A S I WAS preparing to deliver my annual lecture to the secondyear medical students, I looked out over the audience and realized that the attendees looked different from those in years past: there were a substantial number of women (compared with 5% in my class); some students were unkempt and slouched, reading nonmedical material (as opposed to the bolt-upright, fearful, and attentive position...

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY Patient preference for their doctor's attire can influence their assessment of the quality of care. Most patients prefer specialists and hospital-based physicians to wear white coats, but evidence from general practitioner (GP) practices is lacking. We aimed to assess patient preference for GPs to wear white coats in Switzerland. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional su...