Enclothed Cognition

Medical professionals dedicate their careers to serving others, and save lives every day without demanding or ever expecting recognition for the tremendous impact they make on countless lives. At Medelita, we believe that you deserve an appearance consistent with this high level of achievement - and that is our everyday motivation to provide functional, professional medical lab coats and scrubs. It's a motivation founded from personal experience. I was recently speaking with Medelita Founder, Lara Manchik, PA-C about her years as a clinician, and one particular story stood out from our conversation. A 64-year-old man came into the Urgent Care complaining primarily of congestion. Stuffy nose. That’s it. He mentioned in his past medical history that he was a diabetic, and that he had seen his primary doctor within the month with no new or worrisome findings.  EKG was normal. He mentioned that the night before he had some shortness of breath, but that he thought it was related to the congestion.  Rather than dismiss a step based on assumption, Lara followed her instincts and asked the nurse to run an EKG. Her request saved his life, as the man was having a full-blown heart attack with zero chest pain.  As she told the story, our Medelita Founder spoke with an admiring humility. Rather than show pride or boast clinical competence, she just wanted to talk about the letter that the patient wrote to her after recovery, and how she’ll never forget that experience the rest of her life. She seemed to feel very lucky for having the intuition to do an EKG, and the many years of ER experience to think worst-case scenario (she called it a zebra). She has great reason to be proud - as do all of our customers and colleagues. ----------- I think everyone in medicine and dentistry has stories like this.  We’d love to be inspired by yours . . .

I remember laughing, over a decade ago, at an episode of Seinfeld in which George was instrumental in changing the Yankees uniforms from polyester to cotton. The Yankees won their first game in a landslide, and George proclaims, "The uniforms! Did you see how they played? Listen to these comments! Wade Boggs: 'What a fabric! Finally we can breathe.' Luis Palonia: 'Cotton is king.' Paul O'Neill: 'I never dreamed anything could be so soft and fluffy.' " Of course, as with most Seinfeld episodes, yada, yada, yada . . . the plan backfired and the Yankees lost the next game because their uniforms shrank in the laundry. However, fabric has come a long way since 1994. Medelita puts a great deal of thought into our choice of fabrics. Medelita scrubs are made with a high-performance drirelease® with FreshGuard® fabric. What this means is that the fabric itself is moisture-wicking, quick drying, and soft. Drirelease® yarns pull moisture away from the skin and helps 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 the benefits are permanent and last the lifetime of the garment. And the best part – no shrinkage for you! Medelita lab coats are 100% cotton.  We go through various processes to ensure that you can still enjoy the comfort of a breathable cotton lab coat, while not having to worry about noticeable shrinkage.  Medelita lab coat fabric is compacted and pre-shrunk - exposed to hot water and drying during processing.  Medelita lab coat fabric is also treated with High IQ Easy Care Plus to prevent shrinkage and minimize wrinkling.  These three components help to keep Medelita lab coat shrinkage to a maximum of 3% width and 3% length.  These maximum percentages apply to home laundering in hot water and drying on the highest temperature.  If we used a regular cotton fabric, and did not adhere to these additional steps, the shrinkage would be 12% or greater. Medical professionals trying Medelita for the first time often do say things reminiscent of "What a fabric! Finally we can breathe." Unlike the Yankees cotton of years past, however, Medelita garments will never noticeably shrink in the wash, so you can always be comfortable and at the top of your game.

At Medelita, we believe that embroidery is the finest finishing touch that you can add to your lab coat or set of scrubs. Name and title embroidery is a sophisticated and beautifully sewn statement of your personal achievement, level of education, and professional aptitude. One of our favorite sayings here is that embroidery is “the closest thing to wearing your diploma.” We pride ourselves on being a customer service oriented company, and every embroidery and logo request is handled with the personal attention of our Embroidery Liaison, Cindy Hull. Cindy has been with Medelita since the early days of Medelita, and her passion and dedication to perfection is without equal. When an embroidery order is placed, Cindy works extensively with the customer to communicate all details and expectations to David, our embroidery artist. David was the only embroidery artist in Southern California that not only matched but welcomed the “type A” standards of our Founder, Lara Manchik, PA-C. Lara boasts that David is the only Medelita employee that was interviewed only once.  In David’s words, "I won't send it unless I would wear it myself, and unless Lara would consider it perfect." In celebration of our dedicated in-house embroidery team, we're offering our customers and colleagues an End-of-June discount on embroidery and shipping. For the next two days, you will receive Free Name & Title Embroidery and Free Shipping on any order. The more you buy, the more you save.

• Spend $100 - Receive Free Name & Title Embroidery and Free Shipping on any ONE lab coat or set of scrubs. Code: June100
• Spend $200 - Receive Free Name & Title Embroidery and Free Shipping on any TWO lab coats or scrub sets. Code: June200
• Spend $300 - Receive Free Name & Title Embroidery and Free Shipping on any THREE lab coats or scrub sets. Code: June300
• Spend $400 - Receive Free Name & Title Embroidery and Free Shipping on any FOUR lab coats or scrub sets. Code: June400

To discuss logos and group orders, please email contact.us@medelita.com or call 877-987-7979 for concierge service.

