Enclothed Cognition

In the advent of Google Plus, I've been reconnecting with old friends - mostly friends from high school and college that I'd lost touch with over the years. The result is that I receive a daily dose of the most eclectic posts you could imagine, from the epic destruction of a video game boss to Star Wars ice cream to baby pictures, book reviews, celebrity gossip, and work stories from a plethora of industries. One of my friend's recent posts was entitled 'You have worked too long in the veterinary industry when . . . ' and it included such tidbits as:

• - You look at a cardboard box and recognize its coffin potential.
• - You go out to a club and the black light comes on, you check yourself for ringworm.
• - All of your pets are either 3 legged, lame, or blind in one eye.
• - You can detect maggots at 100 paces, just by the smell.
• - After seeing what goes in the washing machine at work, your own laundry doesn't seem so dirty.
• - You can play connect the dots with all of your patient-related scars and puncture wounds.
• - Your work clothes look like your pajamas.

I've spared you the graphic ones, but most of them left me with a scrunched nose and a deep appreciation for veterinary professionals who dedicate their lives to ensuring that our beloved pets stay happy, healthy, and strong. As if that wasn't enough, they do it with very little gratitude from their patients. When your patients regularly gift you with more pee than praise, you should at least be well protected. Her last point in particular speaks to the fact that the vast majority of medical professionals are expected to do miraculous things in pajamas - or rather, scrubs that aren't much better than pajamas. However, I'd like to think that we prove that not all scrubs are created equal. I recently received an email from Julie Pearson, a veterinary customer who stated, "Our job can get pretty dirty, when we clean abscesses, wounds, draw blood or get urine samples . . . we also spend a lot of time on our knees doing physical exams on dogs.  Your scrubs are perfect.  Blood stains wash off with cold water.  The colors and the quality of the fabric stay the same, wash after wash.  I have been wearing your scrubs for more than a year, and they get washed every week.  They still look brand new!" I think I'll send my friend a pair of Medelita scrubs for veterinarians in our new Caribbean Blue color. Definitely a far cry from pajamas. I don't think she'll mind taking that one off her "worked too long" list. Perhaps she'll even brag about it on Google Plus.

Like a favorite pair of jeans, it's almost impossible to wear a garment consistently and remain emotionally unattached to it. As women (myself included), we tend to place a great deal of emotional emphasis on our appearance . . . as the fashion and media industries would attest. You wear your lab coat an average of 2000 to 3000 hours a year. The closest thing to wearing your diploma, your lab coat signifies title, prestige and aptitude. It signifies the journey you've taken - your acceptance into the medical or dental program of your choice, and your survival through the years of hard work, long hours, and constant study to graduate and pass your board exams. And at the end, diploma in hand and a brand new title to your name, you are now able to don yourself in a full-length, frumpy, boxy, poor quality lab coat?? It seems a bit illogical, doesn't it? Medelita founder, Lara Manchik, PA-C, definitely thought so. "I couldn't understand why businesswomen and attorneys wear upwards of $2000 suits, and people in medicine are forced to wear something of lesser quality - no better than rigid jail uniforms," explains Lara. When Medelita was founded, the purpose was to introduce uniform choices for women that resembled the traditional unisex style lab coats and scrubs, but were designed to fit and flatter the female figure and still exude professionalism. We also wanted an emphasis on profession-specific functionality, so we chose fabrics that really worked for the wearer. By introducing modern fabric technology, we were able to match the function of the fabric to the needs of those clinicians who wear scrubs and lab coats daily. This solid philosophy behind Medelita – to offer truly high-quality, performance based medical apparel with perfect fit and comfort - continues to be the passionate driving force behind every new development and innovation to our products.  What we didn’t anticipate in those aforementioned priorities was the emotional significance of introducing non-unisex garments that were truly flattering and well received by female clinicians.  Three short years after launching Medelita, we have had the pleasure of watching thousands of female clinician faces completely change from apathetic (about a lab coat) to complete happiness.  Common scenario . . . at a medical or dental conference . . . Medelita rep says “what size do you wear?” . . . female clinician tries it on . . . complete transformation of facial expression to a huge smile. The Medelita rep is typically talking about all the great fit and performance and fluid resistant features of the lab coat, and the woman simply continues to look at the coat in disbelief.  The emotion in their faces, the curve of a smile and the softening of the brow, as an internal monologue begins. "I can’t believe how well this fits" . . .  "Wow, this is really great" . . . "Finally.” At an AVMA conference in Seattle a few years ago, the representative in the booth next to us approached us after the conference to say, "You know, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed being right next to you at this conference. It's been an absolute pleasure. Every single time a woman tries on a garment, they get a huge smile on their face. They feel happy when they try on your coats, and it's been really neat to see that emotional reaction." It's a very special experience to be a part of - to serve people who so greatly deserve to feel good about their professional appearance and be able to offer a garment that allows them that opportunity. "I know our customers have a difficult profession, and it sometimes forces us into a hard exterior. All of that is oftentimes broken down when they try on a lab coat. It's like magic. I miss medicine a great deal, but I have to say that this is rewarding in a different sort of way," says Lara Manchik, PA-C and Founder.

