I have been thinking about the nursing debates on uniforms for a couple of years, and I have an idea. I know everyone won't like it, but I think it is a compromise. I know it won't work in places that dictate what we wear unless changes are implemented.
The problem:
Nurses have no way of deferentiating themselves from other occupations who wear the same exact clothing.
Nurses receive, in general, more respect and compliments when they are wearing traditional type nursing uniforms.
The one symbol that set us apart from the maids and others was the nursing cap, which is no longer practical in most areas of practice.
Patients are confused and often ask non nurses for nursing advice b/c "they all look the same." Unfortunatly, there are plenty of people who wear scrubs, who are not nurses but are always ready to give out advice. PLACING PATIENTS AT RISK. (not yelling, just making it stand out on the page)
Nurses want their own identity, style, and uniqueness and, will never agree on one style.
The possible answer:
Taking the color choice from the English nurses to provide consistancy as well as tradition and b/c it is one of the most popular colors picked by people as a favorite.
To make nurses stand out from all other occupations, to increase patient safety, to maintain our own styles, to wear or to not wear the cap will be the same-personal preferance, we could wear:
dark blue bottoms, white top, dark blue or lighter blue jacket prn.
Pedi nurses could sew on some cute things for the kids to wear even. You could wear your cap, if you choose.
If we all wore the same colors, implemented policy at work that no others can wear those colors and that only we can, we would become recognizable to all. You could choose any style you want, from dress slacks, capris, skirts, to scrub pants, from a white blouse to a T-shirt, from a dress jacket to a scrub jacket. This way all nurses, in any capacity, could become uniform and recognizable. We could phase out our old uniforms for the new ones, pass the word, and within a year, have a grass roots effort that would change.........a lot!