With the Fourth of July approaching, I cannot help but to reflect upon the idea of Independence. As human beings, we enjoy measuring the passage of time with markers of achievement - another year lived, a certain age reached, a commitment made, a goal reached. For many of us, our first symbol of independence is a car. I still clearly remember the big red bow wrapped around a shiny blue Pontiac Fiero on my 16th birthday. It was an impossibly impractical, but oh-so-beautiful car that will forever be remembered as my first taste of independence. For many medical students, their first symbol of independence as a practitioner is their first full length lab coat. Over 100 medical schools in the USA now celebrate the occasion with a White Coat Ceremony.  A relatively new tradition in some medical, optometry, dental, chiropractic, physical therapy, podiatric, pharmacy, physician assistant, and veterinary schools, the White Coat Ceremony marks the transition from student to member of the healthcare profession - it is the ceremonial "cloaking" of a doctor-to-be as she or he embarks upon their medical career. The white coat is a universal symbol of the medical profession, and after countless years of study and sacrifice, students beginning their careers deserve to stand proud in their first lab coat. Medelita garments are the perfect choice for a lab coat that will forever be remembered as their first.  Unlike my impractical classic sports car, however, our lab coats are as functional as they are flattering.  Medelita professional lab coats are breathable 100% cotton treated with DuPont™ Advanced Dual Action Teflon® fabric protector to resist fluid, soil, and stains - including blood - keeping the coat clean and white. We also have 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.  Medical students beginning their studies often see their education and role as future physicians as aspiring to be worthy of the long white lab coat . . . At Medelita, we believe that the long white lab coat should be worthy of them.

Did you know that lab coats were originally beige? Prior to the adoption of lab coats in the medical profession, beige lab coats were generally worn by scientists. In the late 19th century, doctors adapted the tradition to symbolize a scientific approach to medicine. However, they changed the color from beige to white. Historically, clerics and caretakers in hospitals wore black robes and physicians dressed in black, which was considered formal and representative of the serious nature of medicine.  The solemn sense of mourning conveyed by the dark clothing was unfortunately appropriate for the majority of patients in a time when being sick enough to require a hospitalization often meant an inevitable death. With advances in medicine in the 20th century, however, hospitals were no longer regarded as houses for dying, but as institutions of healing. The white lab coat, therefore, symbolized not only healing and life, but a new hope in medicine. The word candor is derived from the Latin candidus which means white, and this representation of truth was a visual reminder of the physician's commitment to do no harm, instilling trust and respect in patients. White also conveys cleanliness, an innocence viewed in terms of being absent of infection - a sense of being safe. Angels are almost always depicted in white, and many patients now view the white coat as a "cloak of compassion" - a symbol of the care they expect to receive from their physicians. A garment that symbolizes so much should reflect a certain standard of quality, and at Medelita, we have dedicated ourselves to providing white lab coats worthy of being universal symbols of hope, trust, and compassion.

It was during these summer months in 1908 when the first public Suffragette rallies were held - when women first united to publically demand a voice. I make the occasional private joke about how content I would be as a housewife or a princess, but the reality is that I have a career that I love because of those women that fought on my behalf. And, princess envy aside, I would be furious if my opinion was dismissed based solely on gender. Or if I was married off in exchange for a plot of land. Today, we live in an age of open communication.  The majority of us have voices and platforms for those voices, including Facebook, Twitter, online journals and blogs.  We've become so used to being asked for our opinion nowadays, that actually giving our opinion seems to have lost its importance.  I don't fill out 'how did we do?' cards at stores, and I rarely take the time to go to the web link on my receipt to ‘tell us about our customer service.’  A hundred years ago, most companies (and even the government) wouldn't have really cared what I thought or what I wanted - and now I tend to take opportunities to give my opinion for granted. At Medelita, we are blessed with amazing customers that take the time to tell us how much we've positively affected their daily lives. We're a company that listens - our direction is determined by YOUR voice. Every new set of medical scrubs and lab coats that we introduce is driven by customer and colleague feedback, so each opinion and personal request truly matters to our team. We received an email recently asking us to add new scrub colors to our line-up.  As our new Caribbean Blue scrubs launch this month, we're getting ready to begin the process of developing the next new color . . . and YOU get to decide what that color will be. Please take a minute to choose your top three choices for NEW scrub colors, so we can ensure that we’re adding colors that YOU want.

