Mrs. Grumpy pointed out, and I agree with her, that any medical person can clearly see this isn't a neurologist:
1. He's handsome and studly. We aren't. We are the geeks of medicine. Most people see a neurologist coming, and immediately react with, "Hey is that really a doctor? Hide the children! Call security!"
2. He's clean shaven. Most male neurologists have mastered the perpetual 5:00 shadow look.
3. He's wearing a stethoscope, for Pete's sake. Most of us have one, but it's somewhere in the black bag of pins, hammers, tuning forks, ophthalmoscopes, and other crap we carry around.
4. His shoulders are at equal heights. Usually one is lower from years of carrying the black bag full of crap (see #3, above) everywhere.
5. His tie is done properly. Many male neurologists don't wear them because we've forgotten how to tie them. Those who do wear them usually have botched knots, partially undone, and hanging to one side.
6. Aside from the tie, he's nicely dressed (granted, he could be pantless under the white coat). Except for the neuros at major academic centers (and I think those places dress their docs), most male neurologists have absolutely NO fashion sense. We may understand the complexities of the brain, but have no fucking clue what colors match. And Mrs. Grumpy will tell you it shows. I'm often greeted home at night with "OMG! You wore THAT to work?!!"
Oh don't forget how Neurologists love to wear bow-ties!!!
ReplyDeleteKK in OK
I've never known one who did. Maybe it's regional?
ReplyDeleteNo bowties are for nerdy Philadelphia meterologists named "Hurricane"...
ReplyDeleteMy neuro always wears a tie that looks very nice and he dresses well. However, he is a nerd underneath the trappings and that is fine w/ me.
ReplyDeleteBTW, our local weather man wears a bow tie, too! What's up w/ that?
I like how he's posed with his thumb out of his pocket.
ReplyDeleteThis entire post goes for surgeons too.
ReplyDeleteCadnandnikki- The surgeons I know only wear scrubs, like Dr. Kumar/Ruckman from yesterday.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to pretend, Dr. G. That's you, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteDr Grumpy, you trained after MRI machines were widely available. Old-time neurologits, before the days of MRIs, always wore red ties with stripes spaced about 2" apart.
ReplyDeleteSo, wait...you don't all look like McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy? Bust!
ReplyDeleteMy neurologist wore professionally blue collar long-sleeved shirt and Dockers, but that was in the land of moose-hunters. He piloted his own Cessna to fly to bush clinics, and died in a plane crash over northern Pacific waters.
ReplyDeleteDo we need a Challenge Dr. G Day to Wear Something Out of Expected and Usual to Work Day, maybe a caften or fez or yukata?
Dr. Grumpy wears outfits professionally tailored by Target and Garanimals.
ReplyDeleteI've never flown a plane, but there are some bushes outside my clinic.
I guess I can't be a neurologist because I am just too hot and fashionable. Sigh. Back to the drawing board.
ReplyDeleteHaha. Just kidding.
His name is Dr. Borash (bore-ish?).. I never notice what any of my doctors wear. I'm trying to remember if they even wear white coats?? ties? pants? Maybe I need a neurologist?
ReplyDelete1. OK...even the people I know who wear white lab jackets (myself included), never had them buttoned up like that! It's usually unbuttoned with so much stuff in the pockets that it hangs unevenly...and often I think it's just a way to transport pens, Sanfords, etc to the hospital without needing a bag. The jacket gets left on the back of a chair!
ReplyDelete2. I once had a pretty bad cough at work and the neurologist told me to go home. I shared with my department director and she said, "Oh what does HE know about coughs...he's a neurologist. Get back to work!"
"granted, he could be pantless under the white coat" <--omg, lmao! now I know what to wear if I ever get invited to the 'no pants' party! ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy neurologist, who I truly do like a lot, has been known to wear a t-shirt with a rhinestone outlined Basset Hound on it...
ReplyDeleteHence the reason I went into ER. I only have to decide whether to wear green or blue scrubs or whether to (gasp!) mix and match them!
ReplyDeleteOne day I came right from a function and had no scrubs to change into. The staff was floored.
A couple of my male medical students dress like that. The attendings are more likely to dress in homeless couture. I'm wearing blue jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt right now. My excuse is that it's my office/admin day, but I'm still walking around the health center looking like one of our low-income patients!
