Enclothed Cognition

In April, we introduced Complimentary Shipping on orders over $100. Lab coats. Scrub sets. Clogs. Any combination of items in your cart over $100 automatically earns UPS ground shipping free of charge.

Now, in addition to complimentary ground shipping for any location within the continental U.S., all orders over $200 (before taxes, coupons, gift certificates, or store credit) also automatically receive Complimentary Name & Title Embroidery. Name & Title embroidery turns a professional lab coat or scrub set into a personal statement of accomplishment and prestige.

We offer similar promotions at the numerous medical conferences we attend throughout the year, but we felt that extending this automated service online was the best way to show appreciation to all Medelita customers and colleagues, in person or not. No coupons. No fuss. Just easy ordering and the best service we can give.

Call 877.987.7979 between 8a – 5p PST, email contact.us@medelita.com, or choose the live chat option at www.medelita.com if we can assist you in placing a new order, a re-order, or in answering any of your questions. We welcome the chance to assist you personally.

I work with with thirty-three different attendings. Who want patients managed, needles held, stitches thrown, lacerations repaired, knots tied thirty-three different ways. It was part of the learning curve, at first, learning which attending liked what, remembering who to call about different problems and learning to not be upset when I didn't remember who preferred what. And now, I'm starting to develop what I like. Many attendings have offered me pearls, on patient management and surgical skills, and I'm starting to develop a framework of what I want to do, what I think works well. And this is even more frustrating, because then I end up with someone new, who doesn't like the way I am doing something, and makes me do it a way that doesn't feel natural, or right. And really, no one is very wrong, but it means I am never right. It's like how some people say "toMAYto" and some say "toMAHto." No one is actually right, and everyone insists that they are. Here are some examples: Yesterday in the OR, an attending showed me a way to reload my needle without touching it with my fingers. Use the pickups, inch it out, and regrasp it in a way that it was ready to throw the next stitch. Better technique, he explained, it would allow me to avoid needlesticks and was a more sophisticated surgical technique. I practice, and look forward to my next c-section, where I can practice it again on a real patient. I start, expecting the attending to be impressed or at least not say anything, but she yanks the needle out of my hand and shows me how to do it....exactly like I used to. I pick up the needle, reload it using my fingers, and silently curse this frustration. An attending that puts me on the stool in front of the mother. She does this under the assumption that this is a good position for me to deliver the baby, but I have figured out the real reason. She puts me on the stool, then waits for the crucial moment when the baby is about the deliver, then rolls me out of the way and delivers the baby herself. Antibiotics. Some give antibiotics for GBS+ mothers at the beginning of inductions, and some only when they are actively laboring. The downside to the first option is a mother can receive fifteen doses of a medication that burns their veins and is unnecessary for that long. Alternatively, a mother can labor quickly and not get enough of a dose in and end up with a baby in observation in the NICU for 48 hours. So, I started to ask each attending, when would you like the pencillin started? They couldn't believe I was asking this, like I didn't know. Then, I would ask with one option offered, would you like this when they are in active labor? Some people then thought I was correct, and some thought I was an idiot. So, no matter what I think or what I would do, I look stupid at least half of the time, just trying to please everyone. I am fairly ambidextrous, and can operate either right or left-handed. Some think this makes me versatile, and encourage maintaining both. Others yell at me to pick a side and stick with it. Now I don't know which side to stand on. Likewise, I can clamp and cut cords after delivery lefthanded. Usually I hold the baby in my right arm, tucking baby's feet under the crook of my elbow, and clamp and cut lefthanded. I don't know why I do this. It just feels right, to hold the baby securely in my more dominant arm, and use my left hand for the instruments. But, attendings sometimes ask me if I'm right or left handed, and when I tell them right-handed but better with fine motor skills with my left (due to violin training, I think), they frustratedly instruct me that I should only be managing scissors around a newborn with my dominant hand. Again, I'm not sure which that is. There are probably infinite variations on how to do one surgery, one delivery, and that's what I'm learning. Even though I've never had a bad surgical outcome, somehow I am always wrong with how I do it. I'm trying to take the best of everyone's suggestions (ie yelled orders), and compile it into my own technique, but starting to realize that it will be awhile before I can really employ what I think is best. And I can't say I wouldn't be the same later, after a career's worth of doing what I decided is best...I'd probably want to hand my hard-earned knowledge along too. But it's frustrating now. I think I'll go sit down on the roll-ey stool and practice reloading my needle. Medelita Guest Blogger: Dr. Anne Kennard. Anne is an OB/GYN resident in Phoenix. She has kept a collection of writings about medicine/becoming a doctor since her second year of medical school, and we're honored to welcome her as a guest blogger for Medelita.

We’d like your help. And this is simple – should take 5 minutes – and with a great return on investment. 1. decide on your favorite Medelita garment 2. wear it to work 3. find a well-lit spot without a ton of background noise 4. ask someone to take a video with your iPhone (or similar) 5. introduce yourself (name & title) in beginning of video 6. state what you are wearing 7. then say what you’d like to say – see below for ideas/topics 8. send it to angela@medelita.com OR post it on our FB page 9. if we select your video for our web site, you get a lab coat or scrub set + embroidery – FREE We have quite a few videos scattered throughout our site currently, all taken at medical and dental conferences. As we’ve grown, those opportunities (to pull out our video camera at a conference) have become nearly impossible, as we are (gratefully) too busy at the booth. We know that testimonials from colleagues wearing Medelita garments are extremely helpful to those new to our brand, and new to the quality, functionality and performance of Medelita. We’d love to share more of what you have to say. The video should be no longer than 30 seconds and shot in a landscape (horizontal) frame. Make sure the lighting is bright and we can hear/understand what you are saying. Simply tell us about anything you’d like related to your favorite Medelita lab coat or scrubs. Your first impression. How it compares to traditional lab coats/scrubs that you’ve owned. What makes them unique. Feedback you hear from colleagues/patients. How you feel wearing it. Durability experiences. Spill experiences (blood, coffee, etc.). It’s your choice what to send us. We will choose videos based on sincerity, interest, honesty and what we think your colleagues might be most intrigued to hear. Medelita garments are still a very new concept to most, and best explained clinician to clinician. If we choose to include your video on our web site (www.medelita.com), we will be happy to send you either the garment that you wore in the video, or another of your choice – as a COMPLIMENTARY gift of appreciation, including free name & title embroidery. The contest ends May 31st, so please submit your video soon either by posting it on our Facebook page OR emailing it directly to angela@medelita.com. Other important items of mention: you can enter as many times as you would like. We might choose more than one entry that a single person submits – in that case they would receive one free garment for every video incorporated into our web site. If you have a case for a tremendous group effort or group video – everyone receives a free garment (if selected). There is no limit to how many videos we may choose. Please be tasteful in your submissions. If quantities are limited in certain garments, you may need to choose another. Questions? Please email angela@medelita.com

As the mummified corpses in museums across the world can attest, the art of bandaging dates at least as far back as Ancient Egypt. Throughout history, bandages were primarily made of linen, and one story even claims that the Roman Emperor Trajan tore up his own toga when bandages ran short on the battlefield. For centuries, rags from clothing or even remnants from factories were used to dress injuries, with little regard for matters of sterilization. By the turn of the 20th century, that philosophy had changed, and the first American-made tensor bandage was developed by Oscar O. R. Schwidetzky in 1918. The bandage was named the ACE™ Bandage. ACE stands for "All Cotton Elastic," and much like our own recent lab coat naming contest, the name ACE was selected after a nationwide contest that offered physicians $200 for coming up with the best name for the new bandage. One advantage to the ACE bandage is that the knit allows the fabric to breathe naturally. Unlike its predecessors, the ACE bandage allows air to circulate, improving their use. Ace has now been a trusted brand in elastic bandages for nearly 100 years.

