Are your choice of scrubs childish?

[rose89]

I recently read an article that nurses that wear scrubs that are brightly colored with cartons or vibrant colors such as green are not taken seriously and are not considered competent. The study was a poll by patients and they were shown 8 different scrub options. The nurses that wore all white scrubs were (according to patients) seemed more competent and were taken more seriously because it resembled the closest to the traditional nurse uniforms back in the 40s and 50s.

What are your thoughts?

[rameerah]

I'm deciding on nursing long sleeve Fitting tees and scrub pants... So over the scrub sets

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

I love patterned clogs.

I have three types. Flowers, stars, and paint speckles and people comment on them.

In my experience with working with one color job set scrubs, people don't know who the nurse is even if there is a big tag that says RN under the name badge, it has RN on the name badge, and the RNs have one color set and other workers have other colors. It may help the staff out a bit more though.

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

I wear whatever I want. :) I work in peds - and the colorful scrubs fit in on my unit. The ones that stand out are the guys in the black and boring colors.

[unicoRNurse]

I can't believe so many people get to choose their own scrubs. Every facility in which I did clinical required nurses to wear specific colors. One system was all white, head to toe (except L&D, who wore a greenish color). One facility had a mandated color and brand (a shade of blue). Most of the other facilities had their nurses in navy blue. The only variety/choice/patterns I saw were in the children's hospital.

[caliotter3]

My experience has been that apparel has nothing to do with how my clients treat me.

[HumbleRN]

I have a very vast scrub collection. I haven't ever been treated differently due to my selection of the day. As long as it is clean and professional in appearance it shows a personality. The basic is to present and carry yourself as a professional.

[Knuckles31]

I usually wear just solid colored scrubs, but I do try to personalize my gear with stuff that relates to my interests. I am a HUGE Nintendo Nerd so my badge holder is a Mushroom from the Super Mario series.

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

I usually wear just solid colored scrubs, but I do try to personalize my gear with stuff that relates to my interests. I am a HUGE Nintendo Nerd so my badge holder is a Mushroom from the Super Mario series.

Mine is the Mario 1Up mushroom :)

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

I am too old for cartoon characters (ie: older than 9!) and I don't work in peds, so NO, I will not wear Tweety, Betty Boop, Snoopy or Mickey Mouse.

We're required to wear solid black, though style is left to the individual (which I prefer).

[anon456, BSN, RN]

I try to be in-between too cartoonish and too boring or serious. I take the middle ground and try to wear cheerful colors and nice, tasteful designs like flowers and swirls and such, but not teddy bears and cookie monster and disney princess. I think it's because I work in a more intense environment. I somehow feel that a nurse in cookie monster scrubs will not present the same reassuring first impression as a nurse in a more streamlined uniform when a child is so very sick and so much is going on. When I float to other units with lower acuity patients or longer term patients such as oncology I see more of the cartoonish scrubs. Those children are usually able to appreciate the cartoon scrub tops much better than many of our sedated and/or very ill patients.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I am too old for cartoon characters (ie: older than 9!) and I don't work in peds, so NO, I will not wear Tweety, Betty Boop, Snoopy or Mickey Mouse.

This is pretty much how I feel about it, but I didn't even watch cartoons as a kid so I wouldn't have been caught in cartoon-printed stuff then, either. There is only one place I have worked so far that let us have variety, and they just insisted that since the nurse colors were ceil blue and white, that our printed top had one of those colors in it and we still wore either ceil blue or white pants. I wear dark geometric, animal skin, and artistic prints, usually. I hate flowers and girly things, so no cute flowers, butterflies, animals, etc. for me.

I also have seven pairs of Dansko Professionals, only one solid black, so I get my prints on my shoes if nowhere else.