I think cutsey scrub tops look ridiculous on adult units

[AZO49008]

The other day a co-worker strolled in wearing a scrub top festooned with furry, smiling teddy bears. On an adult cardiac floor...REALLY? On various adult units I've seen Looney Tunes, Precious Moments, rainbows and clouds, hearts, and yes...oodles and oodles of teddy bears.

I think these types of scrub tops look ridiculous unless you work in peds, in which case they would all be highly appropriate. On one hand nurses are striving to be taken seriously as professionals, yet with the other hand they are taking juvenile looking scrub tops off the hangar.

I'm a guy and pretty much have to wear solid scrubs if I don't want to look like a freak. But I am not motivated out of jealousy to kvetch about print tops on the ladies. If women want to pizazz up their uniforms, I have seen tons of very tasteful, very professional looking print scrub tops coordinated with solid pants.

If I were director of nursing of the world, I would ban dorky print scrub tops.

Okay...talk amongst yourselves.

[gymnut]

Actually I have a funny story about the oral surgeon I went to to have my wisdom teeth removed as a teenager. When I first walked into his office it looked like a crazy antique store. There was a giant suit of armor in the waiting room and all kinds of odd doo-dads and knick knacks everywhere.

When I finally met him he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a shark tooth necklace. He then sat me down and told me I was going to watch a video to give me information on my procedure. It was on this old 1980's projector that resembled a view master and it was missing slides and the sound was off.

My surgery went very smoothly and I was in zero pain afterward and had no complications. You might be wondering why I would ever let this goof ball come near me with a tooth brush let alone surgical tools. Well because the man actually has a very successful practice and was voted as best oral surgeon in our area a few years in a row. He also had numerous pictures on his wall of senators and a few d-list celebrities that he has met or performed surgery on. He is still in business as I type this and that parking lot is always full when I drive by.

I know this didn't have much to do with the topic but the talk about looking professional in scrubs is what made me remember it!

[flnursemichelle]

While I respect the opinions of those who don't like printed scrub tops, I love to be able to wear them. I am a travel nurse so my wardrobe changes every few months and I really enjoy working in places that allow prints. Not to the point that I wouldn't accept an assignment but it does make me feel better. I have a scrub top that has angels all over it and I often am told that it is the prettiest top they have ever seen. While that is the only non-holiday top that has things rather than swirls or such on it, I still think that as long as my tops are pressed, clean and neat looking the patients don't care what we are wearing. Please, please don't try to bring back the WHITES!!! ugh, I hate being a girl in whites and I always spill something on my white pants. I hate that! To each his own and I hope that the OP doesn't become a manager who can decide what to wear for his department. :)

[traumaholic87]

I work at a hospital in Arizona and it's a multi-conglomerate corporation (that probably gives it away, lol), and the nurses and techs and every other disciplinary in the hospital is all color-coated in scrubs. And I can tell you, when trying to find someone in a different discipline or if you are new to the floor, being able to narrow said person down by color is a real time saver, when sometimes you don't have the time to go on an employee safari. My second thought is that it's very nice and professional to be color coated, and as other people have stated, families know right away when you walk into a room where you're from, and just the colors itself can be a conversation piece. Where I work, I worked in Physical Therapy first, and we were brown, and just our brown scrubs was a conversation piece among patients and families, and yet I still looked very professional, without prints of any kind on me. Before mandated colors and scrubs, for example, PT would wear whatever they wanted, khakis, dress pants, some scrub bottoms of whatever color, whatever shirt they wanted, and there was no unity and incredibly difficult to figure who they were or if they even worked there. It's just so much better being color coated, and the level of professionalism oozing from our hospital is at an all time high. I am proud to wear my uniform. Nurses are navy blue, btw. Very nice if I may say so myself.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

I work at a hospital in Arizona and it's a multi-conglomerate corporation (that probably gives it away, lol), and the nurses and techs and every other disciplinary in the hospital is all color-coated in scrubs. And I can tell you, when trying to find someone in a different discipline or if you are new to the floor, being able to narrow said person down by color is a real time saver, when sometimes you don't have the time to go on an employee safari. My second thought is that it's very nice and professional to be color coated, and as other people have stated, families know right away when you walk into a room where you're from, and just the colors itself can be a conversation piece. Where I work, I worked in Physical Therapy first, and we were brown, and just our brown scrubs was a conversation piece among patients and families, and yet I still looked very professional, without prints of any kind on me. Before mandated colors and scrubs, for example, PT would wear whatever they wanted, khakis, dress pants, some scrub bottoms of whatever color, whatever shirt they wanted, and there was no unity and incredibly difficult to figure who they were or if they even worked there. It's just so much better being color coated, and the level of professionalism oozing from our hospital is at an all time high. I am proud to wear my uniform. Nurses are navy blue, btw. Very nice if I may say so myself.