Blood. I'm certain many of you are all too familiar with the life-giving fluid that flows through our veins, and seeing it in abundance is very rarely a good thing. However, blood banks are an exception - a very vital and necessary exception. The 'creator' of the first blood bank is a subject of debate, yet most evidence points to the Russian Dr. Sergei Yudin. In 1930, Yudin organized the world's first blood bank at the Nikolay Sklifosovskiy Institute, and by the end of the decade, the Soviet Union had set up a system of at least sixty-five large blood centers and more than 500 subsidiary ones, all storing "canned" blood. America was not without its contributions, however. Decades earlier in 1915, Richard Lewison, MD of Mount Sinai Hospital initiated the use of sodium citrate as an anticoagulant, transforming blood transfusions from direct (vein-to-vein) to indirect - setting the stage for the future establishment of blood banks. Two years later, the introduction of a citrate-glucose solution by Francis Peyton Rous, MD and JR Turner, MD allowed blood to be stored in containers for several days, and allowed for the first "blood depot" to be created in Britain during World War I. Bernard Fantus, MD copied the Soviet model in 1937, establishing the first hospital blood bank in the United States. Fantus coined the term "blood bank", and within a few years, small hospital and community blood banks had opened across the country. In 1939, Charles R. Drew, MD discovered that plasma could be stored far longer than whole blood. Revolutionizing transfusion and blood storage techniques, Drew developed the first large-scale blood banks early in World War II. His model became the foundation for the Red Cross' system of blood banks, of which Dr. Charles R. Drew became the first director.

"I have striven to obtain education, at every sacrifice and every hazard, and to apply such education to the good of our common country." Standing against centuries of discrimination, James McCune Smith, MD was the first African American to earn a medical degree and run a U.S. pharmacy. Smith was born in 1813 in New York City to a "self-emancipated woman" who had earned her freedom from slavery. Sharing his mother's determination, James McCune Smith, MD applied to the University of Glasgow in Scotland, after being denied admission to Columbia University and Geneva Medical College due to his race. Smith was admitted and moved overseas. He received his medical degree in 1837, graduating at the top of his class. During his practice of 25 years, Smith was also the first African American to have articles published in American medical journals. A staunch abolitionist, he was active in the American Anti-Slavery Society, and he helped Frederick Douglas to establish the National Council of Colored People in the 1850s as one of the first national organizations to work on racial issues. As a member of the Committee of Thirteen, Smith helped to rally against the Fugitive Slave Act that required states to aid federal law enforcement in the capturing of escaped slaves. The Committee also aided fugitive slaves, connecting them to the Underground Railroad - much of which was orchestrated from the back rooms of his pharmacy. Dr. James McCune Smith died on November 17, 1865 of congestive heart failure at the age of 52. Nineteen days later, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery throughout the country.

Having been born and raised in England, I can attest to the fact that we British folk love our vowels, i.e. colour, honour, catalogue, and dialogue. When my family moved to the United States, I was an exceptionally confused seventh grader - with zero cultural American knowledge, a very different vocabulary, a skirt that was far longer than anyone else's, and an accent that made it impossible to be a wallflower. Luckily for me, I escaped grade school unscathed, and I learned very quickly that there are some general rules concerning the differences between British English and American English. One such rule governs the oft-puzzling interchangeability of Orthopedic vs. Orthopaedic. Many words are written with ae/æ or oe/œ in British English, but a single e in American English, such as paediatric, anaemia, anaesthesia, and orthopaedic. Curiously, however, The American Orthopaedic Association uses the British form rather than the American. Orthopaedic is thus considered appropriate for more formal usage than the American spelling. As to the origin of the word itself, Nicholas Andry is credited with coining the word in 1741. Derived from Greek words for "correct" or "straight" ("orthos") and "child" ("paidion"), it was included in the title of Andry's book, Orthopaedia: or the Art of Correcting and Preventing Deformities in Children.

Did you know that pus was once used extensively for vaccinations? We often take for granted how convenient our lives can be in this modern age. A vaccination, for example, is little more these days than the prick of a needle. Imagine for a moment, however, that in order to receive a flu vaccination, your skin was cut open and the snot of a nearby flu-ridden patient was rubbed into the wound. I'll give you a second to shudder - I know I did, but that is exactly how vaccines were administered back in the days of Edward Anthony Jenner - the father of immunology. Said to have saved more lives than any other man, Edward Anthony Jenner (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist from Berkeley, Gloucestershire, who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine. In the 18th century, smallpox was considered to be the most deadly and persistent human pathogenic disease. The main treatment involved scratching the vein of a healthy person and pressing a small amount of pus, taken from a smallpox pustule, into the wound. The risk of the treatment (and try not to be -too- surprised by this) was that the patient often contracted smallpox and died. In 1788, when an outbreak of smallpox swept through his town, Jenner observed that his patients who worked with cattle, such as milkmaids and farmers, didn't seem to contract smallpox. Investigating further, he discovered that those patients had all, at one time, suffered from a much milder disease called cowpox. In an experiment that would today be considered grievously unethical, Jenner used an eight year old boy named James Phipps to test his new theory. James was the son of Jenner's gardener, and I personally hope that poor Phipps, Sr. got an extensive raise for his willingness to cooperate with such an unreasonably risky request from his employer. Whatever his reasons, Mr. Phipps agreed, and after making two cuts in James’ arm, Jenner infected the boy with pus scraped from the cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom (whose hide now hangs on the wall of the St George's medical school library). The boy had a slight fever for a few days, but recovered swiftly. A few weeks later, Jenner repeated the process using smallpox pus, and the incredibly lucky James Phipps remained healthy. Thus Jenner’s vaccination treatment for smallpox was born. In 1979, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease. However, before you get too comfortable, some smallpox pus samples still remain in laboratories in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia and State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Russia.

