Uniform color by discipline

Nurses General Nursing

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Where I work, nurses, cna's, lab, x-ray, housekeeping wear a distinctive color for that department so that patient's can decipher who is who. Some people think this takes away our freedom to choose what we can wear and few I have spoke with like the idea. What do you think?

Hey, it works on Grey's Anatomy. Why wouldn't it in real life? Heh, heh. :clown:

Specializes in CMSRN.

I do not mind the color coded idea. Nurses wear white or blue (no mixing), pct and lab wear olive green and resp wears dark teal. In low light they all look the same though.

The only thing I object to is the unit secretaries wearing scrubs. They do not deal with patient's directly. I prefer they wear business casual /name tag like they did before. But oh well. Nothing is perfect.

Specializes in CVICU.

There are still a lot of patients that think a nurse in a white dress looks the most professional. Sheesh. Instead of relying on color coding to identify each other, how about wearing name tags promanetly, and introducing ourselves. When someone I don't know enters my patient's room and asks how my patient is doing, I first ask them who they are and what is their business. Just because someone is wearing the right color scrubs or a labcoat does not necessarily mean they have need to know. I don't rely on the color you are wearing I want to know your name and title.

Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
Personally I think being color coded is retarded. Isn't that why we all wear name badges with our picture, name, title, and department? Do they hand a color code sheet to patients when they are admitted telling them what color signifies what department? I thought not.

that's exactly what we do ...

but then again what would would I know? I only work in an inferior socialised system (that provides our uniforms free of charge)...

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
that's exactly what we do ...

but then again what would would I know? I only work in an inferior socialised system (that provides our uniforms free of charge)...

I miss the free uniforms and the professional look of the hospital staff who wear them!

I loved the freedom of choice when I came to the US but it works out expensive and some of the staff wear absolutly horrible scrubs

I don't mind it. I just wish that I didn't work in my healthcare system for 7 years before we changed the rules. I have an entire closet full of different colored scrubs!

I agree. I have a closet full of scrubs I don't wear anymore but I personally like the idea now. I wasn't so fond of it at first but it is easier to identify disciplines by color.

Where I work, nurses, cna's, lab, x-ray, housekeeping wear a distinctive color for that department so that patient's can decipher who is who. Some people think this takes away our freedom to choose what we can wear and few I have spoke with like the idea. What do you think?

If we were taking a vote, I would say that the majority favors distinctive colors for each department. I didn't want to make the change but when the hospital implemented it, I like it now. It does make it easier to determine who is who and the patient's seem to like it too. In the end the patient's opinion matters the most.

Isn't the point of a uniform that you DON'T choose what you're wearing? It seems a very odd question to me, but maybe that's a cultural difference between NZ and USA...

Probably cultural because everyone else has differing opinions but thats ok. It makes us unique but thanks for the comment anyway.

I do agree that it "takes away freedom" to wear what you want, but those who feel strongly about it are free to work at a different facility. :D

The first hospital that I worked at was color coded, and while I did hate being limited to royal blue and white pants, and tops that were "90%" royal blue or white, it was nice, because I could quickly identify what position someone held just by the color of their pants.

When I changed jobs and went to a children's hospital, the staff was (is) free to wear whatever they want. I went crazy buying fun scrubs, but itt was really difficult for me to get used to. There were a few times that I almost felt panicked because I couldn't tell who was who with a quick glance, badges would be backwards, etc. There was discussion of color coding and the nurses revolted. :lol2: Now we have to wear royal blue hang tags behind our badges that say RN in big white letters...or we are supposed to. I work in the clinic now which is attached to the hospital via sky bridge and there are quite a few nurses in my clinic that don't have them, and other clinics as well, which I think is especially confusing to patients and their families because they have nurses easily identified as nurses saying that they are nurses, and nurses not as easily identified saying that they are nurses, so there is a lot of , "I gave it to the nurse", and, "The nurse said...", when the "nurse" might have been a medical assistant or even the staff that works at the desk.

There are pros and cons to both. I don't like the color coding but can appreciate the benefits of it.

My job did the name tag thing with the RN's and it didn't work so we went to designated uniforms but the RN's still wear the "RN" tag. :uhoh3:

Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I don't really mind, it just depends on what color I have to wear. We are allowed to wear whatever color/print scrubs at the moment, but starting Jan 1st we will be switching to color-coded uniforms. RNs will wear galaxy blue (which I LOVE!), LPNs will wear royal blue, monitor techs = khaki, CNA's = teal, RT = black, etc. I used to work at The Cleveland Clinic as a PCNA and there I had to wear hunter green. I felt bad for the nurses because they have to wear all-white. If that were the case, I wouldn't be happy with my uniform choice. I occasionally wear white pants with a printed scrub top, but I would NOT want to wear all-white.

For patients, however, they still wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Everyone wearing scrubs = nurse, everyone wearing a lab coat = doctor to them.

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