more than nursing professionals wearing scrubs

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been more aware lately that there are all sorts of people wearing scrubs.... dietary, housekeeping, and just recently, I noticed the hairdresser at the LTC where I do agency staffing wearing scrubs.

It really bugs me.... I worked long and hard to be an LPN, and feel that if you are NOT in medicine, you should not wear scrubs.

Along those lines.... I would LOVE to see a "color" code.... ie, nursing wears bright prints, lab wears ____, etc.....

what do you think?

Specializes in Geriatrics.

What did me in was when a patient was admitted into my LTC and the family brought in SCRUBS for the patient to wear!!! This patient was never involved in any profession that required scrubs, they just liked them because they were comfy! This really caused problems for my confused patients, they couldn't understand why the "nurse" was ignoring them. Needless to say, management had to step in and demand the family bring in other clothes for the patient.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
what did me in was when a patient was admitted into my ltc and the family brought in scrubs for the patient to wear!!! this patient was never involved in any profession that required scrubs, they just liked them because they were comfy! this really caused problems for my confused patients, they couldn't understand why the "nurse" was ignoring them. needless to say, management had to step in and demand the family bring in other clothes for the patient.

that's just plain wrong!

years ago, i had a job in a major teaching hospital where there was a big problem with the laundry service. considering that most of our patients were on lactulose and incontinent, we went through a lot of patient gowns, pajama bottoms, etc. when we were out, we'd often steal scrubs from the or to put our patients in. one night when the on call room was being painted, our resident had to find somewhere else to sleep.

i did a complete set of vital signs on a young guy in scrubs in room 6, including a rectal temp -- before i realized that we didn't have a patient in room 6. it was the resident. he didn't wake up.

Ruby -

:lol2::lol2::lol2: That is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.

Specializes in Renal, Tele, Med-Surg, LTC, MDS.

There was an issue at a hospital where I worked a couple years ago regarding this... Physicians and staff were having issues figuring out who had what role in codes, who was a nurse and who was just housekeeping looking to see who was coding, etc. This led to a color-coded uniform policy at that facility.

In general I have always cringed inside when seeing registration personnel, secretaries, etc wearing scrubs, though I can totally understand them wanting to feel more comfortable for a 12 hour shift. That being said, I can understand where OP is coming from, as we have all worked hard for our licenses and titles, we want to feel proud to wear those scrubs and be called "Nurse."

Specializes in OB, ER.

I don't care who wears scrubs really. I think your patient will know you are the nurse becasue when you walk in the room you should say "Good morning, my name is ......, I'll be your nurse today."

Our hospital also RN very prominent on our badges and we have white boards in every room where we are supposed to write our name in the nurse spot. There are lots of ways to distinguish the nurse other then uniforms.

Specializes in Telemetry.

At my facility those who come in contact with the patients wear scrubs (nurses, aides, lab, x-ray, special studies, etc...). Dietary and house keeping have their own separate uniforms. Escort wears dark blue tees/polo with the hospital's name on it. We have the white board and I just put my name and the aide's name on it for the patients. More often than not, my patients KNOW that I am the one who gave them their meds and did the assessments.

However, my grandma wears scrubs all the time now that she is in her 80s. She says it's too hard to put on certain clothes and "it's so convenient with the pockets to put stuff in". Now her's are not the kind you can get at the store. My aunt who has been a nurse for 30+ years hand makes my grandma's scrubs. They are well fitted for her and yet still comfy. I gotta admit I love the fall ones she has (she has sets for each season and even sparkly tops for special occasions). She says they are better than a mumu(sp?) or a housecoat.

Just my :twocents:.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

When I went to Wal*Mart last week, I was very surprised to see a hotel maid wearing scrubs. I only know she was a hotel maid because her top was embroidered with the hotel name.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
there was an issue at a hospital where i worked a couple years ago regarding this... physicians and staff were having issues figuring out who had what role in codes, who was a nurse and who was just housekeeping looking to see who was coding, etc. this led to a color-coded uniform policy at that facility.

in general i have always cringed inside when seeing registration personnel, secretaries, etc wearing scrubs, though i can totally understand them wanting to feel more comfortable for a 12 hour shift. that being said, i can understand where op is coming from, as we have all worked hard for our licenses and titles, we want to feel proud to wear those scrubs and be called "nurse."

i have to say i don't understand why physicians and staff were having issues figuring out who had what role in codes. are there a lot of floats or travelers or something? it seems to me that if you've worked with people for more than a few months you ought to both know their names and know their role. color coded scrubs aren't going to fix that sort of ignorance! if it's just that the physicians couldn't be bothered to remember the nurses they work with, someone ought to get them with the program!

Specializes in Renal, Tele, Med-Surg, LTC, MDS.

I think there was a bit of ignorance there, but the main issue was with people hanging out around the area, wearing scrubs, then when you called out or asked for something, the person would turn out to be from housekeeping or transport or some other department that would have no clue what you're talking about, they just want to see the code. For the life of me I have never understood why people always want to come and watch. I don't see it as much in the facility where I am now, except for residents :)

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i think there was a bit of ignorance there, but the main issue was with people hanging out around the area, wearing scrubs, then when you called out or asked for something, the person would turn out to be from housekeeping or transport or some other department that would have no clue what you're talking about, they just want to see the code. for the life of me i have never understood why people always want to come and watch. i don't see it as much in the facility where i am now, except for residents :)

sounds like a traffic control issue -- part of the charge nurse job is to re-direct the "lookeeloos".

First i don't why so many people have issues with other people wearing scrubs. really it's not that big a deal. it really shouldn't be a shock to anyone that people outside a medical setting would want to wear scrubs. they're very comfortable! I wear them to bed, and i've worn them out and about. Now that i work in the clinical field i wear them to work. I didn't go to school and study as hard as i did to wear scrubs, i did it for the job i got. that i get to wear scrubs to work is a awesome, but there's no reason to try to restrict others from wearing them.

color coding scrubs to help patients is a useless gesture. first off patients and their families aren't really likely to even notice the color coordination. they usually have other things to think about then trying to figure out who belongs where based on what color we're wearing. for that you'd need nation wide standardization. so that people would learn that nurses always wear x colored scrubs, lab wears y, and dietary wears z. it's why people can see a police officer or member of the military in uniform and know what they are, because they can regcognize the uniform.

Specializes in Rehab/LTC.

I worked rehab/LTC for 1.5 years. A lot of the time, I would wear a white nurses dress with white pantyhose, white shoes, and even the traditional white nurses cap. The older patients adored it. I got comments all the time how professional I looked. And many of my patients were former nurses themselves and would remark how they had a cap just like mine. Yes, the other nurses thought I was nuts. One 25 year LPN veteran remarked she will never wear white pantyhose again - glad to be in scrubs. She would usually wear white scrubs, however.

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