So they can see spills easily

> The real driver of white lab coats was the hygienist movement.

This is a really compelling read with several historical sources, with a title that can be answered in a single sentence buried deep in the article. I'm a little sad to see such quality writing with a title that could be mistaken for a slop blog post.

When I worked in the NHS, our coats were far from white because we used to write on them, in magic marker, things like specimen numbers, doctors and nurses names, phone numbers etc. that we had to deal with queries about. I was always impressed that the laundry managed to get them pristine white again.

Of course this was just us sloppy men - female techs carried useful things like notebooks (paper) and biros.

And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.

    > "our coats were white because we used to write on them"

    > "I can assure you we did write all over them"

Never thought about this. The kind of question that sounds trivial until you actually try to answer it

"Back off man, I'm a scientist."

- Peter Venkman in a non-white coat