of useless items for men, probably because men are more practical about possessions (yes, I said it...don't shoot the blogger.) Every man I know already has any electronic gadget he wants, and short of golf-themed paper weights or socks, I'm out of good ideas. With Father's Day rapidly approaching, it's a bad time to be out of ideas, so I thought I would offer a suggestion for those of you with 'medical males' in your lives. If you know a man in the medical profession, chances are that he has a lab coat or a set of scrubs already...but does he like them? Are they his favorite fitted suit or does he give them the same consideration as his socks or pajamas? When the man in your life doesn't need anything, giving him an upgrade - a better, more durable and functional improved version of what he already has - is a surefire way to hit the gift jackpot. Our Medelita Men's lab coats and scrubs are leaps and bounds ahead of anything else on the market. Medelita scrubs are durable, comfortable, and functional, with moisture wicking and bacteriostatic properties - thanks to our  drirelease® with FreshGuard® fabric, and our male customers/colleagues love our products as much as our female customers.

"What I truly love, are the real, honest to goodness scrub pant pockets.  Finally I no longer need to juggle fifteen things in my hands.  And although I probably have an average build for a man my age, I actually don't look like a fire plug when wearing them.  These are well worth the extra money compared to cheap, semi-disposable fabric scrubs sold by others." - Lawrence Herman, MPA, RPA-C, DFAAPA, Huntington, NY

Medelita also offers four distinct lab coat designs for men: the full-length Osler lab coat, the mid-length Laennec lab coat, the Fauchard dental lab coat, and the Fleming consultation lab coat.

"I just received the Osler lab coat and I immediately put it on and went about my rotations. The heft and feel of this coat is exceptional and the quality and design is second to none. Within twenty minutes I had lost count of how many of my colleagues had inquired about where I got it, and had run off to their offices to look it up online. In patient interaction the coat was comfortable and proved on its first day to be completely durable and resistant to fluids and stains. I will definitely be purchasing more of these coats and will likely never wear another. Bravo Medelita, Bravo!" - Michael Vinson, BC-HIS, Santa Fe, NM

Medelita Men’s lab coats are breathable  100% cotton treated with DuPont™ Teflon® fabric protector to resist fluid, soil, and stains - including blood - keeping the coat clean and white with minimal effort required.  Impeccably hand-sewn, like a tailored suit blazer, the fit, functionality, and design features make our lab coats second to none. After all, a man's lab coat is his suit. So if you're searching for a gift because the man in your life has 'everything' - does he have Medelita? Be sure to order soon for Father's Day, especially if you'd like name & title embroidery. At Medelita, we're dedicated to making sure that your gift is the best one he receives.

It was the silence that eventually woke me. A sense, even in sleep, that something was missing . . . something wasn't quite right. There was a moment after my eyes opened, still heavy with the haze of sleep, where I simply stared at the alarm clock and wondered why it was displaying the wrong numbers. Why was that 9 there? And then the panic hit me . . . To me, one of the worst feelings is waking up late. Many of my morning rituals get abandoned in the pursuit of getting to work as soon as possible . . . my makeup routine becomes a 60-second rush.  I wear the first outfit I see.  And I definitely don't stop to get coffee on the way to work. I know how detrimental not looking or feeling up to par can be, and paired with a lingering fatigue, a self-conscious sense of being rushed stays with me for most of the day. It's a rare occurrence for me, but for many of our customers/colleagues, feeling rushed and disheveled is a normal part of their everyday career.  When you're working 10 to 12 or even 24 hour shifts, eating when you can find the time (if the cafeteria is even open), sleeping in a cramped room between beeper calls, and juggling 37 patients at any one moment - the idea of feeling your best seems like an unrealistic fantasy. Physical and emotional fatigue can leave you feeling frumpy and unkempt, yet your dedication to your career, your patients, and the people depending upon you to make decisions, takes absolute precedence over your own comfort. At Medelita, we know that every detail is important. It's our goal to help you by offering fitted, flattering, and functional lab coats and scrubs. Every detail of our garments is designed from the perspective of what will serve YOU. Our fabrics are carefully chosen to repel fluids, soil, stains and odors. Spilled coffee, spattered blood, and intensely hot overhead lights are all top of mind in creating the perfect Medelita fabrics and garments. Our pockets are deep because we know you have a lot to carry, and the pocket stitching is reinforced to prevent tearing.  Why?  Because our Founder, too, has plenty of memories of being reeled in by an unruly stretcher . . . . rrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiippp!!!  We know what is important to you and the garments you wear more than 2,000 hours/year. Medelita strives to produce the best lab coats and scrubs in the world so that you have one less thing to worry about. We know that you don't have a lot of time to fuss over your appearance.  With Medelita garments, you effortlessly look professional and feel comfortable, no matter what your day brings.

Many of us at Medelita are fans of Patagonia. Let My People Go Surfing, by Patagonia Founder, Yvon Chouinard, has served as an inspiration for some of our Medelita policies. The following excerpt is a prime example:

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.