The number one question we hear at dental conferences is, "Does impression material stain your lab coats?"  I'm proud to say that the answer is no. Impression material is often used to obtain an impression of a patient's teeth and the surrounding oral tissues. A dental impression is created by placing the liquid impression material into the mouth, usually with a tray. As the material hardens, it creates a detailed reproduction. There are a wide variety of impression materials available each with their own properties, advantages and disadvantages, yet all of them are notorious for staining fabric. Medelita lab coats, however, are breathable 100% cotton treated with DuPont™ Advanced Dual Action Teflon® fabric protector, which repels and releases fluid, soil, and stains - including impression material. This ensures that your Medelita lab coat will remain clean and white with very little effort required. At the recent 2011 CDA Conference, Dr. Lam, DDS, asked us if he could put our claims to the test. In his words, "I came here and was very interested in the Medelita fabrics and the lab coats, but what does concern me is a lot of times, in our office, is that we get unwanted stains from impression material." We were happy to oblige his request, and the results are in the video below. Click on the video link to watch the ‘battle’ of impression material versus Medelita lab coats . . . and see for yourself who emerges victorious.

Impression Material vs. Medelita Lab Coats

Keep an eye out for our next upcoming ‘potential stain’ battle: Blood vs. Medelita Lab Coats

We know that lab coats were adopted from scientists, but what is the origin of scrubs?  In the early 1900s, surgical procedures occurred in an operating theater - an amphitheatre with tiered seating that allowed people to watch doctors perform surgery. Unlike the white, formal uniforms long required of nurses, surgeons wore their own clothes well into the 20th century.  Most surgeons actually wore a butcher's apron. And the mark of a successful surgeon seemed to be defined by the quantity of bloody stains on his clothing, from operating with bare hands and non-sterile instruments. In those days, sutures were sold as open strands with reusable needles, and packing gauze came from the floors of cotton mills. The practice of ‘pretending to be a butcher’ by doing surgery for an audience thankfully stopped after the 1940s, when everyone realized that it was both dangerous and distasteful.  Scrubs as an official uniform didn't become popular until the 1970s, though, because they were easier to clean and more hygienic.  The first surgical scrubs were white to emphasize this new standard of cleanliness. However, the bright operating lights in an all-white environment caused eyestrain. So by the 1960s, most hospitals had switched to shades of green to provide visual contrast and make stains appear less obvious.  These green scrubs were originally known as "surgical greens" but came to be called "scrubs" because they were worn primarily in a "scrubbed" (sterile) environment. As far from bloody butcher aprons as you can get, Medelita scrubs are functional, professional, and perfectly matched to the task at hand. Medelita scrubs are made with a high-performance drirelease® with FreshGuard® fabric. This means 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.

We are proud to offer our customers and colleagues the very best in quality and craftsmanship, not just in our own garments but in every product we sell. We originally chose to offer clogs because we wanted to provide a way to complete the professional look - wearing Medelita scrubs or a lab coat with any old shoes felt like it left a piece of the puzzle missing. We chose Sanita® specifically because they're best in class with an impressive and inspiring history.  Denmark has for generations been a clog nation, whose cultural unity is a way of life. In 1907, a visionary and the founder of Sanita®, Christian Meldgaard Andersen, created the first pair of hand carved wooden clogs.  And after 100 years, every clog is still handcrafted in Europe  - with the same tradition of craftsmanship and caring. In addition to their impressive century of history in business, the premium leathers, innovative designs, style, quality, durability, and comfort of Sanita® professional clogs emulate our philosophies at Medelita.  They represent the perfect blend of tradition and innovation that we ourselves strive to embody - offering a modern look infused with color and texture while remaining professional and traditional. Sanita® clogs have been awarded the "Seal of Acceptance" by the APMA (American Podiatric Medical Association) for their supreme quality and comfort. So for those healthcare practitioners on their feet in upwards of 2,000 hours every year, Sanita® professional clogs are a logical addition to your medical wardrobe.

We are grateful to work each day to improve the lives of deserving, accomplished, and professional individuals, and we give every Medelita customer the highest degree of effort and attention. What makes it truly worth it for the Medelita Team are the continual, unsolicited affirmations that we do make a difference. I'm proud to be able to share one of those recent emails.

“Dressing for work means dressing for your company and your responsibilities.  My company has a dress code – scrubs - and with Medelita I have been able to apply my "style" within my company's parameters. We see many patients and it is important to me to consider what they see and how they feel about me.  I always think about putting forth the best possible image when I am consulting and/or treating a patient.  The most important message for me is to draw attention to my profession and not my dress.  I am able to achieve this by wearing your current, professional and flattering scrubs and lab coats.  When I wear Medelita, I am confident - my posture and demeanor reflect this behavior.  I am able to focus on the patient and my work and not worry about my "look".  I am continuously complimented on my scrubs and lab coats.  The fabric, attention to detail and fit are true to size.  Thank you for providing me with an opportunity to be "in style" in my office.” --Charlotte McLachlan RN

We always love to hear feedback about our professional lab coats and high quality scrubs from our customers and colleagues. Feel free to email us at contact.us@medelita.com or call 877.987.779.  We’re here to serve you with respectful, dedicated, and personal customer service.