Uniform/title question

World International

Published

Just curious...my wife and I were watching a movie last night that takes place in the UK and there were quite a few hospital scenes. All the nurses wore a nice blue uniform (and looked very professional all matching as opposed to the hodgepodge of scrubs often found in the US) but I noticed it was a dress. I never saw a male nurse. Also, I've heard that nurses are often called "Sisters" in the UK, true?

What about males? Is there a uniform for males that is pants? Is there a different title? Or do men in nursing not really exist over there? Just a curious Yank... :-)

0 Votes
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Just curious...my wife and I were watching a movie last night that takes place in the UK and there were quite a few hospital scenes. All the nurses wore a nice blue uniform (and looked very professional all matching as opposed to the hodgepodge of scrubs often found in the US) but I noticed it was a dress. I never saw a male nurse. Also, I've heard that nurses are often called "Sisters" in the UK, true?

What about males? Is there a uniform for males that is pants? Is there a different title? Or do men in nursing not really exist over there? Just a curious Yank... :-)

Most wear tunic and trousers now although for women there is a choice of dress if they want but to be honest I preferred tunic and trousers. Sisters generally are senior ward nurses and have to earn the title ie interview and meet certain requirements but I do see a lot advertised now as charge nurses covering both male and female. I know quite a few male nurses and their uniform very similar to the women but all varies depending on the hospital. Uniforms are also supplied by the hospital

0 Votes
Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
Most wear tunic and trousers now although for women there is a choice of dress if they want but to be honest I preferred tunic and trousers. Sisters generally are senior ward nurses and have to earn the title ie interview and meet certain requirements but I do see a lot advertised now as charge nurses covering both male and female. I know quite a few male nurses and their uniform very similar to the women but all varies depending on the hospital. Uniforms are also supplied by the hospital

Just about covers it, also we have Matrons too which are senior nurses who are responisble for more than one clinical area

0 Votes
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Just about covers it, also we have Matrons too which are senior nurses who are responisble for more than one clinical area

forgot about them:)

0 Votes

yeah blue is the main colour of RN uniforms although every trust is different

0 Votes
Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
yeah blue is the main colour of RN uniforms although every trust is different

white tunics, navy trousers and blue eppuletes for qualified nurses, bottle green unqualified, yellow students. Navy tunic for sisters / charge nurses and navy and white strips for clinical nurse specialists. Nurse practitioners were tailored scrubs (navy)

0 Votes
Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
white tunics, navy trousers and blue eppuletes for qualified nurses, bottle green unqualified, yellow students. Navy tunic for sisters / charge nurses and navy and white strips for clinical nurse specialists. Nurse practitioners were tailored scrubs (navy)

where you are --

for us

light blue for HCAs, royal blue for RNs, navy for sister/CN/ NP, navy with small white spots for matrons and very dark grey for the Directorate of nursing senior Staff the (ADONs and DON for the trust)

white tunics are with piping and trousers in different colours are worn by PT

0 Votes
What about males? Is there a uniform for males that is pants? Is there a different title? Or do men in nursing not really exist over there? Just a curious Yank... :-)

Yeah, they exist - the last time I looked just under 9% of those registered with the NMC are men.

Men tend to be called Brothers when they are ward managers - OK I'm lying. They are called Ward Manager/Charge Nurse which is also a female title. Sister is the historical traditional (hopefully dying out IMO) title.

Men tend to wear pants and a tunic top. Unless it's the weekend where anything goes for a few!!

My current hospital in the US has just moved from hodge podge scrubs to standard colors (damn, dropped the 'u' - been here too long already) for all staff. RNs wear navy blue, NAs wear green, (trans)porters wear light brown etc. Much easier to recognize ('z' instead of 's', damn again) everyone.

My kids say tomayto, I still say tomaaaato

Cheers

OG

0 Votes
Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
Y Sister is the historical traditional (hopefully dying out IMO) title.

OG

Not where I work, ward manager jobs are still advertised as Sister / charge nurse

0 Votes
Not where I work, ward manager jobs are still advertised as Sister / charge nurse

I did state that hopefully it is dying out. It should be dead by now.

Do we need 'Sisters'? Is there a role for them? What do they do?

In the words of Mrs Merton....

Cheers

OG

0 Votes
Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

When I first started at the nursing home all the trained RN's were Sisters.Now we are just RN's.We wear navy blue tunics and trousers with white piping,the SEN's wear green and the carers wear white tunics with blue/black trousers.

0 Votes
Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.

I have a question along those lines: I'm reading an article from Journal of Clinical Nursing and it mentions E-and D-grade nurses, G-grade sisters, F-grade sisters and Level 2 patients.

The article has to do with nurse consultants evaluating clinical nursing in a SICU/SHDU. The author talks about "clinical reasoning was characterized as teaching and explaining to, mainly, bedside nurses what they should do in the event that care was not fully understood, missed or carried out incorrectly" (Fairley & Closs 2006).

Wouldn't a nurse, especially a nurse in a specialty area like that already know what to do if things were missed, screwed up, etc? I don't get it. That sounds really condescending.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment