Nursing uniforms

ClariceS · Jun 15, 2000

About 2 years ago, our hospital went to a practice based uniform system. All the nurses have to wear royal blue, respiratory in green, physical therapy in dark blue/green, housekeeping in navy, etc. Of course, at first it was met with resistance but they way they put it, either wear it or find another job. Now it is kind of nice because it is easy for us to tell everyone apart. It was supposed to be for the patients but unless they are "frequent flyers" they don't notice that only the nurses wear the royal, resp the green etc. NO I don't think nurses should all wear white. At least our royal hides some of the messes we come into contact with. I'm sure some patients would like that but my job on a surgical floor is too messy for that. I also like that we get to wear scrub clothes even if we have no choice in the color. They are comfortable and easy to care for.

jgnc · Jun 15, 2000

Liked it a lot better when we had to wear white uniforms. Like the other post said-unless you're a "frequent flyer" patients don't know what department is what. Everybody expects the nurses to be in white! I know it's a little harder to keep white clean, but... My mom was recently hospitalized at a facility out of my area. It took me days to figure out who was who.

Nancy1 · Jun 16, 2000

I work in LTC. The nurses and CNAs wear white pants or skirts and can wear a colored top. They are not allowed to wear tee shirts with writing on them. NA

JillR · Jun 16, 2000

Where I work now we wear scrubs of any color we wish. Can wear shorts if they are loose and cant be higher that 3 inches above the knee.

At A nursing home I used to work for we could wear anything we wanted evcept blue jean. Jeans of any other color were acceptable. Name tags wer optional. The residents seemed to like it alot. I'm not sure but I think tee shirts with writing on were not acceptable either. The residents said it made them feel more at home, if we dressed in street clothes. I liked this alot as street clothes are (most of the times) not as expensive as uniforms.

PPL, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2000

At our hospital, we can wear any type of scrubs, any color/print. The dress code is pretty loose. Mine are camouflage, ha-ha!

bunky, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2000

I think we should all wear those lovely lacy coffee filter type nursing caps that identify us as TV sitcom maids. And on nightshift when we run out of coffee filters and HAVE to have that caffeine fix, we can choose who has the cleanest hair and use the cap!

I'd NEVER go back to the days of all white! I like my coloured undies and my thongs Ha! ha! (just kidding about the thongs)

[This message has been edited by bunky (edited June 16, 2000).]

YADA-YADA · Jun 16, 2000

I wouldnt wear all white. Forget it. They can read my name tag ato see who I am and besides I always introduce myself to my pts.

We can wear any colrs we want. If they made us all fo to one color, i would one of the ones to leave. I like my individuality.

Julie, RN · Jun 16, 2000

At my medical center nurses wear white and navy blue in any style/combination they wish.

Trauma Columnist · Jun 17, 2000

In our ER, we wear ciel blue pants and either ciel blue or white or one particular patterned top. We used to have scrubs furnished by the hospital because of the frequent soilage but we now pay for our own. No clothing allowance - ha, ha. Would like to have my choice of scrubs also.

justanurse · Jun 18, 2000

At our hospital, licensed personnel wear white, ciel blue, or combination of the two. PCA's wear royal. HUC's wear navy. RT wears forest green. Housekeeping wears light blue & print shirts. Dietary wears white clothes & black smocks. Surgery & maybe CCL are the only ones I know of that get a uniform allowance. Surgery, I'm sure of gets 5 uniforms, then if they require more than that, they have to purchase their own like the rest of us. We used to be able to wear any scrubs, colored/prints, but that changed this year. We also cannot wear cuffed pants, looks too much like jogging pants.

I don't think we should all wear white. I'm not sure I like to be color-coded either. I prefer to introduce myself to my patients, and wear my nametag to identify who and what I am. I liked it better when I had a little bit of individuality at work. I don't think it'll make our patient satisfaction numbers increase any, or our morale either.

PPL, BSN, RN · Jun 18, 2000

At one time I was working 12hr shifts on an acute physical rehab unit. They made us wear street clothes, so the atmosphere was more like home and "normal" but I was surveying the other nurses, and fighting to allow us to wear scrubs. One time I was doing a G-tube feeding and the person sneezed and the GT contents flew out on my pants. I had only been at work for 45min, so had the whole noc to go, while smelling lke bile, etc. I refused to do it, took my clothes off, threw 'em in the washer and put on hospital PJ pants and a gown. The patients had a good laugh too.