email article Back in 2002, two Stanford dermatologists published a study in which they sent a questionnaire to a week's worth of patients, asking them their preferences for how medical providers should dress. The study covered relatively new ground. Two of the four references were the 1970s best-sellers Dress for Success and The Woman's Dress for Success Book. The study also uncovered strong preferences: Patients preferred a white coat, dress shoes, and a "traditional" hairstyle, and abhorred sandals, blue jeans, and when men had earrings or "long hair/ponytail." Subsequent studies were more scientific. A 2005 emergency department trial used a "100-mm visual analog scale" and received approval from an Institutional Review Board, which deemed that the outfits in the trial were not heinous enough to put patients at risk.