How many items of clothing bear your name? Unless you're really vain or your mother is still labeling everything from your shoes to your underwear, my guess would be very few of your garments proudly state your identity. But - your lab coat should be one of them. At Medelita, we're passionate about perfection, from fabric and fit to finishing details. Our Founder is especially passionate about embroidery, however, and this very well might be the most opinionated interview I've ever done with her.  "I feel like embroidery is the icing on the cake. I talk about it a lot - we work so darn hard to make the garments absolutely perfect – the fabric, fit, durability, stitch detail, packaging, etc.  But truth be told – the very first thing a customer sees when they receive their order is the embroidery.  And I feel really strongly about certain embroidery colors looking better than others, and I’m not afraid to make that known,” says Lara Manchik, PA-C. In the world of medical apparel, choice is rare and we're a company founded on being an exception. When purchasing a Medelita lab coat, you have a plethora of choices to make - from the best style for you to the right size. Embroidery is the last choice, and yet just as important as the first. Many women simply pick the standard colors that they're used to seeing on a unisex lab coat - Black, True Navy, or Hunter Green. There's nothing wrong with those colors at all, but if you have a choice and you're open to suggestions, Lara has some often-overlooked favorites for women's lab coat embroidery. [caption id="attachment_889" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Blossom, Carolina Blue, and Willow"][/caption] Blossom - "Blossom is a subdued pink. I think it looks unbelievable." Carolina Blue - "Carolina Blue is a lighter toned blue that looks nothing short of amazing." Willow - "Willow is a medium muted green. It looks exceptional." These lighter colors are often overlooked as being different or out-of-the-box, but we've chosen all of our standard embroidery colors with the utmost care and consideration. In terms of visibility with embroidery, you have to consider how the thread color reacts on a white garment. All of the stitching on Medelita lab coats is as bright a white as the fabric itself, and when you apply darkly colored thread (such as black or navy) to a white garment, you're making a tremendous change and forcing a very strong visual focus. A lighter color of embroidery stands out equally as well, but is more pleasing to the eye and complimentary to the feminine details of the women’s lab coats. [caption id="attachment_766" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Plum, Cocoa, and Bronze"][/caption] While lighter colored embroidery offers a level of feminine sophistication consistent with the high quality styling of our women's lab coats, it's not always an available option. "Sometimes colleagues are required to wear darker colors, or they specialize in geriatrics and their patients need a starker contrast to see better. For darker colors on a women's coat, I prefer either Plum, Cocoa, or Bronze," says Lara. Since embroidery is the first thing you notice when you open your Medelita package, it better be stunning. Of course you notice the fit and significantly better quality, but your eye gets pulled first in the direction of the only color in a sea of flawless white. It's also the first thing your patients notice. Name & title embroidery can offer a level of comfort and explanation in a rather stressful environment. Who are you? What is your title? What are your qualifications to care for your patients? Name and title embroidery is a sophisticated and beautifully sewn statement of your personal achievement, level of education, and professional aptitude - which is why our Founder feels so strongly about choosing the right color. Next time you're ordering, consider choosing one of these 'Founder Favorites' for your perfect finishing touch. Call us Monday-Friday 8 AM - 5 PM PST at (877) 987-7979 if we could help to guide you any further concerning embroidery.

