Scrubs - what do you wear?

[pinkiepie_RN]

Alright, it's laundry time in my house and all of my scrubs are gathered together. I'm realizing that I have at least 4 butterfly scrub tops and barely any plain solid tops. I'm a bubbly person and love it when my scrubs bring a smile to a patient's face (I'm in psych, so that's not always easy) and I was just wondering about what everyone else wears. Sometimes when I'm down to the last pair of scrubs, I'll wear a set of hospital issued scrubs, but I think it can sometimes remind patients that I'm a person too, not just a medication dispenser with a set of questions to ask and notes to chart.

Any other birds of a feather out there?

[casi, ASN, RN]

Right now I tend to be wearing solid colors. I own a few prints, but they are all fairly muted floral/butterfly type prints. I haven't really worn a lot of them lately due to an increase in body mass

When I buy prints I try to look for something respectful. I would hate to be in a room pronouncing a patient dead in scooby-doo scrubs or a bright neon green pattern with tons of tacky pink hearts.

[kids]

I own 12 sets of Dickie scrubs, all color block tops (with matching pants). Not a fan of prints, especially cartoonish ones but I do own a couple of print jackets.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

I personally do not like cartoonish scrubs, such as Disney characters, etc. I think they bring your professionalism down a notch. I prefer solids in primary colors. I wear crew socks, never "ankle" ones. Perfectly clean white nursing shoes. The tackiest thing I see nurses wear is thong underwear showing above their pants, and bare ankles. Or scrubs that are obviously too tight. You might be the best nurse out there, but perception is everything. Patients and their family members want to see a nurse who looks like a professional. It would be hard for me to look professional with Tinker Bell on my scrubs! Again, perception is everything; if you look sloppy, the patients see you as sloppy.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

Once I bought a pair of pink scrubs. The color did nothing for me, and my son said I looked like a giant bottle of Pepto-Bismol (I am tall.) Needless to say, I never wear pink anymore!

[noahsmama]

I always thought that one of the best thing about working in peds was wearing fun scrubs. My favorite was a top with dolphins jumping above ocean waves -- kids tended to really like this one. I had another one with cartoon pictures of smiling kids and handprints in brightly colored paints that said "kids rule!" on it. I had seasonal ones with snowflakes and snowmen on it (not that it ever snows in the Bay Area where I live).

I also had solid colors which I liked to mix and match. Had the full head to toe Pepto Bismol colored ones, but wearing tops and bottoms of that color together was a bit much, so I would wear black or blue bottoms with the pink top, or vice versa.

I don't feel like patients or their families took me less seriously or saw me as less professional because of the cartoon scrubs, but maybe it's expected in peds -- I wouldn't have worn the cartoons if I had been working with adults.

Now that I'm in public health, I wear "business casual" street clothes. Way less fun than the cartoon scrubs!

[StrwbryblndRN]

All white or all navy (no mix matching nor fun)

[DarkBluePhoenix]

I'm a solid color type person

[mamaxmaria]

As a tech in my hospital we have to wear solid hunter green scrubs....i hate it! it's so hard to find decent scrubs at a decent price in this color. The only ones I can afford feel like cardboard.....

I did come across a nice pair of greys anatomy scrubs that I splurged on though...

And I found some $6 dickies black label scrubs at a bargain store in my city.... they aren't green so I only wear them on the weekends :-)

Also the ER and the ICU were given t-shirts by our old managers that we wear on the weekends now :-)

[CrimsonAlchemist]

I have a set of flower print scrubs that I got a Walmart for CNA clinicals that I love(and are so comfy!)...I'm about to start an RN program and I think our uniform is white scrubs...Meh...

[Flo., BSN, RN]

I love fun prints on tops. Unfortunately my hospital decided to color code staff. I personally think colorful or printed scrubs make the nurse look more approachable and human.

One poster said that bare ankles are unprofessional. Really? I don't understand how the length of my socks impacts my professionalism.

[kukula]

As a guy, I dont really have much choice when it comes to scrubs. So all my scrubs are solid whites. I currently work full time in a hospital and will be doing per diem in a LTC facility soon. I figured all white is a "safe" color, allowing me to use it in the long term. I dont really want to invest a lot on scrubs. Btw I use Dickies. I recently bought 2 sets of Aviators and I think they are awesome. Havent used them yet though since havent had the time to laundry them