Went to work in whites today!

Nurses General Nursing

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That's right, I wore the whole shebang today. White dress. White hose. White duty shoes. My manager made me a paper hat! What a great day. Patients and staff loved it. My manager gave me the "thank you letter" that all the system RN's got if they have an extra board certification. Then she said, "I have another copy. I'll give it to you again at the next all-staff meeting." It was a great celebration of nursing! So awesome.

We planned a buffet of delicious food and all the RN's brought something to share. The rest of the staff was all coming in to get stuff and the code words were, "Happy nurses week!" If they didn't say it, they didn't get treats.

I didn't even get anything on my dress until my shift was almost over.

Just thought I'd share. Best nurses week ever. Thanks to my AN friends for inspiring me.

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Nurse SMS, MSN, RN

6,843 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

How fun!

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS

1 Article; 1,406 Posts

Specializes in nursing education.

Yes, super fun! I'm already thinking about next year. All the posts about nurses week (what did or didn't happen) really got the gears turning!

Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN

1 Article; 1,978 Posts

Specializes in School Nursing.

I wore whites last year for Career Day (elementary school nurse), and I have mad respect for the ladies who did it daily for years. That was the most uncomfortable, impractical thing I had even worn, and I generally don't do half the bending and lifting of a floor nurse. Doing a strsight cath on a student who was sitting on the toilet was interesting, to say the least. My hose kept rolling down, so I had to ditch them. My cap kept slipping so it eventually got removed as well. I managed to keep food and body fluids off myself, but every little speck of dust seemed magnetically attracted to my garb. It was quite an experience, and one I am grateful I don't have to repeat unless I want to!

I'm glad you had fun, I bet your patients loved it as well!

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS

1 Article; 1,406 Posts

Specializes in nursing education.

Yes, everybody loved it! The other RNs were kind of jealous. We had talked about doing it for the week a couple weeks ago, and everyone said they would... ha ha! But people kept saying, "you look like a real nurse!"

bratmobile

103 Posts

Too Cute!

RNsRWe, ASN, RN

3 Articles; 10,428 Posts

I have to tell you the only time I've donned cap and whites was for Halloween....but all the patients and much of the staff complimented me on looking like a 'real nurse'"! :)

Nearly hung myself on a set of curtains with that cap, though....

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Joe V

8 Articles; 2,493 Posts

Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

I'm glad you had fun!

Your excitement is visible in your writing. I feel like I'm there with you. :D

MJB2010

1,025 Posts

Very brave! Sounds like you had a wonderful day!

Specializes in ICU.

A lot of places still wear all whites. Our endoscopy team does. I wear white a lot, and always wear white nursing shoes because they look more professional to me (and neater) than a tennis shoe. Our standard colors are royal and white.

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS

1 Article; 1,406 Posts

Specializes in nursing education.
A lot of places still wear all whites. Our endoscopy team does. I wear white a lot, and always wear white nursing shoes because they look more professional to me (and neater) than a tennis shoe. Our standard colors are royal and white.

I do like navy/navy and white for nurses.

They still sell the white dresses here but I don't know of any local organizations that still have nurses wear them.

Wouldn't want to do it every day (skirts ride up on me for some reason, I'm staticky maybe?) but it made me rethink some of the scrub tops I have. What possessed me to buy Winnie the Pooh?

TopazLover, BSN, RN

1 Article; 728 Posts

One thing we all forget is that at least in the US people respond differently to those in uniform. I am convinced that the nurses uniform and cap provided us with form of insulation and removal from some of the criticism that nurses face now.

I do agree that we had difficulties while in uniform. Things were obvious when we got touched. We never had to worry about fomites. We could see every cootie that could possibly land because they all did on the pure white.

I am not suggesting return to the uniforms and caps. I just think we have not found an adequate replacement that screams for respect the way the white did.

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