Should nurses return to wearing uniforms?

Where I work the nurses, CNA's and housekeeping all wear very different uniforms. Nurses= blue, CNA's = lavender, and housekeeping=green. And the patients still cannot figure out who is who.

Frankly I think the reasons we get so much confusion about who we are in the clinical setting is two-fold:

1. Many nurses still do not wear their name badges, identifying their name and licensure.
2. Most nurses are (still) not assertive enough to identify themselves to their patients, visitors and other clinicians.

Granted there are those patients/visitors who will forget who "that person in the scrubs" is; but, a uniform is not the root of the problem; rather, it is one of orientation for the patient and others. My belief is that historically uniformed professions establish a "weak" image for themselves as a group. And, while there are still patients who remember nurses in white uniforms/caps they are dying out. I still run into patients who can't believe that I'm a nurse (being a middle aged, gray haried male). But how I address this is by making it crystal clear who I am, what my licensure is and telling my patients, visitors and coworkers what I do in the workplace.

How long? 5 years
Field? Depends, I am best in high stress acute situations (I loved ED!!!)...but work in an assisted living home due to rural location, great pay, and 5 minute drive!
Location? Oregon
Degree? ASN with strong desires to get my BSN when I have the finances, time and well...motivation.

UNIFORMS? The whites...no way! It was a bearcat keeping those clean, and I have well water that yellows the unform anyway, so my dry cleaning costs in RN school were substantial (because I couldn't use my machine). And a cap...no way in hadies, very impractical and I view it is somewhat sexist (I mean, what kind of cap shall our fine gentlemen wear, stands to reason they must wear one too at this point!).
I also have done some classes for my employer on 'white coat syndrome', which turned out to be very enlighening! There are so many older people at my facility that simply do whatever someone in a white coat says because they assume white means doctor! And the dresses got almost the opposite...'oh that is a nurse, I only listen to the doctor!'. Interesting! And yes, in a poll at my facility women residents said NO to the white dress uniforms because of the 'sexy' stereotype they fear the male residents may feel, and the men were a overwelming 'YES!' due to the exact thing the female residents were afraid of! LOL!!!!!

Why I did this was because of my employer! It is a fraturnally owned home (I won't say what organizaion), and choices in styles of uniforms is...oh how do I put this PC...ummmmm, chosen and voted upon by gents in their latter years! They definately have views of what 'women' should act like, look like, and well...I don't think the idea of nurses being actual professionals has sunk in like it should..LOL! IN other words, nurses don't' fetch coffee or light docs cigarettes anymore people...LOL!!!!!

Now, my employer did a comprimise (since we nurses had a cow over the idea or even slight mention of the old whites which they were thinking of having us wear!!! YES with cap!!!!). We wear kaki colored pants, pastel colored button down top, and a white vest. Still white, but okay...I think they may be changing that soon to a colored vest. Socks our our choice and we always go out and get the silliest fun socks! LOL! Shoes, our choice again, but no clogs or open toe. We all have quite a shoe rack...a colored pair to match our shirts .

Our residents actually were very displeased suprisingly! They really enjoyed it when nurses and cna's wore scrubs of their choosing. They enjoyed the colors and fun patterns! But oh well...cna's now wear kaki pants and blue tops, nurses as I described.

It also back fires some times, all nurses...including management (where I am normally) were being called away from our duties because a client couldn't tell the difference from a floor nurse and managment. Paperwork was having to be put off because of clients just seeing a white coat, remembering that their toe hurt, and there we were doing the enormous amount of charting, faxing, treating instead of our managerial tasks! Heck, doing monthy double checks on MAR's was suffering greatly because of it...and the one other nurse and I barely get them done in time! So I am fighting for a different unform or even professional style street clothes for managerial staff so they can get their work done. (yeah, you just don't want to say "I am sorry, let your floor nurse know...clients don't bode well with that!).

MY point exactly.............wear the cap!

OP here . . .

Thanks for the replies and dialogue! Keep the comments coming!

I have one comment/ question-- and it's for the folks saying that others should be the one changing their uniform, rather than nurses. Is it ok for us as a profession to be so egocentric that we expect others to change so that we look different, even though its US as professionals that want to be recognized as such? If we want the recognition, shouldn't we have to take the steps to look different?

Also-- we talk about scrubs being used by nurses because of potential exposure to body fluids-- housekeepers are just as likely to be exposed-- would scrubs be ok for them?

And why are scrubs a requirement for blood/ body fluid exposure? I just purchased new scrubs this weekend, and spent $40 on two scrub tops. Certainly I could purchase $40 in clothing at, say, goodwill, and not be as worried about the materials getting bloodied. I can understand the "disposability" of scrubs if the cost made them "disposable", but since they're so darn expensive, is there really a benefit to wearing them in "messy" environments?

Just some thoughts of mine. Thanks for writing!

--Heather