Nice! I hope I am lucky enough to work at a hospital like that someday. My hospital (I volunteer there) allows any nurse, CNA, tech and doctor to wear whatever scrubs they want. It's very hard to tell who is who and it's frustrating. The RNs do have badges that say RN, but it's pretty obscure from a distance and one has to get within 3 feet just to see if they are indeed an RN. Very frustrating. And the PRINTS, oh LORD, don't get me started on the prints, dear baby Jesus! Tasteful is OK with me, but when nurses start wearing scrub tops splattered with brown/orange palm trees or Gators logos (see below, NOTHING against the Gators as I am a fan, but what's wrong with one little logo on the left chest and that's it?) it's just out of freaking hand. Ack!! There are some nurses however that wear uniform colors and it looks so much more calming and cleaner. As volunteers, we have uniform colors polos for men and women wear uniform smocks, so why not everyone else?

Employee safari: I love it!! I will use that phase sometime. :)

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

I am also a male nurse (ICU) and have to agree with you regarding the cutesy scrub tops. I have always had a hard time finding tops with patterns I like. I recently found a company with pathogen patterns on them http://www.pathophizz.com. I have just ordered a couple, so we'll see. They beat wearing bunnies or flowers.

What? You want to put more pathogens on your clothes? Isn't your existing collection big enough???

Actually I have a funny story about the oral surgeon I went to to have my wisdom teeth removed as a teenager. When I first walked into his office it looked like a crazy antique store. There was a giant suit of armor in the waiting room and all kinds of odd doo-dads and knick knacks everywhere.

When I finally met him he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a shark tooth necklace. He then sat me down and told me I was going to watch a video to give me information on my procedure. It was on this old 1980's projector that resembled a view master and it was missing slides and the sound was off.

My surgery went very smoothly and I was in zero pain afterward and had no complications. You might be wondering why I would ever let this goof ball come near me with a tooth brush let alone surgical tools. Well because the man actually has a very successful practice and was voted as best oral surgeon in our area a few years in a row. He also had numerous pictures on his wall of senators and a few d-list celebrities that he has met or performed surgery on. He is still in business as I type this and that parking lot is always full when I drive by.

I know this didn't have much to do with the topic but the talk about looking professional in scrubs is what made me remember it!

I love this story...professional is not what you wear, it's what you are! Nice one!

[FutureNurs93]

I work in a LTC facility...as a young person and an Aide, i do sometimes wear silly scrub tops with plain pants. I recently wore a Blues Clues top to work and had several residents and staff members comment that they liked it and thought it was cute. My fiance has a plain blue top with a Nemo applique on it, and everyone where he works (LTC facility also) call him "Nemo Boy". every time he wears it to work, the residents get so excited and when he doesn't wear it they want to know where it is...i agree that we should look professional, especially in a hospital, but i believe that you can wear fun tops and still be professional...

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

I don't care for scrubs with anything on them. I like mine plain and tailored. Yes, that means I have them hemmed to fit properly-just like I would any other professional attire. I buy all of mine from women's scrubs | medical uniforms | clinician scrub tops & pants. I'm so conservative, I wont even wear the green b/c they are too bright. I stick w/ black, and baltic blue, with a crisp white 3/4 length tee underneath, black sanitas. That's it. If I wanted to look like a carny, I'd go work for one.

We don't have a dress code to speak of, and I secretly shake my head inside at the things some of my colleagues think are appropriated attire for work. I think it says volumes about them but in the end it doesn't say sh!t about me, so live and let live.

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

I am more pro the solid colors. It would be nice to be able to quickly identify people by the color they wear. Once you know most of the people it wouldn't be necessary. Of course, I am really disturbed by people wearing the ill-fitted wrap styles that plunge too much. No one wants to see you cleavage (breast or bum).

[Belle Epoque]

I'm getting a kick out of this thread. What difference does it make what color/print/pattern/style a scrub top is? As long as it meets the requirements as a scrub top and covers all the necessarily parts, who cares? People can be so petty. If that's the biggest thing you've got to worry about, then you've done well. We might as well just go back to wearing all white, so we can all look the same. But then people will find something else to peck over.

I have a scrub top with frogs on it that gets a lot of attention. I don't know why, it's not flashy or bright, but the frogs people notice. I get nothing but compliments from old, young and in between. They like these frogs. It becomes sort of a conversational piece at times and opens the lines of communication. Why would I want to change that?

[poohlover-1996]

I wear print tops all the time in an adult care unit! The prints are precious moments and Disney! I think people would rather be cheered up with happier kind of shirts rather than drab plain colored shirts. I have received several compliments and have gotten plenty of smiles from my patients because of my "happy" shirts! I think printed shirts are a reflection of what is inside yourself therefore it shines outward to your patients when you walk into a room! I think if you work in a place that allows you to wear whatever you want, you have the right to wear what you want without being judged by you co-workers. There is enough judgement in the world!

[Vespertinas]

There's a section called "Nursing Scrubs" on AllNurses. Shouldn't this thread be there instead? I'd rather talk about NURSING in this section.

[I love my cat!]

Look at other Professionals...Bank Manager, Lead Surgeons, top-notch Lawyers, etc....you get my point. If they walked in with some head-to-toe cartoon mismatched get-up, I personally would think twice about them (on a Professional level) and their abilities. I feel it is extremely unprofessional. I like a put together, polished look pertaining to educated Professionals. Just my opinion of course.