To dress up for doctor’s appointments?

[PollencaCalling]

Really re: classism in medicine!

Unless desperately ill I never go to see a GP/consultant etc without making sure that I’m looking well put together. Of course I’m not talking formal attire - just nice, tidy outfit and good hair/makeup. My opinion is that this way things are taken more seriously, and from experience this has been the case. Spoke about it with a friend earlier who thinks I’m bonkers!

Although it shouldn’t be the case I do think that to some extent I am justified in thinking this. Some doctors certainly do still have a class bias and I have experienced it myself. Took DD to A&E a few years ago and got quite a nasty doctor who implied that she was making it up! Once she took her coat off and revealed a hoodie from her (quite MC grammar school) his opinion of her completely changed and he couldn’t have been more pleasant or helpful. It really bothered me at the time and has stuck with me since

There are all kinds of biases in medicine, these are well-studied, so anecdotes are all very well but they simply mean you were the luckier ones on that occasion. Women are less likely to be diagnosed with a heart attack, as the symptoms are different than for men, and so the opportunity for early intervention is more likely to be missed. Women's pain is also not treated as seriously.

Clothes are not the only marker of class for starters.

I've taken my make up off before going to the doctor's before, in the hope that the more I look like death the more seriously they'll take me

Really? I'm a coalminer's daughter. The OP's experience chimes with mine.

As I said upthread, most doctors have been fine in my experience, but I've encountered some where snobbery was the order of the day.

I had a former pupil who nearly died because her symptoms were dismissed by a GP who assumed that she'd been taking drugs. It was very much a diagnosis based on her family's postcode.

I'm pleased that so many people on here have not encountered a problem, but please do not dismiss the experience of those of us who have.

That's true.

In my area, an ability to speak Standard English rather than the Fife dialect counts for much more than it should. I've had a conversation about this type of bias with friends from a working class Glasgwegian background and they've found much the same.

Absolutely… I had this during labour. As my waters broke at 4am, I went to hospital with no makeup and bed hair, leggings and pyjama top. I was treated like an idiot, wasn’t listened to or respected because obviously I looked super rough. It was awful although I felt more anonymous so perhaps they wouldn’t put a name/face to the ‘down below’ if they saw me in daylight hours looking more made up 😆

I think you make sense. I think about what I am wearing to a school parents eve for similar reasons. I don’t dress up,,but I wouldn’t wear super casual clothes. Doctors am less worried. My Drs are nice and don’t seem judgy..

If your GP or any medical staff for that matter take people more seriously who dress well then they shouldn't be anywhere near the NHS.

You're delusional!

I have done a lot of advocacy work and some of this has been while accompanying vulnerable adults to medical appointments. I have HCP friends who I know treat all of their patients well but what I have seen shocked me because the disparity in care can be huge. Although there to support I always tried to facilitate their efficacy so my middle class credentials weren’t obvious until I spoke up if they couldn’t and if they were badly treated. The switch in tone and care when I intervened was terrifying really.

No. You've been fortunate.

How rude of you to dismiss someone else's experience, simply because it does not chime with yours.

100% this is true, I’ve had multiple visits to the doctor before/after work in my smart clothes with the kids and been treated so much better, things explained to me as an equal who is expected to understand etc, and I’ve also been treated like an over-anxious mother/thick as shit when I’ve turned up in leggings and a jumper. Both have happened a number of times with different doctors, there’s definitely a pattern.

It’s also not delusional to suggest that BAME women get worse maternity care, that non professionals get worse mental health care or that women’s pain is underestimated.

I put on make up before I gave birth. I was worried they'd think I would be a rubbish mother if I didn't look presentable. Seems crazy looking back

I don't dress up for doctors appointments but generally make sure I am tidy and well presented.

I did, however, have to sign on for job seekers allowance years ago when I left university and used to put a suit on for the weekly interviews at the job office.

Part of me wanted them to think that I wasn't not trying and partly because one of the people interviewing me spoke in such a patronising manner to me and asked if I could check a newspaper once a week to look for jobs that I was outraged!

Completely agree OP and I have a relative who is a doctor who told me to dress DC up smartly when we were going to an appointment to discuss their upcoming (big) operation with the consultant.

These things do (still) matter and it doesn't hurt to try to present yourself in the best way possible. In the same vein the doctor relative told us to have some pictures by the bedside of the DC doing normal active child things... so that it wasn't just the "ill DC" that the HCPs saw, but the healthy, active DC who was going to get better.

People may sneer at these things but I'm all for helping yourself as much as you can.

I'm not attacking her experience! I'm saying no medical professional should base their seriousness on what a patient looks like in appearance. If they are judging by how someone dresses then are they judging by race also? As that's part of someone's appearance.

I'd report the doctor 🤷🏼‍♀️

:D

When I graduated, I went to my local Job Centre (in addition to using the uni Careers Service).

A chap in a pinstriped suit spoke to me in carefully modulated Scottish Standard English: "Doo you have any qualifications?"

"Yes..."

"What qualifications dooo yoooou have?"

"An honours degree in Russian Language and Literature."

"Jesus Christ, hen! We cannae dae onthing fur you!"

I agree, I got changed on two occasions.

One was after a car accident, I managed to get a lift home, change out of my Tesco's uniform before vomiting and realising I was in shock and being taken to a&e, I was still happy I wasn't in my Tesco uniform for the stay in a&e and scans etc.

2nd time my waters broke at home and I dashed up had a shower and put on clean clothes to get to the hospital, luckily I was quick as my baby was born 30 minutes later.

I think I just have it drilled into me by my mum,l she made me change pyjamas for an urgent home visit when I was younger, I had a nasty kidney issue, but I recall her tidying around me and brushing my hair!

Whilst I wouldn't 'dress up' or put make up on, I would definitely make sure I was clean and well presented.

As others have alluded to, unconscious bias is a real phenomenon. The impact will vary depending on the doctor in question and other factors but like in many situations in life you will be treated better if you appear to be respectable and well educated.

It’s a well studied bias. Do some reading before calling me delusional.

And even beyond the realms of this thread, subconscious bias, learned and unintentionally learned, plays out in our lives every day.

The only way I can deal with it is to cock a snook at the whole damn thing and have pretty much done so my whole 60+years and whilst sometimes I'm consumed by self doubt, in the end I surmise I've done ok so far - still physically and mentally on point, despite still going solo with caring and bill-paying responsibilities - I'm very pleased I've gone through so much life and still remain unchanged.

Judge me erroneously and it's your loss.

No need to do this at my surgery. GPs are either in scrubs or jeans and shirt.

Oh dear, I am a hospital consultant and have never dressed up when I have gone to see a GP or taken my children to various appointments/A&E. I have also made a point of not telling them my profession but to let them get on with their jobs without influence. I have an inward eye roll if anyone makes a point of telling me they are a lawyer, as if it would make a difference to me - would do my best by them whoever they are.

I really hope that your DC is doing well now. 💐

Some very thoughtful advice from your relative, although hopefully for the vast majority of doctors and HCPs it shouldn’t be necessary in this day and age

I have actually found the opposite. When I wear normal clothes and jewellery etc I have been advised that I can pay privately……

Husband has a chronic illness and recently had an appt for a potential surgery….wait list a bit long….when I asked the surgeon did he operate privately he told me I couldn’t afford it 🤭….we definitely can afford it……totally ridiculous. Although to be fair his attitude did change when I said that we used that hospital a lot….

We cannot write a blank cheque…..but yes can afford a lot of the treatment - but shouldn’t have to pay for it, given the free at the point of service NHS.