"you don't have to wear scrubs, just uniform"

DianeS, RN · Oct 16, 2005

Don't know if it is a California thing or not.

Where I work in Michigan, scrubs are what we wear and only white shoes, either tennis shoes or clogs, but they must be white.

I have a hard time seeing nurses wearing T-shirts to work. Guess I am just more comfortable in scrubs. They don't even have to be all white. In fact, the last all white uniform (scrub) that I wore was on my last day of nursing school. How I hated the whites :rotfl:

We have all colors and patterns of scrubs on our floor. One of my favorites is of teddy bears on motorcycles.

Smiles and hugs. :icon_hug:

Luv2BAnurse · Oct 16, 2005

Sometimes the nurses on my unit wear tee shirts, and that is usually with scrub pants (although not always). I always wear scrubs, only because they are cooler and more comfortable and I am all for that. We can pretty much wear clogs or nurse shoes or tennis shoes or whatever we desire, after all, it's OUR feet we are standing on. I think the scrubs look better than tee shirts, but it's not that big of an issue yet

This is in NC.

TypicalFish · Oct 16, 2005

I am in Maryland; most hospitals around here allow nurse some general lee-way r/t uniform. Most nurses i know wear scrubs sets, scrub pants and a t-shirt, with either a cardiagn or scrub jacket. A couple of nurses I work with in the ACCU wear almost street clothes; regular looking pants (like fatigue cargo pants) and a top-it looks really weird to me. I wear scrub pants, always navy blue and either a scrub shirt or a solid color golf, or polo, shirt; I like how stretchy and hard-wearing they are. I wear white sneakers, but most others wear all kinds of shoes, especially brown Dansko clogs. Now, the night shift is a whole different story.....

funinsun · Oct 16, 2005

Hi all..

I was just hired and started working in a facility similar to yours. When asking about what to wear they said 'casual'.. I thought hmmm... It turns out everyone wears jeans and you are even able to wear shorts (longer of course).. You can wear tennis shoes, boots, crocs, etc. as well.. Most people dress in jeans and a nice shsirt, but t-shirts with no inappropriate things are acceptable as well..It's to help keep a therapeutic rapport with the patients so they feel they can talk with you.. (children's psychiatric hospital..)

It's hard getting used to for sure, but I am the jean type of girl anyway..lol..

ncbeachgrl · Oct 24, 2005

On my unit, you have to wear scrubs, but with the all the pretty scrub tops out there and comfortable pants, it's easy to buy cool outfits and almost like wearing pajamas to work! As for shoes, we can wear clogs, traditional nursing shoes, athletic shoes, etc. This is in Texas, but even when I lived in NC, it was the same. And back home, you could wear a t-shirt with your scrub pants if it was a hospital related shirt (like such and such Childrens Hospital or blah blah Medical Center).

LPN1974, LPN · Oct 24, 2005

Heck, where I work we're really laid back.

We can wear just about anything we want, in street clothes, as long as it's decent. Most of us wear blue jeans, and a scrub top, some wear the whole scrub outfit, some wear pretty tops and black knit dress type slacks.

I opt for the blue jeans and a scrub top. In winter time, I usually wear sweat shirts, and plenty of good warm underclothing because we go from building to building.

lifejourney · Oct 24, 2005

Wow.

I've never worked in a place with laid-back dress codes. Where I am now all RNs are designated a scrub color, techs are designated a scrub color, etc. Very strict throughout most hospitals that I know of in Atlanta. There are a few who are requiring their RNs to wear all white scrubs. Of course there were dissenters - I couldn't believe it, but those who refused to wear the all-white were sent home. Seems like shooting yourself in the foot with the nursing shortage, but the hospital did it.

Personally, I like scrubs and don't mind that the hospital is requiring a particular color - but I would hate to have to wear all white again.

Interesting to hear how it is working in other places.

lifejourney

KatieBell · Oct 24, 2005

What type of units is everyone working on? I've Never been anywhere where Jeans would have been considered OK. I can see though in the Psych setting that it would be helpful.

Lets see:

First hospital" hospital provided blue scrubs. (ICU and ED and PACU)

Second: wear whatever. but wear scrubs (ICU and ED)

third: all white..but all navy in ED.

fourth now only liscensed personnel can wear all white- have not had a problem to enforce that. No one is wearing white. still in ED

all scrubs.

Never had anyone direct shoe color.

MarySunshine · Oct 24, 2005

I wear a t-shirt, scrub pants, and a scrub jacket (if I'm cold). I loathe scrub tops (of course, I always get pants with plenty of pockets). I just hate the way they look and feel on me. That probably comes from the fact that I like things very simple and I would die before I wore a busy looking top. Totally just my personality -- boring. :)

I think your company's dress policy is good -- however, there's always one or two employees who, imho, take it too far and look unprofessional at work. I say you should wear whatever it is that makes you feel like a comfortable, professional looking nurse. It's all about individual style. One nurse on our floor always wears a scrub-style, knee length dress (she has several different colors of them) with a cute sweater and funky jewelry. Others wear really wacky scrubs, one lady is muslim and has beautiful headcoverings, others wear hospital-issues plain color scrubs...

I will note that this is an ICU setting, so I think that there is generally less confusion about who the nurses are since they're pretty much ALWAYS in the patient's room anyway! I'm not sure how problematic this would be on a med-surg floor -- I like it though.

LPN1974, LPN · Oct 24, 2005

Wow.
I've never worked in a place with laid-back dress codes. Where I am now all RNs are designated a scrub color, techs are designated a scrub color, etc. Very strict throughout most hospitals that I know of in Atlanta. There are a few who are requiring their RNs to wear all white scrubs. Of course there were dissenters - I couldn't believe it, but those who refused to wear the all-white were sent home. Seems like shooting yourself in the foot with the nursing shortage, but the hospital did it.
Personally, I like scrubs and don't mind that the hospital is requiring a particular color - but I would hate to have to wear all white again.
Interesting to hear how it is working in other places.
lifejourney

Well, the reason for it, is that I don't work in a traditional medical facility. I work in an instituion for the mentally and physically challeneged people.

We just wear street clothes, the reasoning behind this is that the people we take care of don't like to see nurses in all white.

But we do wear colored scrubs, and other street clothing.

It's just laid back.....some of the office staff might dress more than just casual, but those of us who care for the people can dress as they like as long as it's decent. We could even wear "walking shorts" in the summer if we wanted to.

T-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts, as long as it's decent, and not exposing the midriff and too much leg.

June55Baby · Oct 24, 2005

Changed my mind and deleted the post....