Nurses wearing white

Nurses General Nursing

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The hospital has decreed that all nurses will wear white in the near future. Despite a petition to administration voicing the opinions of the nurses that overwhelmingly the majority of nurses working at the bedside do not want to wear white, the policy has stood firm and the deadline to change to white is rapidly approaching.

My quesion is......do you think that nurses should be forced to wear white? Do you think nurses should all wear the same uniform?

I finished nursing school in 1977 so I actually wore white uniforms (no scrubs) and a cap. It didn't take long to lose the cap and slowly, the trend to wear colored scrubs evolved.

The thought of wearing white all the time just really turns me off. I find it totally impractical and over time, it will gray and stain and tend to need more frequent replacing.

What do you think?

Oh, darn, I did replied in thewrong area.

To repete, I think our culture has gotten so slack that there is an attempt to return to some form of formality. This profession stands far and apart from others and I have seen the "wearing of the white" being resurrected.

Specializes in CTSICU, SICU, MICU, CCU, Trauma.

May I suggest, I believe we have gotten so slack in our culture that an attempt to return to some form of formality especially in this profession is being tried. I am wearing white for the first time in many years myself. I don't object however. I, also am of the same era as you. I think you have a job far and apart from most and you do stand out from most professions. Just my opinion.

I did receive your reply and agree that most of this movement is an attempt to improve the professional image of nursing. I agree that there are many ways that nurses can improve their professional image. I do not wear Sponge Bob Scrubs but I do prefer the printed tops that have hearts on them because my background is in CCU/CTICU and I always tend to buy alot of heart motif fabrics.

The issue I have with this latest "decree" from the hospital revolves around the process for decision making within the nursing profession. Nursing has historically been the victim of mandates, rules, take it or leave it administrators. That is the problem. If the decision to wear white was an outcome of a panel of nurses working in collaboration with administration then the acceptance of this decision would have been different. That is not the case and continues to be the reason why many nurses leave the hospital setting and move into other areas of the profession or leave the profession altogether. In this situation, administration basically ignored a petition signed by over 150 nurses. This lack of understanding is just a symptom of the autocratic style of leadership that exists within our profession.

Of course if I choose to continue to work at this hospital I will have to wear white. I believe that any other color would also have allowed for a professional image. At another hospital I go to the dress code is Navy scrubs with white tops or actually any combination of Navy/white. However, at that hospital, different departments wear different colors. One morning I heard a visitor waiting for the elevator say.......you would think this place would have a dress code......everyone is wearing different colors! So, as was mentioned by another post, even though WE know what color is for what department.....the public doesn't know our secret codes!

It will be interesting to see how this goes. I guess I'll be buying lots of Oxyclean for my laundry!

Specializes in ER.

If white was so perfect, why did they stop wearing it in the OR?

The hospital has decreed that all nurses will wear white in the near future. Despite a petition to administration voicing the opinions of the nurses that overwhelmingly the majority of nurses working at the bedside do not want to wear white, the policy has stood firm and the deadline to change to white is rapidly approaching.

My quesion is......do you think that nurses should be forced to wear white? Do you think nurses should all wear the same uniform?

I finished nursing school in 1977 so I actually wore white uniforms (no scrubs) and a cap. It didn't take long to lose the cap and slowly, the trend to wear colored scrubs evolved.

The thought of wearing white all the time just really turns me off. I find it totally impractical and over time, it will gray and stain and tend to need more frequent replacing.

What do you think?

White uniforms are the most impractical color for a nurse. Anything and everythings show up on them. The administrators should try wearing white uniforms and see how many marks show up on them in one day alone
Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
The administrators should try wearing white uniforms and see how many marks show up on them in one day alone

Exactly.

White is boring.

Wearing white? Yeah, it sucks! The first time I worked as a nurse in a Psych Facility I wore all white on my first day as a nurse-trainee. As we were being toured around the hospital and introduced to staff, including nurses aides - I was in for a shock. One of the nurses aide said "Oh, so we have a new CNA to work us!" Yup, CNA/NA/Orderly wore white uniforms in the facility. Nurses wore scrubs of any colors as we are forbidden by the admin to wear anything white.

Now, now, now, you forgot the newpaper's crossword puzzle in your list of stuff to do!
Ok, here goes. I wore whites and cap for years...hated them. Blood, puke, and excrement do not wear well especially with white (or any other color for that matter). We now wear scrubs. My colors range from bright print tops with solid pants to muted color uniforms. And believe it or not, I iron them. Horrors!!!

I work ER NIGHT SHIFT and yes we party all night with the drunks and druggies. What more can a person ask? If we get time off from all that partying we even try to catch up on paper work.

Ain't life great????

I absolutely agree with you. Nurses wear a name badge that identifies them as a nurse. I also don't know of any nurses who don't introduce themself as "the nurse" at the beginning of their shift. White is so impractical to wear.

The hospital has decreed that all nurses will wear white in the near future. Despite a petition to administration voicing the opinions of the nurses that overwhelmingly the majority of nurses working at the bedside do not want to wear white, the policy has stood firm and the deadline to change to white is rapidly approaching.

My quesion is......do you think that nurses should be forced to wear white? Do you think nurses should all wear the same uniform?

I finished nursing school in 1977 so I actually wore white uniforms (no scrubs) and a cap. It didn't take long to lose the cap and slowly, the trend to wear colored scrubs evolved.

The thought of wearing white all the time just really turns me off. I find it totally impractical and over time, it will gray and stain and tend to need more frequent replacing.

What do you think?

I absolutely agree with you. Nurses wear a name badge that identifies them as a nurse. I also don't know of any nurses who don't introduce themself as "the nurse" at the beginning of their shift. White is so impractical to wear.

That's what I do. "hi, I'm Jan, and I'll be your nurse for the next 8 (or 12) hrs)

I work at a hospital where each position has their own color scrubs to work - that way not only staff but patients/visitors are able to distinguish caregivers. A poster is in every room that displays who wears what color and describes the position. And yes, nurses wear white. I've worked at this hospital for nearly 8 years now and the nurses have always worn white. I like the idea behind it, but my feelings of an ER nurse weraing white is much worse than most other areas. I have found that most of the white uniforms have a soil release and do keep white for quite a while as long as I use a good detergent (I use Tide with Bleach alternative). Good luck.

Specializes in Critical Care.

Two years ago, a hospital I used to work at did the same thing in 2 units as a trial. They even paid for the uniforms of your choice. Visitors and patients were surveyed about their impressions. The outcome was that the public did not like the white uniforms by a wide margin. The administration said their motivation was to make the nurse more identifiable to the public.

There were "underwear police" roving these units looking to see if your underwear was visible through your white pants, or gasp, perhaps if you were not wearing any inderwear at all.

It was a failure. In the end, staff quit over this, and the free uniforms wwent in the trash. Most of the water in this area is extremely hard and the uniforms soon looked quite dingy on most nurses.

The hospital has decreed that all nurses will wear white in the near future. Despite a petition to administration voicing the opinions of the nurses that overwhelmingly the majority of nurses working at the bedside do not want to wear white, the policy has stood firm and the deadline to change to white is rapidly approaching.

My quesion is......do you think that nurses should be forced to wear white? Do you think nurses should all wear the same uniform?

I finished nursing school in 1977 so I actually wore white uniforms (no scrubs) and a cap. It didn't take long to lose the cap and slowly, the trend to wear colored scrubs evolved.

The thought of wearing white all the time just really turns me off. I find it totally impractical and over time, it will gray and stain and tend to need more frequent replacing.

What do you think?

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