At Medelita, we not only strive to provide the best customer service possible, but we are committed to providing the finest possible quality garment. As a customer, your feedback helps fuel the new generation of Medelita garments. We don't create a garment and then stamp 'DONE' on it...we are always looking for new ways to improve the quality, look, feel, and durability of our lab coats and scrubs. Your Medelita garments are worn more than any other garment in your wardrobe, so we know that it needs to withstand more wear and tear than your average piece of clothing - and we want to make sure that it is the best quality it can possibly be, for as long as possible. Every now and then, though, a button will fall off despite how much effort we put into trying to prevent it. On those rare occasions, we will replace any and all buttons as needed. Not for six months or a year, but for the lifetime of your Medelita garment.

We offer several options for button replacement at no charge, so if you ever lose a button, contact us. Medelita will ensure that your garment is back to looking perfect, sophisticated, and professional as soon as possible.

I have a bad habit of using exclamation marks when I write. Not that I'm a punctuation cheerleader who seems 'about to explode with how awesome what I am saying is!!!!!', but more that I tend to use exclamation points to try and convey something beyond monotony. However, I'm still wrong - redefining the English language to my own whimsy. Wikipedia defines punctuation marks as "symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud." An exclamation mark is supposed to be used to convey an exclamation of strong emotion or volume, and not simply to sound lively or mildly excited.

I'm not alone (or I am, and it's normal to yell on Facebook), but our ancestors never had to rely so extensively on constant communication via the written word. A letter written a century ago would take weeks, if not months, to reach its recipient, and so each word was approached with care and consideration. But now we have the internet. Now we have text messages and emails, twitter updates and blogs . . . we are an age of the written word, even if it does sometimes get woefully mangled by our younger generations. I, for one, refuse to contribute to the mangling, and I'm making a conscious effort to break my habit of misusing exclamation marks.

Conveying the right intonation is not the only challenge that punctuation can present.  At Medelita, we often get questions about punctuation in regards to Name & Title Embroidery.  Typically we recommend having as few punctuation marks as possible, especially when it comes to periods.  Choosing RN or MD instead of R.N. or M.D. makes the embroidery ‘flow’ instead of breaking it up in our opinion.

However, it is a matter of personal preference. We like to say that embroidery is the closest thing to wearing your diploma - you earned it, so it is up to you how you would like it to look. We definitely see plenty of people use periods in their names as well in the title.  We also see the comma eliminated and no punctuation, however, this can make it ‘flow’ a bit too much and not really distinguish between the name and title in our opinion. At Medelita, we ultimately recommend no periods and the comma between the name and title: i.e. Susan Smith, MD - but again, this is ultimately up to you.

Medelita is always happy to discuss embroidery options with you over the phone as well. We are available Monday-Friday 8-5 PM PST at (877) 987-7979.

What happened to exceptional Customer Service? For the past few weeks, I've been dealing with a company that owes me several hundreds of dollars. The latest installment involves them sending the check to the wrong address and then arguing with me about who is wrong (I live here. I know my address). Arguably, it's not entirely their fault because USPS gave them incorrect information. However, when you're owed money or when you pay for a service or product and something goes wrong, it doesn't really matter who is at fault. Especially when you work long hours, you don't have time to jump through hoops or disentangle yourself from red tape...and expecting you to do that is not good customer service. At Medelita, we treat our customers the same way that we ourselves wish to be treated. We pay attention to the details, and we put a great deal of time and effort into making sure that your order is perfect. On those rare occasions when a customer isn't completely happy with their order, Medelita goes above and beyond to rectify the situation. To us, you're not just an order number or a faceless consumer...you're a deserving, accomplished, and professional individual that deserves a level of customer service that exudes respect and a personal  touch.  If you ever have any questions or concerns, please contact us at questions@medelita.com ...we're here to serve you, without the hoops and tape.

At Medelita, we have separate private single-stall bathrooms for men and women (No, I’m not entering a contest for strangest blog intro, I swear). I recently saw a male coworker leaving the women's bathroom, and I had to laugh because the men's bathroom was empty and less than five feet away. "It's nicer!," he said before darting back into his office. I've noticed that some men have a tendency to claim that the little 'luxury' details don't matter...until they discover the difference. My boyfriend buys Irish Spring in a 6-pack and then uses my L'Occitane Shea Butter soap, and I'd bet you know at least one man that secretly swears by Bath & Body Works and prefers high-end hair products (although he'll adamantly deny it). When Medelita was founded, we only offered a women's line of scrubs and lab coats. At the time, we didn't think there was much of a market for a men's line, since the 'unisex' styling was essentially masculine in both design and tradition. Boy, we were wrong! Our Founder always relays a flashback to one of the very first medical conferences (AAD) she attended as an exhibitor.  Anxious about even the female MDs liking and accepting the new Medelita lab coats, she was caught off guard when a very pushy and vocal male dermatologist forged his way through the slew of female MDs happily trying on lab coats, and said, with his fist on the table, “Where’s mine???”  Ok, she realized, so it’s not just women that have been unhappily wearing frumpy lab coats. It didn't take long for more men in the medical world to speak up and demand the same quality of garment. We were flooded with requests for tailored and professional looking lab coats and scrubs designed specifically for men. At Medelita, when the customer speaks, we always listen...and the Medelita Men's line was born. Today, we now offer four distinct lab coat designs for men: the full-length Osler lab coat, the mid-length Laennec lab coat, the Fauchard dental lab coat, and the Fleming consultation lab coat. Medelita Men's lab coats are 100% cotton and impeccably hand-sewn, like a tailored suit blazer.  At Medelita, we devote as much time to perfecting our garments for men as we do for women. The tailoring, fit and design features make our lab coats second to none because, after all, your lab coat is your suit, and you deserve to look your best.

