I teach for a community college. This program is being ran almost like a military school. When I was attending the same college many moons ago, our lab instructor literally got under the bed to see how well we put a bottom flat sheet on the bed and if there were wrinkles underneath the bed.
We were expected to all dress alike, hair off the collar,(no ponytails) one pair of post earrings or none at all, only a wedding ring allowed with no diamond set (so as to not accidentally hurt a resident/patient) , no make-up, no fingernail polish except clear, fingernails trimmed where they could not be seen above the fingers, no perfumes, tattoos hidden, no necklaces, and no going to the store in your uniform after clinicals.
What about your schools? Are/where they the same? Just very curious.
Yeah obviously you could get in alot of trouble if you stopped by the local daquiri place in uniform. Not an issue for me, I only drink at home.
I would just die if we HAD to wear support hose. We can wear white socks, not ankle socks though and that is what I am used to. I will be okay though as long as I don't have to wear support hose!! :)
We had to wear white lab coats, but weren't required to have school patches on the shoulder like previous classes had. The result was that a lot of patients and families would assume that we were either doctors or in some way higher-ranking than the real nurse. They would always address their questions and comments to us and we would stand there like complete idiots until they actually read our name tags and realized we were students. It always made the nurses mad.
Ours was very similar to the OP... at first I balked (hey, I may be white picket on the outside, but I'm totally counter-culture in my heart!) But within 2 years of graduating, I made peace with it.
In school, you recite your stupid three checks so many times you want to vomit - and they stop you and make you do them again. Then after you graduate, one day, just as you are shutting the drawer of the pyxis, that little voice that is automatically playing the 7 rules for you (thanks, nursing school instructor from HELL) catches a med error on a day that you maybe could have given methotrexate for milk of mag and not noticed because you are so slammed.
Phew.
And drinking in uniform? Hmm... Again - I'm pretty liberal on social issues... but I'm not sure I want that message out there about nurses. Aren't we bombarded with enough negative portrayals to the public that we don't have to shoot ourselves in the foot? I'd love to talk about it over a pint. I'll buy, even. But not with my nametag on. Maybe that's just me.
I imagine that what people are used to varies from location to location. Fortunately for me, expectations were reasonable. We had our clinical uniforms (scrubs with school logo) and were expected to wear them at clinicals (except community and psych)... we were always expected to wear our school nametag at clinicals. In our hospital clinicals, we had to wear white, non-porous shoes.
I have long hair which I wear in a ponytail during clinicals and a closely cropped beard with one small hoop earring (I'd have gotten the other ear pierced once it became hip for guys to have two, but I had so much trouble with my first piercing with bleeding, reactions and infection that I just left it at one).
This overall look doesn't really raise any eyebrows here in Boston, and I imagine in big city hospitals in New York or California, it wouldn't either. We are expected to be well-groomed, and all the stuff about perfume and fingernails applies as well (that's a hygiene/patient comfort issue). Nobody had any outrageous visible tattoos, but nothing was said about that. Not a school clinical issue, but I know of at least one nurse I work with who has a visible, tasteful tattoo and the management and patients don't mind it a bit.
As for lecture, I usually rode my bicycle to class and just wore my bike shorts/pants and t-shirt/sweat shirt etc. There was no particular dress code for lecture. The fact that we were all second-degree accelerated students was probably a consideration since none of us dressed particularly outrageously.
No artificial nails, no "wild" hair colors..makeup done little and tastefully...Plain wedding bands, facial hair(for us men) done trimmed and neat...only white colors. uniform ONLY at clinicals..not at school/store/anywhere else.
hair off collar, one set of post earrings, no loops or etc....
It is the same as most dress codes, just to promote patient safety..
My school had a very precise uniform. we had to be pressed and starched every day or we were sent home. We could wear makeup, but only subtle, natural hair color, small earrings, only a wedding band, hair off the collar, bun preferred. All white shoes with no scuffs. I see why they have us look sharp. It makes us look professional, and gets us ready for the working world. My class was told on many occassions how sharp we looked. It made me proud...
My NS isn't super super strict about stuff like that....
Hair off face if it touches shoulders
It says in our handbook no visible tattoos but no one seemed to bother if you have them visible (ex: arm band)
Shoes are supposed to be white but i've worn normal running shoes and haven't ever gotten in trouble in over 3 yrs of clinical
Scrubs any color...school name badge. Scrubs just have to be clean, I always just threw mine in the dryer to get the wrinkles out...who has time to iron? If you forget your name badge make a name badge out of paper and tape it on your top with tape
As long as we look clean and tidy they don't seem to be too bad
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
I was given an unsatisfactory once for showing up to breakfast with my preceptor in earrings and a necklace. This one instructor had it in for me and saw me in the hospital bathroom as I was changing for clinical, before I took off my jewelry. She even went so far as to give me the unsatisfactory, even though she was not my instructor. Told me that the only necklaces we couold wear were religious medallions. I asked her to show me that in the handbook, because I knew she was making it up, and she just got madder. That still steams me to this day.
Years later, seven to be exact, I ran into some of her students, and asked if she was still such a tyrant. They said she had had cancer and since then had been much nicer. Now, I'm not so vindictive to be mean about an illness, but I did find it amazing that that was what it took for her to stop being such a pill.
Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.
Pretty much the same for me too. Could wear subtle makeup, everything else the same. Had dreeses of blue and white which only looked good on size 4 and none of us were. And the cap. Could only wear it in the hospital; had to be carried out. Mine lives in its case somewhere in the back of my closet.
For clinicals we wore scrubs and white shoes that were to be kept very clean.
We could wear small earrings but no jewels in other piercings. Watches, and plain wedding bands were also allowed.
We could wear ponytails, braids or buns if we had long hair. Most of us did.
No fake nails, clear polish and no visible tattoos.
We could wear makeup but were asked to keep it light and natural.
No perfume which I loved because I have bad allergies. Also, no heavy body creams. That came up when one of the students smelled like she had on the entire store of Bath & Body works. The instructor said it before anyone even had to complain. It was that bad. .
None of us made a fuss over any of it nor did it seem unreasonable. I thought we looked cute and natural.
Back in the early 80's we wore all white and I always knew when I was doing good cause the only complaint I got was to polish my shoes. Once while in my surgery rotation I over slept (was in the dorms across the street) got dressed and ran to get changed into surgical scrubs but I forgot my cap so I had to get dressed go get my cap just to take it off and put it in a locker. Very militaristic, stand when the Dr. enters the station give up your chair for the D r. etc...
School uniform...dress or pantsuit version with button-on bib edged in navy blue (btw two of the buttons were positioned right smack where pasties would be applied) nursing tights, white lace-up nursing shoes, all the other stuff people said PLUS very large ugly cap which gave us bald spots and got caught in IV tubing and privacy curtains. Cap had blue velvet stripes to indicate our level. We got demerits if we were found sans cap while on clinical (this included walking to the hospital) but also got demerits if found with cap when we were not "on-duty".
Ang_RN
191 Posts
Yeah obviously you could get in alot of trouble if you stopped by the local daquiri place in uniform. Not an issue for me, I only drink at home.
I would just die if we HAD to wear support hose. We can wear white socks, not ankle socks though and that is what I am used to. I will be okay though as long as I don't have to wear support hose!! :)