ArticleJournal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews2026
Patient Preference for Physician Attire in an Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Outpatient Setting.
Article in Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe purpose of this study was to investigate patients' preferences for surgeon attire in sports medicine. We hypothesized that older patients would prefer a white coat with formal business attire and that younger patients, and/or athletes, would prefer attire without a white coat.
methodsA total of 196 questionnaires were distributed to patients at two orthopaedic sports medicine clinics from July 2020 to June 2021. Photographs of male and female physicians were included in the questionnaire, wearing various attires. Patients were asked about the importance of physician's dress, to rate each attire in five categories, and to rank all six outfits based on overall preference and confidence in surgical expertise.
resultsOverall, 65.8% of patients reported that surgeon attire was not important to them. Similarly, respondents ranked white coat with business attire and white coat with scrubs highest in confidence in surgical expertise and overall preference. Athletes were 43% less likely to prefer surgeons wearing a white coat (P = 0.04) and 54% less likely to agree that dress influences happiness with care (P < 0.001). Female patients were 50% less likely to agree that surgeons should wear a white coat than male patients.
conclusionMost patients reported that orthopaedic sports medicine surgeons' dress is not important to them and does not influence confidence in their surgeon. However, many patients preferred physicians wearing a white coat with either business attire or scrubs compared with types of dress without a white coat. Wearing a white coat in an outpatient orthopaedic sports medicine office may improve patient satisfaction and perception.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.