Do you know what I hate? I hate opening the dryer and realizing too late that I forgot to put a fabric softener sheet in with my laundry. I've even been known to throw a sheet in with dry clothes and set the dryer for 15 minutes just to get rid of the static cling. But until recently, like many creature comforts of my modern life, I really never stopped to ask, "How does it work?" In a nutshell, fabric softeners (both liquid and dryer sheets) work by coating the surface of the cloth fibers with a thin layer of film designed to make your clothing feel smoother and prevent buildup of static electricity. Also, they smell nice. In some cases, however, using fabric softener can actually hinder the performance of certain items. Especially with cotton, coating fibers in fabric softener chemicals can reduce the water absorption properties of the fabric. For instance, most all-cotton towels become naturally softer with repeated washings and using fabric softener will  make them less absorbent. Medelita scrubs are made with a very special performance drirelease® cotton fabric with FreshGuard®. What this means is that the fabric itself is moisture-wicking, quick drying, and soft. Drirelease® yarns pull moisture away from the skin and help to regulate skin temperature, minimizing sweat and discomfort.  FreshGuard® is bacteriostatic; it neutralizes and inhibits the growth of bacterial odors. The patented formula is applied at the yarn level, so they are permanent and last the lifetime of the garment. They are also completely environmentally friendly. However, like towels, using fabric softener on your Medelita scrubs can make the fabric less effective. Because fabric softener coats clothing, it can clog the weave of our performance fabric, basically creating a layer between you and the yarn and stopping it from doing all of the amazing things it was designed to do. Because our scrubs fabric dries so quickly, you only need to put them in the dryer for a short amount of time. If you don't have time to dry your scrubs separately, we recommend removing your scrubs from the dryer after 10-15 minutes and then adding a dryer sheet to the rest of the laundry if you want to. This quick and simple adjustment will guarantee that your Medelita scrubs keep you dry, comfortable, and fresh for as long as you own them.

  As a PA-founded company, Medelita has a special place in its heart for Physician Assistants.  As we prepare to attend the Annual AAPA Conference in Las Vegas, I'd like to take a moment to honor a very special PA who has dedicated her life to helping the underserved. It was at her father's side that Margaret Allen learned how compassionate care can make a tremendous difference in the lives of people who need it most. Along with her father's compassion and sense of humor, Margaret inherited a healthy dose of bravery from her mother, who served as a nurse in a London hospital during the Blitz of WWII. With a touch of humor, she recalls the life-changing moment she recognized her calling to become a Physician Assistant. "I turned 40, digging in a bed of collard greens in Chiapas, and realized that I needed more qualifications if I was going to help people in need," Margaret says. "Becoming a PA was the natural route." Twenty years later, Margaret certainly has the qualifications to care for the health of people who have fallen through the cracks. She earned her PA certification from the Stanford University Medical Center Primary Care Associate Program, where she had the unique privilege of meeting Dr. Patch Adams. "His integrity, humor, and take-no-prisoners attitude to the hobbling time constraints placed on medical practitioners was quite inspirational," Margaret recalls of the encounter. She's carried those lessons into her work as a PA and leader in her profession. For the past 17 years, she has been treating the homeless and poverty-stricken with equal parts respect, dignity, and compassion. As the lead clinician at Ravenswood Belle Haven Clinic in East Palo Alto, she has become the only source of regular medical care for people whose lives are in constant flux. "Like so many other health care providers, I sometimes work long hours trying to get services to patients. But in the end, it’s a good feeling to go home at the end of a long day knowing that someone feels better, even happier, as a result of what you have done." In 2009, Margaret was awarded by the AAPA for her Service to the Underserved. We were thrilled to send Margaret a personalized set of Medelita scrubs, which made quite an impression in her clinic. "When working with the underserved, I need to be respectful and unassuming," Margaret says of her Medelita scrub set. "They're perfect for my work as they feel great, wear well, fit nicely, and effortlessly make it look like I have made an effort!"