When is a blanket wrapped around your shoulders at 4am more than just something to keep you warm?  Everyone who has worked all night resuscitating patients in the ICU, operating on emergencies that can’t wait, or caring for patients on the ward has experienced the chill that accompanies the normal 3-6 am drop in body temperature.

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When we wrap a blanket around our shoulders or reach for a fleece vest to keep warm, in a way it’s just that… something to keep us warm in response to a normal circadian rhythm. But I can’t help but wonder if it might help to look at these garments as more than just a source of warmth.

The word “mantel” is a wonderful, old-fashioned word. It’s defined as “a loose sleeveless garment worn over other clothes”. The blanket over your shoulders when you get cold in the middle of the night is a mantel, as is your (usually Patagonia) vest. Perhaps replacing white coats with these vests isn’t the loss of symbolism we thought – if we can see them as a modern day mantel.

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A mantel is more than just a garment – it is also a symbol of authority and power. This religious text is the source of the idiom “taking up the mantel”, which means to carry on the teachings and the authority of those who have passed on their skills, values, and wisdom to us. 

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The next time you get cold when you are up all night and you zip up your vest or grab a blanket to put over your shoulders, pause for a minute to consider this: We live in a volatile time, where many forces seem to be dismantling systems to the detriment of patients and their healers… if we don’t protect our patients and our trainees, who will?

“The covenant we make is not simply about how we will do a job, it is also about who we will be when we don the mantel of “physician.” It prescribes our conduct, calibrates our moral compass, and entwines both with our identity.” Wendy Dean

I never use AI to write, but I did use it for the banner photo. I’ll always let you know when I do.