Yes, we did all that - we had to carry markers to label culture media in containers such as petri dishes and universal containers. You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to lose your labcoat.

I did say we were sloppy.

We were not in contact with any patients and at least in the UK, no-one that is ever wears a white coat these days.

I find it somewhat offensive that I am lying and/or unprofessional about this.

▲ manarth 5 hours ago | parent [-]

    > I find it somewhat offensive that I am lying and/or unprofessional about this.

It's an extraordinary claim, which usually would require extraordinary proof. I've also worked in UK healthcare, albeit in a patient-facing role rather than a back-office or technician role.

The whole process would raise so many questions.

    > "You can easily misplace a notepad, but its hard to lose your labcoat"

Surely if notes were taken on a labcoat, these would then have to be copied into a more permanent form? As you've said, the coats are washed, which makes the coat a very short-term data-storage device.

I have a whole bunch of white t-shirts, and wear a white t-shirt pretty much every day. It's never once occurred to me to write an appointment-time, a phone number, or a shopping-list on my t-shirt.

▲ throwaway173738 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don’t find it hard to believe. I’ve written tons of notes on my arms and hands when working product support. When I briefly framed houses we would do all our math and diagramming on lumber. Either studs in the wall or scraps from the floor. You write on whatever you have handy.

▲ infinitewars 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think it makes sense, notebooks are hard to sterilize.

▲ manarth 5 hours ago | parent [-]

    > notebooks are hard to sterilize

Washing / sterilizing the lab coat has the same effect as erasing the data written on it.

There isn't a library of lab coats which contain notes written on them, for future consultation.

A notepad page is also easier to permanently sterilize (via incineration) than a lab coat.

	▲	NicuCalcea 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The commenter acknowledges this: "I was always impressed that the laundry managed to get them pristine white again." I think it's pretty clear they were taking ephemeral notes, not using them for long-term archiving.
	▲	infinitewars 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The labcoat is a kind of L1 data cache.