Nurses wearing white

[rnmaven]

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?

[psalm, RN]

I am glad we have some freedoms with regard to our uniform choices. Can you imagine trying to change the US Army uniform because the green clashes with your complexion? Or no NAVY blue because it is too common...just throwing this in for a chuckle. I wore green most of my life, first at a catholic school and then in the Army...

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

Nurses can look professional without wearing white. White gets dirty too easy. I am sorry, but it just isn't practical in ICU, or any specialty. We have a dress code. All nurses on the ICU and Med Surg wear ceil blue. ER RN's wear navy. CNA's wear burgandy. Clerks aren't allowed to wear scrubs. Dieatary wears navy pants and light blue top. So we can tell who is who.

I am sorry but the color of your clothes dosen't make you a professional. Your attitude and behavior do.

:deadhorse

[aloha551]

My husband just got out of the hospital . He hasen't been an in patient since he was a child. He said that it was difficult to know who was who because of the different scrubs, But every day his nurse and Cna introduced themselves and he said it wasn't a problem after that. He votes yes on different scrubs. He likes the colors,says they are cheerful. One Man's opinion

[CB67]

After being away from the bedside for a few years I was so excited to wear white and be a Nurse again...not all white just top or the pants. I love it.

[Guest296136]

I am a new nurse and my hospital has all RN's wearing navy blue pants and white tops. I am not happy about it, I was looking forward to wearing all the cute scrubs.

Make the transporters wear white, I went into debt to go to school, I want to be comfortable.

[booklmb]

I STILL wear my nursing cap, along with my white dress uniform, lab coat, stockings, and shoes. I work in LTC and am Gerontology certified. I have had nothing but positive reaction(s) regarding my appearance and professionalism from my patients and their families, as well as other employees where I work; with the exception of a couple of nurses who for a while tried to persuade me to wear "scrubs". I absolutely REFUSE to wear anything other than my choice of professional attire. My patients appreciate that I am so easily identified as a NURSE. Many have told me over the course of my career that they find it difficult to recognize who the nurses are, because "Everyone wears the colored uniforms." Very often, the patients and their families have asked me to point out their nurse to them, because they can't identify the nurse themselves, due to the lack of professional nurse attire. My demeanor and profesional appearance instill confidence in my patients and their loved ones. Dress white uniforms along with a well-groomed appearance are a must, in my opinion.

[The Clinician]

i have spent my entire nursing school career wearing white and have always thought i would never wear white. iwork with many rn's who are very old school and four of five days they are in white. i asked one of them one day why and her response was that it made her feel more professional. probably because it was what they always wore.

i think for me, and maybe some of you on here it is not so much the fact that it it white. if they told you that you had to wear navy everyday you would probably complain just the same. i think the issue is that all of us view ourselves as professionals who are able to make choices for ourselves. after all, did you ever see anyone in a law office color coated??

it is not wearing the same color uniform that causes problems, but rather the type of color itself. people color (hispanic and africans) who have dealt with racial inequalities, see the all white uniforms as negative and subliminally insulting.

[The Clinician]

have you taken microbiology yet? doesn't matter if it looks clean; that's just a perception. germs can live just about anywhere.

your past employers probably didn't have you working with infected patients. that's why a lot of hospitals took care of the uniforms--to keep the germs from getting out into the community-at-large via the healthcare workers who had close contact. also, the hospitals might offer this service or a uniform allowance as a perk so they did not have to pay better wages.

you really need to look at nursing history and nursing issues, aag, for a better discussion of nurse's salaries. i assure you, we are not paid what we are worth, partly because most people don't understand (and don't want to know) what we do.

http://www.pef.org/nurses/shortage_of_nurses_spurs_bidding_war.htm

our work is dirty, it's messy, it's dangerous, it's hard. we keep it as clean as possible, but frankly, you might change your tune the first time you've taken care of a gi bleed on golytely for a shift.

whoa there! who said we weren't grateful? who said we didn't look good? what i might have spent on clothing in the business world is spent on keeping up my skills, renewing my license, and furthering my education. it's spent on stethoscopes and workshoes, cleaning products and hand lotion. i don't get a uniform allowance, so i also have to buy uniforms.

you might find the history of nursing uniforms interesting. we did not always wear whites. heck, some nurses still have to wear caps! (yet another "professional-looking" reservoir for germs.... )

http://www.nurses.info/history_uniforms_caps_badges.htm

right. exactly why we need to educate the public about what we do. because all they think of when they hear the word "nurse" is a pillow-fluffing, back-rubbing, bedpan-emptying doctor's handmaiden. wear white and you'll never get rid of the stereotypes.

you have every right to your opinion, but with all due respect, i disagree. i think i look very professional in colors besides white. after all, it's not the uniform that's starting the iv or doing the assessment. it's the hands. and they had better be clean, no matter what color they are.

well counter!

let me add that different color uniforms do send off more positive psychological - subliminal messages than white. pink (harmony & love), blue (healing & spirituality), beige (healing & calm), green (fertility & abundance), black (knowledge & mystery), purple (royalty & power), white (emptiness & restriction), yellow (communication, clarity & memory), orange (energy & vitality), red (anger, sexuality & heat).

[Mom2boysRN]

At my facility depending on your position you have to wear a certain color pants, can tan, nurse white, kitchen is all navy. You can wear any color top as long as it matches. Most nurses hate the white at that time of the month, but I think it's a good compromise and I like that I'm different than everyone else, I have a lot of pride in being a nurse.

[AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP]

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.

I have been wearing the same white scrubs to school two days or more every week for two years and they are just as white as they were the day I got them. I wouldn't mind a uniform color for the staff/units. I mostly dislike prints, especially "cutsie" type.

(didn't realize this thread was 6 years old... oops.)