As you probably already know, the popular phrase ‘knee-jerk reaction’ has its roots in medicine. Before the convenience of technology and diagnostic imaging, medical professionals often needed to ascertain what was happening internally by examining external clues. The stethoscope was one of the first tools developed to assist in this process, and the reflex hammer followed shortly after. Reflexes first came into the spotlight in the early 1800s, when research by Marshall Hall established that blinking, sneezing and vomiting were reflexes controlled by the human nervous system. Later, in 1875, two physicians, Heinrich Erb and Carl Friedrich Otto Westphal, published papers on the clinical utility of the muscle stretch reflex - specifically the patellar or “knee-jerk” reflex. These papers sparked widespread research, and smooth muscle reflexes became a vital part of neurological exams. As they incorporated this new field of study into their practices, many physicians used a tool that they already carried with them: a percussion hammer - a tool used to examine the chest. However, the design proved to be less than perfect in its new application, and other physicians found resourceful ways to incorporate entirely different tools. In the 1880's, William Gowers coined the phrase "myotatic reflex" for the knee-jerk reflex, and he recommended striking the patellar tendon with the rubber edge of the end of a stethoscope. Alluding to far more unorthodox methods, Bernhard Berliner is quoted as having said "it is not very elegant to percuss the knee or achilles tendon with a paper weight, the edge of a large electrode, the foot of a laboratory stand, a table lamp, or similar devices." Luckily for stethoscopes, table lamps, and patients' knees, the first official reflex hammer was designed in 1888 by neurologist John Madison Taylor. Taylor was working as the personal assistant to Silas Weir Mitchell at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Disease, and his design featured the triangular rubber head that is frequently seen today. John Madison Taylor's reflex hammer was exhibited at the 1888 meeting of the Philadelphia Neurological Society. The minutes from the meeting described the invention as “a cone flattened on the opposite side, with apex and base carefully beveled or rounded, of about the thickness throughout of the human index finger. … The special feature of this hammer is that the shape of the striking surface is like the outer surface of the extended hand, palm downward, which is more often used in obtaining tendon jerk.” The Taylor hammer was subsequently praised and popularized by many of the founding fathers of American neurology, including Mitchell, who used it in his neurological assessments of Civil War veterans, and Charles Mills, who considered it “the best hammer for tapping the much-abused patellar ligament.” It was later incorporated into the original logo of the American Academy of Neurology.

Grey is often considered the color of intellect, knowledge, and wisdom. It is perceived as classic, sleek and refined. It is a color that is dignified, conservative, and carries authority. The human eye can distinguish about 500 shades of grey, so, for us, the task of designing grey scrubs was far more than simple. As with all of our products, a great deal of thought was given to choosing our next scrub color - and then choosing the exact shade of that color. In our research and your responses to surveys, grey was the top color consistently requested among both men and women. We were very careful in our color selection, choosing a shade that has depth and is flattering on all skin tones. It's also our first scrub set to feature similar contrast trim across genders - with women's grey scrubs being a light blue tone and men's grey scrubs a slightly darker blue. Suffice to say, we're very excited about this newest addition to our product line, and we'd love to share a little bit of that excitement with you. To celebrate the launch of our new Grey scrubs, this week is officially a Grey Scrubs Giveaway! We'll be giving away a set of new grey scrubs EVERY DAY (Monday - Friday) on Facebook. All you have to do to enter is like or comment on the Scrub Set post of the day, and you'll have a chance to win a FREE set of our new grey scrubs. Be sure to check back with us on Facebook every day to take advantage of this opportunity.