Nurses wearing white

allamericangirl · Jan 19, 2005

When I started the nurses wore white or Caribien Blue, the cna's another, respiratory therapists another and so on. I was a pt at that hospital when I had two of my babies and for 2 minor surgerys. Guess what....When I was hired on I had NO IDEA that the nurses and CNA could be identified by their uniforms. Unless the pt is told on admission then how are they to know.
PLUS ... why should a patient have to be troubled to memorize and then have to remember that a CNA is pink, a Nurse is blue, who ever is yellow, etc?! Most patients in a hospital have no clue as to the hospital pecking order, and they shouldn't have to. Hospital staff being able to identify themselves to co workers is a problem, I agree, but without the PATIENT you are out of business. The Patient is the whole tamale! What the patient thinks that they need and want is the priority, not what you, the medical professional, think you need and want. If a majority of patients don't feel that their hospital experience in your facility was a good experience, eventually your facility is out of business and you are looking for a job!
"Trust me...a pt in pain is not going to distinquish between colors of uniforms...."oh that's the same blue the other nurse wore....all nurses must wear it!"
BINGO! This is why like uniforms are important!!
"My big peeve is that managment wanted to keep it that way so pt could tell staff apart. But on our name badge we have our last name printed ( I don't lik that. and on an approx 2 1/2 inch by 4inch name badge my title (RN) is not bigger than the type in this post. HELLO!!!!!Wouldn't it help if someone with 20/20 would be able to read my title, let alone the 85 yo lady that forgot her glasses. "
BINGO Again! This kind of thought runs hand in hand with the medical "professional" who thinks that they wear disposable gloves to keep themselves from getting germs instead of thinking that they wear disposable gloves to prohibit the spread of germs! It is not about you, it is about the patient.
"We have our policy changed. Now any scrubs that are clean, "look nice". Except for black?????Duh...someone suggested maybe it looked morbid. I think that Black scrub pants look nice with a print shirt. I think Managment walking around in a black dress or skirt with heels look more like a funeral procession than a nurse with black scrub pants. ....but whatever".

I think that keeping lint from linens and powder from disposable gloves off black and navy would probably be a full time job, other than that, black or navy does look sharp. I agree, that management in all black is a little morbid.

I met with a nurse recruiter fron Exempla yesterday. She wore the most gorgeous soft light grey/blue blouse in a soft fabric, with the company logo embroidered on the front and grey dress slacks. She looked very professional, tasteful and approachable. A great choice for company attire.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jan 19, 2005

Marie - that is funny. :chuckle
steph

It surprised me actually. I was expecting the white uniform would have better results, but the solid color scrubs received the most positive comments.

rnmaven · Jan 19, 2005

Some of the nurses - not all by any means - and especially those on nightshift - come to work looking very sloppy - probably don't like to spend money on work clothing.

As usual........somebody always picks on the nightshift. Who said we don't care what we look like? I spend a great deal of time making sure my uniforms are taken care of and are crisp and ironed when I arrive to work.......how I look at the end of 14 hours of hell is another matter.

flashpoint · Jan 19, 2005

LOL...I work night shift so I can wear my old gray uniforms that look like I slept in them. I also like nights because I can either sleep all night or crochet or surf the internet or read trashy magazines. What more can you expect from someone who isn't smart enough to secure a position on day shift? :)

Mystery5 · Jan 19, 2005

LOL...I work night shift so I can wear my old gray uniforms that look like I slept in them. I also like nights because I can either sleep all night or crochet or surf the internet or read trashy magazines. What more can you expect from someone who isn't smart enough to secure a position on day shift? :)

Shhhhh, you don't want them in on our little secret!!! :rolleyes:

rnmaven · Jan 19, 2005

LOL...I work night shift so I can wear my old gray uniforms that look like I slept in them. I also like nights because I can either sleep all night or crochet or surf the internet or read trashy magazines. What more can you expect from someone who isn't smart enough to secure a position on day shift? :)

Good one! I had a disagreement with a confused elderly gentleman the other night who said to me......"with that sarcastic attitude of yours now I know WHY they KEEP you on nights!" I said.......well, you'll be surprised to know that they don't KEEP me on nights.......I CHOOSE to work nights!

As always.....the usual generalizations/stereotypes. And of course that's why administration feels that they need to TELL nurses what to wear and mandate a color that is not realistic to wear given the less than glamorous work that we do at the bedside.........but I KNOW.......what work? Don't the patients sleep all night?

