Dr. Paul Thomas Releases His New Book Dressing Well in Medicine
Dr. Paul Thomas Releases His New Book Dressing Well in Medicine
This month, Dr. Paul Thomas released his new book, Dressing Well in Medicine. It’s a short guide to help doctors look and feel their best, so that they can best serve their patients and the broader community.
The book cover for Dressing Well in Medicine, which is available on Amazon.
I wrote this book to help doctors and medical students to look and feel their best, so that they can uplift the doctor-patient relationship. For medical students, they are typically transitioning from college or undergraduate studies, to the professional environment of medical school and rotations through outpatient clinics and hospital settings. But, these medical students are not often given guidance on what to wear and what not to wear. There’s little to no discussion on what doctors wear and why it matters in the medical school curriculum!
My goal with this book is to help medical students look and feel mature and confident as they step into their new clinical roles and as they navigate professionalism and wearing professional attire as a physician. Ultimately, this will enhance students’ abilities to build trusting, healing relationships with their patients.
For practicing doctors, Dressing Well in Medicine serves as a reminder or a refresher on how to look and feel your best when taking care of patients, all while taking into account the latest evidence on this subject from peer-reviewed journals. Again, the goal is to foster trusting and healing relationships with doctors and their patients.
Recently, Dr. Thomas was interviewed by Drs. Melissa Cady and Kevin Cuccaro on their show The Changed Physician. The discussion was wide ranging and at some points, intense! Let’s face it - doctors don’t often discuss what doctors wear and why it matters, and there are so many challenging parts of physician attire and appearance that make for great discussion points, and sometimes, flash points. You can catch the full interview, here:
Finally, here’s a robust description of the Dressing Well in Medicine book:
Dressing Well in Medicine is a short guide for dressing well in medical school and beyond. You will need to look like a professional from the beginning of your medical school interview trail, to the whirlwind of clerkships and rotations, through your residency interviews and residency training, and eventually through your day-to-day clinical practice.
Dressing professionally is important because the trust and confidence of your patients depends in large part on your appearance, and professional attire greatly improves your appearance. A smartly-dressed, polished, and tasteful physician inspires confidence - the rumpled, disheveled, or schlubby doctor does not inspire that same confidence.
Therefore, I have written this book to give general guidelines for what to wear in the clinical setting and I believe that you will find it useful no matter where you are in your career.
As a medical student, there was no clear guidance on how to dress for a successful career in medicine. There’s no course in the medical school curriculum dedicated to appearance and demeanor. There’s no opportunity to discuss how our physical presentation as physicians can help us have better interactions with our patients or how our wardrobe choices can improve our chances of landing the residency program of our choice. There’s often not even a lecture on this topic.
I firmly believe that when we physicians dress intentionally, we can uplift the doctor-patient relationship and create the practice environments that enhance this sacred relationship at the level of the clinic, the hospital, and across the healthcare system.
I wanted to start a dialogue with aspiring doctors and practicing physicians about what we wear and why it matters. I truly believe that by dressing well in medicine, we can be our best selves as physicians, community leaders, and as leaders in the healthcare space.
Let this book serve as that missing piece of the curriculum, that crucial conversation on clothing choices and their impact on our patients, colleagues, and broader community.
Thank you for reading and watching!
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC