Dress code

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in ICU/CVICU/Stepdown.

My current hospital has felt the need to implement a new dress code. Currently we are allowed to wear whatever we want as long as it's not all red or black. Starting in June the RN's will be required to wear some sort of blue (can't really remember the name of it) and LPN's will have to wear cranberry. My issue with this is we also have RT that wears a shade of blue, housekeeping wears a shade of blue and the CNA's wear a shade of blue. How are the patients going to identify us from any other person they come in contact with? What is the general feeling out there regarding having to wear a certain color (have a dress code)? Because my hospital is saying that patients say they feel more at ease when everyone wears a certain color.:up::down:

Unless there is all nurses all over the country adopt the same uniform, to many people a nurse = woman in scrubs.

An instructor suggested that don't be surprised if a pt refers to you as doctor. (males)

If you're already wearing whatever you want to, though, pts cant really identify you from any other staff member now, can they?

We've always had dress codes... royal blue for nurses (RNs and LVNs), teal green for PCTs, teal with black pants for RT, maroon for housekeeping

Its really not a big deal... makes scrub shopping quick and easy!

Specializes in Anesthesia.
Because my hospital is saying that patients say they feel more at ease when everyone wears a certain color.:up::down:

So, what color are they going to make the doctors wear?:devil:

I would also ask management what research do they have that proves that patients are " more at ease when everyone wears a certain color".?

Unless there is all nurses all over the country adopt the same uniform, to many people a nurse = woman in scrubs.

We had that for generations -- white uniform, white hose, and (gasp!!!!) caps -- everyone knew who the nurses were in a healthcare setting, and we were well-respected by physicians and the general public. Then nurses decided caps were demeaning, white was impractical, and we wanted to be able to express our personalities with our clothing at work ... Are we really better off now than we were? :)

Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

we have color codes and it is more beneficial to the staff than to the patients, in my opinion. We also wear big RN or LVN or RAD, LAB, etc on our badge. To me a dress code is not important enough to sweat.

My new job I will be starting in April the hospital requires ALL nurses wear white, all white. So I have some shopping to do. Im just glad the walk from parking to the entrance is not a long one, "wet white" is not a good look for me ;)

management usually gets better results when they have staff imput in situations like this..at least a vote on what color they will be wearing if mg want a uniform color in nursing position

as for mds in most facilities they are not employed by hospital except perhaps in er etc

Specializes in Anesthesia.
management usually gets better results when they have staff imput in situations like this..at least a vote on what color they will be wearing if mg want a uniform color in nursing position

as for mds in most facilities they are not employed by hospital except perhaps in er etc

The MD part was a joke....I always get a kick out of how management says everyone will wear X, but it never includes the MDs.

Specializes in Clinical Risk Management.
We had that for generations -- white uniform, white hose, and (gasp!!!!) caps -- everyone knew who the nurses were in a healthcare setting, and we were well-respected by physicians and the general public. Then nurses decided caps were demeaning, white was impractical, and we wanted to be able to express our personalities with our clothing at work ... Are we really better off now than we were? :)

Hey, when they can get the men to wear nursing caps, I'll be happy to don one myself! :idea:

Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

At the hospital where I work the RN wears ceil blue pants with either solid ceil blue top or printed top with celi blue in it. The CNA wears wine/burgandy colored scrubs. Can wear a print top if wine/burgandy is in the print. RT wears green (kinda like emerald green). The ER RN wears navy blue.

The thought is nice , but xray wears what ever they want. They wear the ceil blue, burgandy, OR green scrubs, and whatever color under the rainbow so what is the point of the color code?

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