Is this uniform appropriate?

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As a guy, i'm not a fan of scrub tops and fortunately my place of work allows us to wear polo style shirts instead. I intend to wear a shirt tucked in with some black or khaki colored emt/tactical pants. I prefer those pants to typical scrub bottoms in part because of the fit, but also because I "feel" more professional when my shirt is tucked in and i'm wearing a belt.

I've read threads where some people have worn the emt/tactical pants instead of typical scrub bottoms which gave me the impression that the two were interchangeable. So I guess my question is:

In your experience, do you consider emt/tactical pants to be worn as scrub bottoms "appropriate"? (Also, I will be working in a psych environment)

I'm basically wanting my uniform to look like khaki's and a polo as much as possible while still looking like a medical professional.

Thank you all in advance for your time and responses. This may be an odd post, but i'm excited for this new job and I want to look and feel my best.

(I probably should have put this in the uniform section, but I was hoping to start off here for some more views.)

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I would check with your employer about your pants. I say if your comfortable and they allow it, who cares what anyone else thinks.

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Making sure your clothes are clean, neat and wrinkle free goes a long way towards looking professional. I agree with above, as long as it's allowed, go for it. Congrats on the new job!

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Specializes in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes.

My husband wears tactical pants and a polo for his job. I feel he looks professional and his clothing is functional for him. So if you employer has no dress code excluding the pants, I say be comfortable.

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Specializes in Hospice, Case Mgt., RN Consultant, ICU.

Seems like you would be wearing street clothes in psych. I think it is hard to look professional in scrubs. I personally don't understand why staff outside of the OR started wearing scrubs. Of course, for Peds the little bears and ducks look less intimidating for the children. Scrubs look like PJs.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

Check certainly, but our required wear in the state psych hospital where I worked was khaki or navy docker style pants with navy, white, or tan polo shirts. Our name, title, and the hospital's name were embroidered on the polo.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Hi BurgundySwanson,

I bought scrubs from Aviator based in TX. http://aviators2.ipower.com/shop/2-stock-pants

You may find those "scrub" pants to be more of what you're looking for. They're still "scrubs" in name and are easily washable, but they are set up much more like EMT tactical pants. They incorporate a belt that cinches to the right fit. They also have a ton of pockets which might not be necessary for your niche, but are great where I work. I've had them for about 4 months now and they're holding up great. I love 'em.

I looked long and hard for a cool pair of scrub pants, and this was the only option I've seen aside from going the tactical pants route.

Good luck!

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Specializes in Medical Surgical & Nursing Manaagement.

I always thought in a psych enviornment street clothes are the "uniform". My feeling is as long as your clothing is neat, clean, pressed and fits appropriately and does not violate your institution's dress code, it should be fine.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Neuro/Oncology floor nursing..

Just be sure you're not violating the dress code. Where I work we can wear whatever we want except certain colors...like doctors always wear green scrubs, surgeons always wear periwinkle blue scrubs etc. It's pretty much a way to tell the doctors apart from the rest of the staff. Resident doctors wear gray scrubs and medical students wear navy blue scrub pants with white scrub shirts The PA's have to wear Teal and the NP's have to wear red and the CNMs wear white....basically if you treat and patient and have prescribing privileges you have to wear your assigned color..don't ask me why...that's the way it's been in this hospital for decades. Other than that we nurses, scrub techs, CNA's, clerks and the rest of the staff can wear whatever color we want as long as it doesn't conflict with the above(boring) colors. I personally prefer(depending on the season) seasonal/holiday scrubs or basically anything from the S.C.R.U.B.S. brand.

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Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I've gotten into contact with some co-workers and it seems to fall in line with the dress code. Now I just have to make sure that I don't look too similar to the paramedics who may come and go. Seems like their uniforms are really similar.

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You're working in Psych. You can wear what you want. It would probably work against you if you dressed in scrub pants. The Psych nurses at my hospital dress in regular street clothes.

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Specializes in Psych.
You're working in Psych. You can wear what you want. It would probably work against you if you dressed in scrub pants. The Psych nurses at my hospital dress in regular street clothes.

I guess when our unit opened they did street clothes, but now we wear solid colored scrubs. I'm glad we wear scrubs, much easier to move in.

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