ReplyDeleteDr. Laura- Good to have you back. I missed your comments.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't look as if his name is Dr. Baresh either. Google ads has apparently noticed the references to the scrubs catalog; my screen displays an add for a company that sells "High quality chef apparel and hospilaty uniforms." Wonder what those are.
ReplyDeleteSorry, we actually HAVE a neurologist at this hospital that is darned near as good looking as your male model. I know he is looking for a change...maybe that could be his new career! I wish I could attach a picture of our studly doc but it might embarrass him.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all the neurologists and residents at my academic hospital have last names like Patel or Gupta. Like my Indian colleague put it, "Neurology and medicine are Brown Town."
ReplyDeleteI think neurologists carry opthalmoscopes for the same reason other physicians carry stethoscopes. Whilst you use them it gives you time to think about what on earth the blinking diagnosis is.
ReplyDeleteI laughed and thought back to recent encounters with neurologists. One was a White guy with shoulder length hair that was always clean but never combed and the shadow. He wore a courduroy jacket! Generally I've noticed the Gupta/Kumar crowd dress better than White people. Except for White women, but then they are frequently overdone with too much mascara.
ReplyDeleteIf that guy's last name is really "Baresh", I'll eat his stethoscope. Somewhere down the hall, neurologist Dr. Habib Baresh is tied up in a janitors' closet.
ReplyDeleteIn my department there are a multitude of neuro fashion theories/rules/and bow ties...
ReplyDelete1)All residents are required to wear ties and the residency director appreciates it when the attendings do...
2)Bow ties are not uncommon.
3)A friend of mine (self-declared khaki pants) has a theory about how neurologists dress: There are Khaki Pants Neurologists (lucky if they find slightly wrinkled dockers and a shirt and tie that match) and Shiny Pants Neurologists (who are easily identifiable by their ironed and creased and cuffed sometimes shiny pants, starched and laundered shirts and matching ties)... Then there is the guy who wore the short-sleeved under armor mock turtleneck to his fisrt day of clinic...
Dr. G - I am a new reader and can't stop giggling. I need to stop reading your posts at the office!
Huh, that's funny. Maybe it is regional. I am from the West Coast and I have never viewed neuros as geeky - I always kind of saw them as lone wolves. The next time you wear stripes with plaid, just tell folks "I am a lone wolf!"
ReplyDeleteEver since I started reading your blog, I've been scrutinizing our neurology team. Your descriptions made me snort and then spew my water all over the screen because of a) their scary accuracy and b) knowing real life neurologists who match the descriptions exactly!
ReplyDeleteI like the hospilaty smock look, kind a cross between arming for hostile patients and spilling on oneself; high water- (and other liquids-) resistance features, but washes out well in ordinary wash cycle using el cheapo laundry detergent even in cold water, and only needs blotting for ink stains. They are sort of like wearing plastic-coated garments, but better because you just spray the hospilaty aerosol on the way in to the exam room, or at the other side of the counter in the pharmacy shop. It's even better than those disposable outfits that were predicted for widespread garb use in the '60s.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely no pants. You can tell by the thousand yard stare that he is not used to going freebird underneath the coat.
ReplyDeleteIME, there is an inverse relationship between the capability of a neurologist and their "level" of dress. e.g. If you step into the exam room looking more or less like an absent minded professor, my opinion of your intellect and abilities goes *way* up.
ReplyDeleteI actually know a studly neurologist. Really. He's way cute.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I like my men on the nerdy side, so what do I know...
I haven't noticed a pattern of neurologists wearing bowties. Male OB/GYNs, on the other hand....
ReplyDeleteOur Pulmonary doc is the one donning bow ties. The neurologist is rather short and quite friendly. He also owns a few parrots. Same species that I, myself own, come to find out! Relative? Maybe not, but I'll ride with it..
ReplyDelete(I'm new 'round here so I'm just reading old posts)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you mention this because my Neurosurgeon (back issues) and his PA both look like they had a photo shoot for GQ before coming into the office and it un-nerves me. I appreciate and want a doctor who is a little disheveled and "nerdy". I want my surgeon to look more like Einstein than McDreamy. I'm not in anything even remotely resembling good physical shape. When I go in to have back surgery and I know my big white ass is going to be visible to all the world (ok, all the OR) I want a doctor who looks like he's only looking at my discs and really couldn't care less what my butt looks like. I want a doctor that I have to wonder if he even notices physical appearances. I don't want Mr. GQ Smooth, dammit.