Scrubs: Are Colorful Ones Unprofessional?

[purplegal]

So, I recently accepted a position where the dress code is very laid back. Any style or color works, and you can even wear front prints. While I am able to and plan to wear my navy scrubs from my previous nursing job to this one, I had thought about buying one or two "fun tops" for the weekend. However, someone advised me to stick with the navy blue so I look and feel more professional. What are your opinions? Are colorful scrubs less professional than more neutral/traditional colored scrubs?

[Farawyn]

KelRN215 said:

Couldn't resist.

You know it.

[holliewood]

My first nursing job was in a children's hospital. Prints reigned supreme! I was always more of a solids fan, but I was always impressed by the nurses who could pull off professional in a Dora the Explorer scrub top.

I found that when you are wearing a "fun" or printed top; you have to be extra careful about how the rest of the outfit works. A too baggy top will look like pajamas. A wrinkled top, disheveled hair, or poorly done make up will make you look sloppy.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

When I started working where I work they had a color coded dress code- all solids. Nurses wore maroon, aides wore navy, RT wore light blue, dietary wore red- etc. The long LOS patients complained saying it was boring and it got unofficially dropped as it was enforced less and less, then officially dropped.

I have no problem with brightly colored scrubs and patterned scrubs. I hate seeing nurses outside of peds wearing cartoon characters, though. I would think as a physician it would be hard to take someone dressed in Betty Boop or Garfield seriously if they're telling you they disagree with more diureses.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

In the hospital we wore navy pants and white tops. It looked sharp. I do think patients of a certain age like to see nurses in white.

Now I'm in a HS, and I have to be cool. Or at least try. Black scrubs.

Navy pants and a white top was my school uniform so I avoid that combo at all costs. But one school round here's uniform is all white with red trim, so I couldn't complain.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

I worked in Peds and at first we had a strict dress code, but after a few years of working there they opened it up to pretty much any color or pattern of scrubs. I have seen some beautiful nature/animal/flower/etc. prints and some adorable cartoon prints that some people I work with pull off really well. I rarely wear prints, and I think I only own one cartoon scrub top (Curious George); I feel like being very short and kind of with a perky/smiley/dorky personality, that the solids help me look a little more professional and help parents trust me more. But I love seeing the cool prints on other people!! The kids like them too, especially Doc McStuffins

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I like simple prints for scrub tops. I wouldn't wear anything with a cartoon character or a theme unless I worked with kids.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

I do think garish scrubs look unprofessional. You don't see PAs and MDs wearing scrubs with giant flowers on and personally I think it looks silly. That's my own inner prejudice though, and I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else what to wear. Recently I was at a hospital where all the RNs wore one color, the RTs another color and techs a different color. It helped people pick out who was who which I liked. In the ICU I wore navy scrubs with a white long sleeved shirt and I felt comfortable like that. I think colorful scrubs have a place in children's hospitals only.

[irishicugal]

In ireland every hospital has a dress code. Some hospitals even have a hospital crest on the top. Nurses, aides, physios, dietitians etc all wear the same as each other, a specific colour for each discipline. Paeds wear cartoon characters in a lot of places, but in the paeds hospitals they actually have a uniform. It's sooooo boring, I'd love to wear pretty flowers or butterflies!! [emoji22]

[RNperdiem, RN]

Do you wear those kind of clothes with novelty prints outside of work? Where I work, nobody wears prints. They are considered a bit tacky.

[Fiona59]

Do you wear those kind of clothes with novelty prints outside of work? Where I work, nobody wears prints. They are considered a bit tacky.

Thank you!

i was thinking this just the other day. An who in their right mind with 56 inch hips would buy lime grin dress pants, sugary pink?

most in my building have gone back to solids. Snowflake prints are big in Dec/Jan.

[SnowShoeRN]

When I worked peds I wore fun colorful scrubs. We were also encouraged to wear T shirts with contemporary cartoon characters/children's characters on them. I got a lot of mileage out of my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Harry Potter, and Sponge Bob T shirts.

There have been a few studies showing that peds patients (and their parents) tend to trust nurses more if the nurses are wearing colorful scrubs or prints.

Color debate: What your scrubs say | Scrubbed In: A Nurse.com Blog

I also once read that nurses who wear prints tend to "fit in" more with their colleagues and not be treated so much of an outcast, which I thought was fascinating.

Still, when I was working adult inpatient I stuck with neutrals - mostly blues but also sometimes grays, greens, whites, and browns.

I just never felt all that comfortable in colorful prints and, when I have been a patient, prefer my nurses not wear them. Unto each their own.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I always wore cartoon prints in my career, until three years ago; I started to wear solids and when the holidays rolled around, wore the holiday tops; I occasionally switched the scrub tops to T-shirts-NOT belly shirts; although in my career I would see residents wearing big scrub pants and belly t-shirts on off shifts saunter in patients rooms.

I worked mainly with adults the first 5 years of my healthcare career; when I became an LPN, I worked with both Peds and adults, and they didn't mind my Looney Tunes or cartoon Scrubs; most of the time, it was a conversation piece and it helped break the ice, even with older adults.

I think my professionalism transcended the uniform.

My last jobs had a dress code, so I ended up wearing a specific color; same for my current job, however, we are in the process of changing the dress code to different colors and acceptable T-shirts-since I work in Peds, wearing black is a tad morbid, but it helps when hiding stains from lunch.