Scrubs in the Emergency Department

[Krystall]

Hey Guys

I am trying to gather some info about the prevalence of scrubs being worn by nursing staff in the emergency department.

We are trying to instigate it in the emergency department I work in, however management don't believe that this is a common form of attire for emerg nurses. What I am trying to do is get an estimate of how many hospitals world wide do this to be able to present it as part of our case for getting scrubs into our emergency department.

Please leave any comments on if you do or don't and any benefits or negative you feel there are, and if anyone knows any good literature sites I would be very grateful.

Thanks

Krystall

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Your post begs the question ... what do you wear if you're not wearing scrubs?

Personally, I have to wear an Army uniform to work in my ER -- I'm in the Army, it's an Army hospital. It's not easy to work in uniform, and my head nurse believes it is also an infection control issue as our uniforms are bulky, have long sleeves, etc. Our civilian nurses wear scrubs. Every ER I've been in and worked in, scrubs scrubs scrubs. :)

[Robublind]

I'm a little confused by your question. Are you asking if the hospital proves scrubs like the OR? or do you have the white nursing uniform ie "Dixie from Emergency tv show"?

In our ER, the staff buys their own scrubs (basically anything tasteful goes, thank God we don't have to wear white), only the OR staff have scrubs provided to them.

The case is made that the OR is considered "clean" ie change your dirty street cloths before you come in. In the ER "clean" is a relative word ie you want to change those cloths after you have been in there.

[Robublind]

Your post begs the question ... what do you wear if you're not wearing scrubs?

Personally, I have to wear an Army uniform to work in my ER -- I'm in the Army, it's an Army hospital. It's not easy to work in uniform, and my head nurse believes it is also an infection control issue as our uniforms are bulky, have long sleeves, etc. Our civilian nurses wear scrubs. Every ER I've been in and worked in, scrubs scrubs scrubs. :)

Just curious, could you describe your uniform. I was looking a army.com and I see most of the nurses in there videos in lime green scrubs. Do you wear the heavy camo or the uniform that needs to be dry cleaned and pressed?

[Krystall]

We wear formal pants or skirt with stockings and a shirt or polo-shirt with the hospital logo. It can be very impractical to work in at times!

It is a hospital wide based uniform.

[Robublind]

We wear formal pants or skirt with stockings and a shirt or polo-shirt with the hospital logo. It can be very impractical to work in at times!

It is a hospital wide based uniform.

Which country are based in? Just curious, I know as an American we like to ask this and in many places this is considered rude. So please forgive my Americanism.

The way I would approach management is from an infection control point of view. (this is how many nurses lost their nursing cap). Polo shirts have large holes in the weave and could trap germs. Scrubs are a tighter weave and less likely to harbor germs. Im sure a good google search on scrubs and infection control. This should give you the amno you need, at least for the shirts.

[mybrowneyedgirl, BSN, RN]

Navy scrubs required by my previous ER. Navy scrubs with hospital logo given to us by our new ER. In both hospitals, every department wears scrubs too.

[VICEDRN, BSN, RN]

scrubs.white ones too.Good luck!

[cbrown545]

I work in Georgia, and we all wear scrubs. I have worked in Maine, Boston and Philip, and there we also wore...and are still wearing scrubs! With the rush and the types of pts we see in the ER, how can you not wear anything but?

[BelgianRN]

In our ER (in Belgium) we wear either full white cotton scrubs or a white scrub top with flashy orange pants with reflective tape around the legs.

It needs to be cotton and not the normal material for the rest of the hospital for when we operate the hyperbaric chamber. But it looks horrible as it isn't ironed properly by the linnen service.

The orange pants are worn by the nurses that are assigned on prehospital duties and interclinical transports.

All nurses wear safety shoes.

I've been to the majority of the ER's in our province and most wear different color scrubs where green and navy blue are the most common colors, but I personally like bordeaux red scrubs.

[Dixielee, BSN, RN]

I can't remember when the trend of wearing scrubs in the ED began, but it was a long time ago! I've worked ER for almost 40 years, and looking back, I can only remember wearing white uniforms ( and caps) the first few years. I know we had transitioned into scrubs by 1981 because I was wearing maternity scrubs!

Scrubs are so much easier to work in, much easier to clean, very light weight and practical. We can wear any kind we want now as long as they are tasteful and professional but I have worked in areas where a certain color was assigned. We can wear the standard hospital green scrubs that are dispensed out of machine in the ED or wear our own. You can't wear the hospital issued ones home.

I have also been a travel nurse, and worked in many hospitals and all of the ED staffs wore scrubs.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Just curious, could you describe your uniform. I was looking a army.com and I see most of the nurses in there videos in lime green scrubs. Do you wear the heavy camo or the uniform that needs to be dry cleaned and pressed?

We wear the Army Combat Uniform (ACUs -- Army Combat Uniform - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), which are the camouflage kind, not the formal dress uniform. Some of the Army nurses elsewhere in the hospital do wear scrubs, though -- like in the OR.