PaulaP

I started out wearing white and a cap in the late '70's. I was very proud of my "uniform" at the time. At the hospital I work at back then everyone on the floor wore white and wearing a cap was what distinguished the RN's from the aides. Then, the hospital gave the aides a 6 week training course and guess what? They got a cap at the end of their training! Talk about a slap in the face! So, everyone wore white and everyone had a cap and you couldn't tell anyone apart except for the name tag. I now work in the hospital based LTC facility and we can wear almost anything we want but our shoes have to be white-go figure. I wear many colorful scrub outfits that I sew myself and constantly recieve comments on how great my outfits are from family members and our residents. I believe my professional conduct speaks for itself and I always introduce myself as a registered nurse to our new admits and their families. We do have one RN who still wears her cap to work. We graduated from the same SON about a year apart. Her cap is irreplaceable at this point because our SON no longer gives out caps- just the school pin!

I work in a hospital represented by NYSNA and we are NOT a closed shop. The union represents all RN's whether they are a member of the union or not.