The attire debate - what should nurses wear?

Nurses General Nursing

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there's been a debate on another thread about the way scrubs, particularly patterned scrubs, are perceived by non-nurses. the original poster's position was that they diminish the respect (or potential for respect) other health care professionals have for nursing. many members argued that patients, particularly paediatric and geriatric patients, prefer them.

research indicates that the public find it harder to identify nurses now that the 'traditional' uniform of whites (plus or minus cap) is the exception. skoruspki and rhea (2006) compared perceptions of four kinds of uniforms and ten characteristics, finding that

the white uniform was the most frequently selected for 5 of the 10 characteristics: confident, reliable, competent, professional, and efficient. the print uniform was most frequently associated with the other 5 characteristics: caring, attentive, cooperative, empathetic, and approachable. in contrast, the solid uniform was least of ten selected for 6 of the 10 characteristics with the print uniform being least often selected for the remaining 4 characteristics.

for overall images, the white uniform was paradoxically the uniform most often selected as the nurse that patients would "not like to take care of you" but also most often selected as being "easiest to identify as a nurse." the print uniform was the most often selected as the nurse "you would most like to take care of you." the solid was the least often selected both as being the nurse "you would most like to take care of you" and as the "easiest to identify."

in other words, the white ensemble allows easy role identification and conveys the professional aspects of nursing care, while a patterned uniform makes identification harder but conveys the human aspects of nursing care and is preferred by patients.

as a student i wore a very traditional uniform, complete with voluminous starched white apron and belt, laundered by the hospital. as a newly registered nurse i wore a pale blue dress (known as the blue sack), until a new don noted that the only other staff who wore uniforms were support staff, while the other professionals wore street clothes (scrubs are reserved for or, ed and icu). i wore, and still wear, black laced shoes, navy or black pants, a white polo shirt or t-shirt and a vest (red, navy or black). i introduce myself to my patients and their visitors as "hi, i'm talaxandra and i'm the nurse caring for you today." i've never yet had a patient or family member voice confusion about my role or status.

i think reducing role fragmentation (so patients have interactions with fewer people), uniforms for support staff, and a policy that all staff introduce themselves would improve identification by families and patients without requiring the regressive step of starched white attire. what do you think?

I can't speak to Australia, but here in the states no facility is going to pay for that less-fragmented care, which would be an all-RN staff.

I like the white uniform I wear right now, which consists of a white button up collar shirt and white pants. I don't know if I'll like scrubs. At the ED where I work, I overheard a nurse say "Where else can I wear pajamas to work?". Yeah, wearing jammies to work is awesome, but I would like to look respectable as well.

talaxandra

3,037 Posts

Specializes in Medical.

That's a valid point - even though there's a wealth of research proving that patient stays shorten and complications drop with only qualified staff delivering care, the majority of hospitals will dilute their registered nurses as much as possible.

In Victoria only registered nurses are allowed to deliver nursing care in acute settings, and it's that arena where the majority of role confusion occurs. In Australia in general there are no respiratory therapists, so that's one fewer interaction, but we of course have the rest of the AH team.

Taking that into account, are there other ways to reduce role confusion without returning to white uniforms?

Bug Out, BSN

319 Posts

Specializes in VA-BC, CRNI.

At my facility, "Subacute Vent/Dialysis" the Nursing staff wears blue scrubs, the CNAs wear red, management wears lab coats, and HUCs wear purple.

The main problem at our facility is differentiating between the RNs and LPNs since we wear the same uniform.

casi, ASN, RN

2,063 Posts

Specializes in LTC.

Personally I don't mind nurses in patterned scrubs the couple of times I've been the patient or the family member I can't remember what the heck the nurse looks like, what I can remember is what they are wearing. It would be hard to claim that my nurse is the nurse in the blue if they were all wearing blue.

As a nurse I find that a lot of the new styles of scrubs appear very professional. I do however agree that scooby-doo has no place in adult care. I am also very against white. Stains show up waaaaaaaaaay to well on white.

What I really want to see if those who don't give direct care to patients be taken out of scrubs. HUCs and Monitor Techs can be dressed in buisness casual. Housekeeping would do fine in khaki's and polo shirts.

Lorien_LPN

33 Posts

why differentiate between LPNs and RNs. They are both nurses. Sure the LPN has some limitations, fewer in Oklahoma where I live but they are still a nurse. LPN or RN on someone's badge or uniform should do.

Bug Out, BSN

319 Posts

Specializes in VA-BC, CRNI.

Because a LPN is not a RN and the patients should be able to know the difference. It's nothing against LPNs but there is a difference. Not unlike a NP is not a MD.

Besides, at my facility at least the RNs directly supervise the LPNs and are usually in the roleof Charge Nurse or in my case, House Sup.

talaxandra

3,037 Posts

Specializes in Medical.

Although classifications are a little different in Australia, we don't distinguish between kinds of nurses where I work. I'm in two minds about it - on the one hand, there are different roles and responsibilities for each position; on the other hand, staff identification is already complicated for patients and families, and in my experience most of them don't really care.

Specializes in Correctional, QA, Geriatrics.

Granted I do not work in an acute care setting nor in a facility. I wear business casual or even jeans and simple pullover tops. Nobody ever seems to have a problem figuring out who I am or what my role is. I am no less effective as a nurse by not wearing a uniform or scrubs. I have worn them in the past and, honestly, I felt they made nursing look like the "servants". Scrubs have their place in settings where it is highly desirable to reduce the amount of outside pathogens introduced. Uniforms have their place if everyone, without exception, wears them. Otherwise, IMO, the general public tend to view uniforms as a signal that you are the hired help and not necessarily a professional.

Just my two cents worth.

Specializes in Med/Surg, L&D.

Where I work, they started with the intention of differentiating staff members... but it has gotten way out of hand. Here are the ones I can remember

RNs- royal blue

LPNs- teal

CNA/HCT- sky blue

RT- black

Pharmacy tech- purple

Housekeeping- brown

Central Supply- gray

I know there are more colors for the EMT techs, the radiology techs, US techs, etc.

What started as a good idea has gotten way out of hand. I agree that if you don't provide direct patient care, then business casual or even a uniform polo should be used. And people still ask the housekeeping staff for pain meds- it is hard to get them to learn the color coding.

november17, ASN, RN

1 Article; 980 Posts

Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

I wear either Ciel Blue or Navy blue scrubs with my name monogrammed on the right breast and "RN" right after my name to avoide any confusion. I prefer gold thread for the monogramming on the ceil blue, and white monogramming on the navy blue.

Why monogram? Because my nametag at work often gets flipped backwards. And even if it isn't flipped backwards, the letters of "RN" are difficult to distinguish on the teeny tiny lettering of my badge. The monogrammed letters are 3/4 of an inch tall and are very easy to read, and therefore make it very easy to identify who I am and what I do.

Monogramming only costs a couple of extra dollars per top and in my opinion rounds out the wardrobe.

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