An old Welsh proverb states, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." While the health claims of the popular fruit have remained strong, the company Apple is doing anything but keeping healthcare professionals away. Gaining momentum throughout the medical industry, iPads are being used for far more than medical news - from diagnostic encyclopedias and electronic medical records to hospital applications and test results. Here is your chance to win an iPad 2!

We will be awarding a 16GB iPad 2 to three winners in the upcoming months. Although conference attendance is not necessary to win, the first two winners of the random drawing will be announced at the American College of Emergency Physicians Scientific Assembly conference in San Francisco, California from October 15th - 18th, 2011. The winner of the third iPad 2 will be announced by Medelita on December 1st, 2011 - allowing that lucky person the opportunity to begin the new year with an advanced tool for success and efficiency. Full contest rules are available at www.medelita.com/ipad2contest

My first day working at Medelita, I was greeted with a growl. After the first few weeks, the pitter patter of paws on the stairs would announce the arrival of Max just before he barreled into my office. He still growled, but the meaning had shifted from "Who are you and why are you in MY territory?" to "Ahem, excuse me, but you stopped petting me and that's unacceptable!" Our offices have since moved, and Dan, our eCommerce Manager, has joined Lara and I in the part of the Medelita office dubbed 'The West Wing'. Thankfully, Dan doesn't growl at me (although he growls at his computer a lot), and I have to say that I often miss that pitter patter of paws. Our canine mascot Max belongs to Sandra, our Production Manager, who admits that she didn't always love dogs. "I never wanted a dog in my entire life. I thought they were dirty, smelly, disgusting . . . just gross. I thought for sure I would definitely get another cat," said Sandra with a laugh. But it's clear to see that Sandra and Max are a match made in doggy heaven, and Max has a sad story with a very happy ending. Max was adopted from a puppy mill, and his tail was docked too short - leaving him with one little spinal nub. A first-time dog owner bought him, and because she was a workaholic, poor Max lived in a cage for 12 - 14 hours a day. Not long after, she decided that having a puppy was too much responsibility, and Max was abandoned at a dog groomers. Luckily, the groomer worked with Hearts for Hounds and decided to take care of Max until a home could be found for him. However, that meant that he was still confined to a cage for most of the day. A friend of Sandra's owned a shop next to the dog groomers, and they offered to watch the four-month-old puppy during the day so that he could run around and play. According to Sandra, "I came walking in to visit my friend, and our eyes met from across the table. I said I would take Max for a week until he could find a home. After a week, I couldn't give him back." We're certainly glad she couldn't, and everyone who meets Max has a tendency to fall instantly in love with him. Sandra has had Max for almost three years now, and he's living the doggy dream. When he's not visiting Medelita with mommy, he's playing with other dogs at Bark! Bark! doggy daycare. He even flies to Seattle for Christmas with the family. Like most dogs, he loves treats and table scraps, but he also has a unique fondness for carrots, tomatoes, pumpkin, string cheese, and salmon. A dog of discerning taste, he doesn't like pretzels, spinach, and popcorn without butter. As the Medelita mascot, Max even has a love of fashion. "He's got a lot of dog collars. He likes to mix it up, and he has a lot of sweaters hand-knit by mommy. His new one says 'Coffee, Tea, or Me' on the back," said Sandra. It's a simple choice in my opinion - as much as I love coffee, nothing is quite as refreshing as a dose of Max in the morning.

2000. It’s how many hours you wear your lab coat every year . . . and it’s how many Facebook fans we’d like to reach. Help us reach our goal, and we'll announce a very special discount to our Facebook fans. We've found that Medelita fans are truly advocates for our growing company. Often, when wearing Medelita garments among colleagues, we've heard that many of our customers get flooded with compliments and questions. "You look great! Where did you get that lab coat?" On Facebook, we can engage our customers directly and place their needs at the forefront of our growth. But Facebook is also a great way for our advocates, who do have a lot of pride in what they're wearing, to easily share Medelita with their friends, family, and colleagues. It's a casual forum where you can share your everyday stories with colleagues, provide feedback, read the latest Medelita news, receive discounts, participate in contests, or simply take a moment away from your stressful day to learn something new and fun. If you're not already a part of the Medelita Facebook family, please join us. If you are, help us spread the word - send us to your friends, family, and colleagues and help us to revolutionize the fashion of medicine.

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.

------------------

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.

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.

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.

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.