what color is your scrub-achute?

Nurses General Nursing

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Yes, I am old enough to remember when we all wore white. Some dinosaurs even wore their caps. Then a few years later, we were allowed to wear colored scubs. Yay! Colored scubs are fun! Except now the pendulum is swinging back. Now the scrub colors are unit specific. Boo. Some places even require that you get the hospital's name and RN/LVN embroidered on it. Well, ladeda.

So if your hospital requires a certain color for nursing, what color is it? And do you like this or did you like wearing any old scubs better?

I was an adult patient in an acute care hospital long before I became a nurse. It is hard to believe how ignorant I was about how hospitals functioned, who did what, etc. I distinctly remember lying in bed and needing something minor yet not asking anyone who came into my room because I was embarrassed I would be asking the housekeeper for more water, or tell the nurse the toilet was dirty! I believe this is what many patients and their families go through! You can't imaging how ignorant and scared non-medical people are about hospitals!!!!!!

I am a big believer in ALL hospital employees and doctors wearing distinct uniforms and large print distinct ID's. There should be a sign in every patients room indicating who wears what. I don't care if I like the color, I am not at work to do a fashion show. I am there to help my patients feel more comfortable! I hate to wear hats, but if administration decides RN's will wear hats I will wear a hat!

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I, along with a great many other nurses, was a patient before I was a nurse as well. Personally, I make a point of introducing myself to all of my patients not just at the start of my shift but also every time I go in the room. Patients shouldn't have to rely on recognizing the color of my scrubs to know I'm their nurse.

RN's - All white.

CNA's - Navy blue scrub top and white pants.

Pretty boring, but it works. Everyone looks nice and you can easily tell who's who.

Specializes in Psych/CD/Medical/Emp Hlth/Staff ED.

So one of the reasons for color coded scrubs is so that patients know who their Nurse is? Other than at shift change, I don't understand why a patient wouldn't have some idea of who their nurse is.

That and it looks professional

So one of the reasons for color coded scrubs is so that patients know who their Nurse is? Other than at shift change, I don't understand why a patient wouldn't have some idea of who their nurse is.

I have encountered many patients that didn't know the difference from their CNA to their RN. There are white boards in the room to write names during each shift of who's your RN and CNA, but they are hardly used.Patients can't always see badges to see if someone has RN or CNA after their name. The average patient wouldn't know the scope of practice between RN's and CNA's and might assume that the person coming in to check their vitals was a RN. When a patient is admitted they are told RN's wear white and CNA's wear blue tops and white pants. Every hospital is different and this is what ours chooses to do.

Specializes in ER, progressive care.

At my old job, nurses wore all white and techs/PCNAs wore hunter green. At my current job, some floors are doing pilot studies and have nurses/techs wear different, solid-colored scrubs...in those pilot studies, the nurses were ciel blue and techs wear dark gray. My floor is not part of the pilot study so we can basically wear whatever we want :)

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