Maria, a psychiatry fellow who’s practiced medicine on both coasts, notes some differences between the two breeds of physicians.
For instance, regarding hierarchy, on the East, “Physicians wear one color of scrubs. Nurses wear yet another color of scrubs. Medical technicians wear a different color of scrubs from doctors and nurses. It’s very clear who is who”¦ unlike the uniformly scrubbed people on the West Coast.”
And although, as a whole, East Coast doctors aren’t necessarily meaner, those who are, are noticeably more so. Maria notes that, “these individuals just seem more salty (curmudgeonly, whatever) on the East Coast.”
Also, find out who she thinks dresses more formally, or who communicates in a blunter manner.
Finally, Maria’s all important question: Who respects psychiatrists more?
Read to find out.
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- The man who couldn’t stop laughing
- Why don’t we call doctors by their first name?
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{ 4 comments }
There is also a difference in attitude towards medicine as you move away from the epicenter of medicine, that is New York City.
In New York City there is just overwhelming volume for doctors, nurses and staff that no one has time or patience for common courtesy ingrained into the medical culture.
When I moved north to Buffalo, I was pleasantly surprised by the politeness of the working staff and understanding by the faculty.
When I moved South to the Carolinas, I was joyfully flabbergasted. I still get knitted sweaters and Baked Breads from my patients, Nurses still find me charts and so on.
I think it is not the region but the overwhelming traffic which makes these subtle joys of medicine go away.
Thanks, Kevin, for the link, you East Coast medicine person you.
The epicenter of medicine is Boston – not New York.
As someone who has practiced in 4 states – every place has its own flavor and way of doing things.
Californians, Texans and New Yorkers all have the same physiology but different behaviors. Hospitals in different places are just as different as supermarkets or law firms in different places.
I am in the middle and did a little training on the East Coast. I think that in general the differences in the medical culture reflect the differences in the regional culture. At the time I found the east coast place where I trained was full of hyper-confrontational bullies. I learned that like all bullies you had to take a verbal swing at them to get them to respect you. At the time I thought it was just that department.
Now I deal with docs from both sides who come to the middle–and find Maria’s observations to hold up. Westerners are more live and let live, mid-westerners more judgemental, and northeasterners more ascerbically argumentative.
Those who don’t soon learn to be a little gracious, build relationships, and stop starting every other critical sentence with “You people down here . . .” soon find that everyday life becomes much more inconvenient as everyone they deal with gets more and more “stupid” and passive aggressive. The Carpetbagger Defense System gets activated.
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