Nursing Uniform-Solved Here?

[flowerchild]

Hello everybody!

I have been thinking about the nursing debates on uniforms for a couple of years, and I have an idea. I know everyone won't like it, but I think it is a compromise. I know it won't work in places that dictate what we wear unless changes are implemented.

The problem:

Nurses have no way of deferentiating themselves from other occupations who wear the same exact clothing.

Nurses receive, in general, more respect and compliments when they are wearing traditional type nursing uniforms.

The one symbol that set us apart from the maids and others was the nursing cap, which is no longer practical in most areas of practice.

Patients are confused and often ask non nurses for nursing advice b/c "they all look the same." Unfortunatly, there are plenty of people who wear scrubs, who are not nurses but are always ready to give out advice. PLACING PATIENTS AT RISK. (not yelling, just making it stand out on the page)

Nurses want their own identity, style, and uniqueness and, will never agree on one style.

The possible answer:

Taking the color choice from the English nurses to provide consistancy as well as tradition and b/c it is one of the most popular colors picked by people as a favorite.

To make nurses stand out from all other occupations, to increase patient safety, to maintain our own styles, to wear or to not wear the cap will be the same-personal preferance, we could wear:

dark blue bottoms, white top, dark blue or lighter blue jacket prn.

Pedi nurses could sew on some cute things for the kids to wear even. You could wear your cap, if you choose.

If we all wore the same colors, implemented policy at work that no others can wear those colors and that only we can, we would become recognizable to all. You could choose any style you want, from dress slacks, capris, skirts, to scrub pants, from a white blouse to a T-shirt, from a dress jacket to a scrub jacket. This way all nurses, in any capacity, could become uniform and recognizable. We could phase out our old uniforms for the new ones, pass the word, and within a year, have a grass roots effort that would change.........a lot!

P.S. I went on http://www.myvirtualmodel.com and tried on the outfit and it looked pretty good, imo.

[justjenn]

I love the idea. Bravo! You have my vote. Hey, why don't you run for office - I'll be your campaign manager. : )

justjenn

[nekhismom]

A hospital in my area requires all nurses to wear white pants and all RN's have RN embroidered in HUGE black letters on their shirts. Sure cuts down on confusion.

[SmilingBluEyes]

One thing that helped where I worked was FINALLY the hospital mandated housekeeping could NOT wear scrubs like nurses do. They have their own uniforms now. Lab personnel all wear white coats, distinguishing them from other staff. However...

I agree w/the poster who said introducing oneself as the RN/LPN and professional behavior will suffice. I can't stand the thought of wearing white in OB--plus we have to have scrubs on for csections which may be done at any time.:)

[Zee_RN, BSN, RN]

Introducing yourself as the patient's nurse identifies YOU (temporarily) but it does not cut down on patients and visitors mistaking everyone else for a nurse, if not necessarily THEIR nurse at this time. At my place, everyone but security wears scrubs! It used to be that the med-surg floors wore white and the critical care units wore ceil blue and that was that. It is helter skelter now.

I am in favor of a recognizable uniform for nurses. As another poster said, I am not there for a fashion show. The uniform needs to be comfortable and professional and recognizable. And outside of a pediatric unit, I think cutesy scrubs demean the profession.

[Sekar]

I was in a place that tried to do Scrubs by color to determine which department you worked in. All of the good colors were already taken by the time they got to Nursing. They tried to make us we Fuchia (retch, puke, vomit)! I'm sorry but Fuchia does NOT work on my 6'1' 225 pound frame and it totally clashes with my beard! :stone The idea died a rapid death, thankfully. We wound up wearing whatever scrubs we wanted to wear, and it really wasn't a problem. Housekeeping wound up wearing a utility uniform that was really much better suited to their job than scrubs. Name tags with titles, as usual, fixed any problems with who is who.

[flowerchild]

For clarrification: The idea of wearing a uniform is no limited to hospitals but is for all nurses. The word "uniform" means just that, we nurses wear something that is uniform to all. Currently, scrubs are not a nursing uniform, scrubs are worn by too many other people (including inmates) to be considered a nurse uniform. My idea is to attempt to bring a uniform back to the profession.

imo, it doesn't matter what our employers mandate us to wear, if we ALL CLAIMED a specific uniform for us, it would become our uniform, just as the whites and cap was our uniform in the past.

Point, granted the uniform was originally worn by subserviant "hand maidens" but later became a symbol of our professionalism and demanded a degree of respect that comes with being a nurse.

In my own mind, I don't look at the small picture of whar individual hospitals are doing or would do b/c I'm looking at it from the entire nursing profession as a whole. Trying to find something we could ALL wear no matter what our capacity or degree.

Perhaps we should focus on the colors and CLAIM them as our own through our own actions. Any combination of the traditional nursing colors would work, blue, black, and white? We could wear those colors any way we want to suit our individual tastes and preferences.

This would work, if we all comprimised, stopped thinking about ourselves and start looking at how we as individuals could move toward change.

I like the idea, not b/c it's mine, (I like pretty scrubs too), but b/c a true uniform would help unite us nurses everywhere, providing ourselves with something that belongs to us, distinguishing ourselves from all others, while providing others with a way to identify us, even from a distance.

Look to the past, open your mind, and see the future. Our future is in our own hands.

Don't you see, that if ALL nurses everywhere did this, would show all, including big corporates, that we are capable of uniting, deciding, and pushing for change within our own profession. Something we don't do, have not been able to do in the pasr, which has made us weak in the eyes of those in power over us.

This is all bigger than we are as individules, but not as a united front. Let's start here, with something so simple as buying and wearing a uniform, and show 'em what we can do, TOGETHER!

The big boys will be shaking in thier shoes wondering what we might do next!

[flowerchild]

P.S. Please forgive all the typos, My left hand is splinted and I'm trying to type with one hand. Thanks.

[Sekar]

I must disagree with those of you who think a uniform will make the difference (because I really do understand where you are coming from) but uniting into a uniform dress code is NOT going create the changes you seek. All personal preferences aside, the clothes DO NOT make the nurse. The only way to achieve that which you seem to want is to EARN the respect of those you mention. Respect is earned, not granted on demand nor determined by the clothes we wear. Respect is earned by performing in your chosen field in an superior manner, standing up to those who try to drive you down, and knowing your stuff inside & out. Uniforms are essentially meaningless and will earn you nothing, except some shelter from the elements.

I spent 20 years in the US Army. In the Army, everyone wore the same uniform. It did nothing to earn respect, express any degree of competence, or prevent being run over rough shod. It did let you blend into your environment for concealment and offer some protection from the elements, period. Who you are determines how you will be treated, not the clothes you wear, not where and when it really counts.

[fab4fan]

Very well said, Sekar. I love scrubs, and would give them up very reluctantly.

[Furball]

I still like the idea of military fatigues and beret or helmet....that's how a lot of us feel during a typical shift....combat.

That helmet would've come in handy about a week ago when a confused pt hit me in the head with her tv remote.....

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Originally posted by flowerchild

P.S. Please forgive all the typos, My left hand is splinted and I'm trying to type with one hand. Thanks.

Ouch..!:kiss

[Sekar]

Thanks, fab4fan! Furball, did she at least manage to change the channel when she hit you? Might as well get something useful out of that bump on the head. BTW, helmets make it hard to use your stethoscope, no earholes! As many times as I've been kicked in the chest in the ER, a flack vest would have been nice.