The hospital where I work is instituting color coded uniforms for all staff (except MD's) in patient care areas (RN/LPN-royal, PCT-teal, Radiology-black, Transport-brown, etc) to help patient's be able to identify who is who. Tops and bottoms are the same color. They are providing all staff with a ONE TIME only stipend toward buying the new uniforms. Full-time staff will receive $100, part-time $60, and per diem $40. Staff will be required to buy the scrubs online through the hospital and there is one brand (Cherokee) with 6 styles to choose from. If your scrub order costs more than your stipend, you pay the difference. The scrub prices range from $12-$24 each piece with the unisex being on the low end and the more fashion forward and maternity scrubs being on the high end. You will not be allowed to go to your local scrub store and buy another brand of scrubs, even if they are the correct color. If you choose to wear a shirt under your scrub top, it must be the same exact color as your scrubs or black, no prints. Also, no jackets are to be worn over the top.
Currently the hospital provides scrubs to the OR staff at no charge and will continue to do so. They also provide uniforms to the environmental staff at no charge and will continue to do that. If they are limiting our attire to one specific brand and specific styles and we have to purchase them from the hospital that seems like a uniform and not a dress code and the hospital should be providing them like they do for the other departments wearing uniforms. As far as I know, other companies outside of healthcare that require uniforms actually provide the uniforms.
I, like many of my coworkers, am fine with the required colors but am upset that I have to use my own money to buy the scrubs and can not even buy what fits me best. I wear tall length Koi cargo scrub pants, they are available in royal blue (I own 2 pairs) but I can not wear them. Instead I must buy pants I don't like for $24/each, because that is how much the tall length pants are through the vendor. My other option would be to buy the cheaper regular length scrubs and have them be 2 inches too short or buy the unisex pants and worry about my butt showing every time I bend over or feel gross and unprofessional because the crotch is sagging halfway down my thigh. According to the head of the uniform committee, staff should feel lucky though that they did not dictate what type/color shoes we must wear.
For those of you that work in hospitals with color coded scrubs, can you buy whatever brand fits you best as long as it is the right color? If your hospital does require a specific brand/color, do they provide you with the scrubs or do you have to purchase them from the hospital?
Obviously I am going to suck it up because I love my job and certainly am not going to quit over something like this, I just needed to vent my frustration and also wondered if this was the norm.
What a horrible mandate. I'm sorry your employer is severely limiting your brand options, that really blows.
I do not like any of the Cherokee brand scrubs I've bought. Wonderwink Flex is the best brand I've ever worn. They're thicker, softer, and stretchy. I don't think I'll ever wear another brand.
RNsRWe said Suppose we could argue "professional or not professional" here, but it's irrelevant--not the topic on hand.
You keep bringing up topics, but when responded to on those topics you claim they are irrelevant.
*I* didn't bring that topic up, so yes....it WAS irrelevant to what I was saying. Responding to something isn't the same as "bringing it up". It was already there, NOT brought up by me.
At this point, I'm inclined to shrug and say "whatever". You only seem to want to argue, and I'm just not interested.
Have a good day.
TO THE OP: I hope this works out ok in the end; I know MOST of us don't appreciate being told what to wear, as well as having the pleasure of paying for an employer-specified outfit. It'd be one thing if when you were hired, you knew that was the deal, but you pre-date this new rule and, well......I wouldn't like it either!
Hmm well the fact that they are limiting your brand on top of the color thing stikes me as a bit far-reaching. Other than that, I wouldn't expect my employer to pay for my work outfits at all. I would see HR with your concerns. Btw, cherokee offers tall sizing online---can you sneak a tall pair if cherokees to work? You know, fly under the radar?!
We wear Forest Green...I like the color. But, the patients still don't know my role. They still think I'm the Physician, probably because I'm a Man. I understand the concept, but it fails. Anyone who was on staff when the policy went into effect got 3 pairs paid for, Cherokee, by the supplier they chose. New hires buy their own.
I agree. Most of the patients have no idea what the different colors mean. As a new grad, I found it most beneficial in learning staff roles without having to ask them. I, however, did appreciate the colors during a rapid response. The four people who showed up first were wearing black (RTs). Since it was a non-CPR and non-respiratory issue, there was little they could do other than check oxygen saturation. However, I knew "the calvary" I needed had arrived when I saw the blue shirts come around the corner (the rapid response nurses). Only time I've ever found color coded uniforms useful so far.
I can wear Cherokee tops, but the bottoms are all cut wrong for me. We are mandated to wear certain colors too, but we can wear any scrub company we want. Bummer you don't have a choice of companies.
My hospital also has a newly required color code for only the nursing staff.Nurses in navy blue and nursing assistants in khaki.The idea of patients being able to identify who is who is great but really if you are wearing scrubs patients assume you are a nurse and ask you for meds:)We have also had patients complain about the colors we have to wear.We get mostly elderly patients and they prefer the colorful scrub tops.I don't mind the color code but I think they could have chosen better colors because we blend into the walls.
OP is it possible that someone in administration could be getting a kick back from this cozy relationship with the scrub company? Forcing hundreds of employees to deal with a single vendor weeks of an ethics violation.
OP is it possible that someone in administration could be getting a kick back from this cozy relationship with the scrub company? Forcing hundreds of employees to deal with a single vendor weeks of an ethics violation.
Yeah, find the person who's in bed with this uniform co rep and.... well find some way to make them see things YOUR way...
I have worked in a couple of hospitals that have color coded scrubs. The one I am in now does too. One of the issues is that everyone in surgery has blue scrubs. So techs, nurses, doctors, OR transport, etc. Yet environmental services folks who haven't purchased their uniforms yet know where to find these scrubs, and wear these blue scrubs working all over the hospital. Also some pharmacists, transporters, and IT workers, etc. wear the blue. It seems like there should be an unclassified color for those who haven't purchased their uniforms yet or do not have a uniform scrub color because the job doesn't require it.
KJ87, BSN, RN
69 Posts
What a horrible mandate. I'm sorry your employer is severely limiting your brand options, that really blows.
I do not like any of the Cherokee brand scrubs I've bought. Wonderwink Flex is the best brand I've ever worn. They're thicker, softer, and stretchy. I don't think I'll ever wear another brand.