Mystery5 · Jan 19, 2005

At least us night shift people aren't a bunch of rigid, brownnosing uber-nurses whose last job was prison matron at Attica State Penitentary...

Yeah, right, how 'uncharitable' of me...:rotfl:

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jan 19, 2005

LOL...I work night shift so I can wear my old gray uniforms that look like I slept in them. I also like nights because I can either sleep all night or crochet or surf the internet or read trashy magazines. What more can you expect from someone who isn't smart enough to secure a position on day shift?

Now, now, now, you forgot the newpaper's crossword puzzle in your list of stuff to do!

nursegoodguy · Jan 20, 2005

We have to wear white or if we wear anything else we have to have a lab coat on and CAN'T take it off until we are through with our shift!

I don't really care what color I wear, if it's all white then it's a pretty easy choice of what I'll wear today!

However, white is not the most practical color choice for all the reasons that have been previously mentioned and having to wear a lab coat is not practical either as you are running into an emergency situation or just "running" all day in a hot lab coat!

I think the biggest reason the suits decide to make us wear white is that it "looks professional"...

I'm sorry but I really have a hard time with people just wanting you to "look the part"! That's like saying, "just ACT like you know what you are doing"!

It takes a whole heck of a lot more that a white uniform to make a good nurse!

And YES I do think that if you come in contact with patients your facility should take care of the uniforms and the laundry! C'mon folks it's not like we're stocking shelves! We are coming in contact with a whole lot of bad stuff that we can take home to our loved ones!

It would be perfect to have a locker room with showers and uniforms!

So with all that said, I need to find white boxers with Big Red Hearts to wear under those white pants and for Valentines day! Not really! I'll get socks with hearts! LOL

Bastian · Jan 20, 2005

I work in the Netherlands, here everyone wears white, nurses, docs, kitchen staff, cleaning staff, ICU staff too. Only OR and recovery personnel wear scrubs. I haven't had any problems with stains but luckily the hospital takes care of the laundry (it's even compulsory because of some hygiene rule in the hospital).

I think the only problem is that the patients usually can't see the difference beetween a nurse, a doc and someone from the kitchen staff... can't understand why they haven't come up with some color-coding scheme or something else... really very confusing. Doc's sometimes wear long white coats but the young ones usually prefer the short jackets with white pants (same as nurses uniform).

Oh yes... and one big problem is that white is very shine-through... most people wear white t-shirts under their jackets. Some women shouldn't wear thongs under their uniforms... it shows!

When I see US nurses on TV, i've seen some nice scrubs I'd like to wear too. I just don't get the scrubs with the (what are they?) little flowers on them? I think that's awful and would rather wear white than that! (OK I'm a guy so I think I haven's seen guys wearing that on TV). :chuckle

OK, good luck to everyone switching to white!

TexasNS · Jan 20, 2005

Wow and I am complaining that our hospital is going to color code Rns,Lvns,Aids, and unit clerks.

I dont know I wore white scrubs yesterday to clinicals for the first time (i used to wear the zipper top yuck) and I thought I looked pretty darn sharp in them and also got a couple of compliments from the patients. I have seen plenty of unprofesional looking scrubs but I dont think the uniform colored nurses will fix that.

Making sure al nurses are actually wearing scrubs and not t-shirts under open scrub jackets, or polo shirts would probably be the better attack. Whatever the dress code unless they are provided by the facility people will find ways to circumvent the "code" ie hip hugger tight a**ed flare bottom white pants and a blue thong, with low v-neck tight scrub top. I wont lie I think they look good on some nurses but maybe on "Night Shift Nurses Getting Busy" not in the real world.

holden2 · Jan 20, 2005

The hospital has decreed that all nurses will wear white in the near future. Despite a petition to administration voicing the opinions of the nurses that overwhelmingly the majority of nurses working at the bedside do not want to wear white, the policy has stood firm and the deadline to change to white is rapidly approaching.

My quesion is......do you think that nurses should be forced to wear white? Do you think nurses should all wear the same uniform?

I finished nursing school in 1977 so I actually wore white uniforms (no scrubs) and a cap. It didn't take long to lose the cap and slowly, the trend to wear colored scrubs evolved.

The thought of wearing white all the time just really turns me off. I find it totally impractical and over time, it will gray and stain and tend to need more frequent replacing.

What do you think?

May I suggest, I believe we have gotten so slack in our culture that an attempt to return to some form of formality especially in this profession is being tried. I am wearing white for the first time in many years myself. I don't object however. I, also am of the same era as you. I think you have a job far and apart from most and you do stand out from most professions. Just my opinion.