I am taking part in a research project in my post-bacc nursing program which is looking at the history of nursing uniforms, as well as asking the question, "Should nurses return to wearing uniforms?" We are surveying nurses at a local hospital to get an idea of our area nurses' opinions; but would also like to get a wider variety of responses.
So, if you'd like to be part of this discussion, please answer the following:
1. How long have you been a nurse?
2. In what field of nursing are you working (I.e. long term care, acute care, rehab, etc.)?
3. Where geographically are you located?
4. What is your level of training? (I.e., ADN, LPN, CNA, BSN, masters or higher education level, CNP, CRNA, etc.)
5. Do you think nurses should return to wearing a uniform? Why or why not?
***to clarify-- By "uniform", I mean a move away from scrubs, to a uniform style that would be recognized across regions as belonging to "nursing". This could include the "all-white" uniform, or nursing caps. Whatever it would be, the standard would be set by the nursing profession, for all professionals to follow***
6. If you think nurses should return to a uniform, what type of uniform do you think nurses should wear?
5. yes, i think that nurses should have a uniform just for them. in my hospital cnas, housekeeping, radiology techs,dieticians, etc. wear scrubs. you can't tell that someone is a nurse unless you are close enough to read their id badge.
6. i don't think that we should go back to white caps because that would not be practical today with all the men that we have in nursing. (thank god!) working around too much estrogen can get old. but i do think that the uniforms should be white. we should look immaculately clean and professional.
5) & 6): NO WAY!! I think it's the housekeeping and other ancillary staff that should be taken OUT of scrubs......not nurses! I'm all for looking professional, but it's possible to do so while wearing an outfit that is both comfortable and practical. I myself would quit before I'd go back to whites, especially dresses.......I need to be able to bend and stretch and move freely if I'm to take proper care of my patients, and I don't want the evidence of what I've been doing all day visible all over my clothing either (even if it's just eating a bowl of vegetable soup!).
Obviously, nursing is always in a state of change in one way or another. Our hospital is one of the largest in the area. Different areas wear different color scrubs/uniforms. On our floor, it happens to be good old plain white. I work on a very busy 27 bed Ortho unit and blood and whites do not go together. With the amount of blood we transfuse, orthopats, drains, dressings, etc. We pressured for colored scrubs. This has been going on for 18 months now to go through all of these "committees" to be approved. We finally got approved for a very professional scrub but at least not white. However, at the same time, they did a public opinion poll and the public would like to see nurses in white....so we are stuck in our whites for now. I would like the public to be more concerned about the type of care they are getting, not that the nurse is in white.
I have been a nurse for 12 years, I work in a small hospital and do both ER and Med-surg. I am and ADN, within 4 classes of my BSN-MSN. I am from Missouri. And I wholeheartedly love white. I wear blue and white in the ER, and white in Med-surg. If you keep your uniforms up they stay white. I do it, it can be done, I probably sound like a meany but I am not I am very proud of being an RN, and think we should do what it takes to stand out visually for our patients and each other. Everyone but admin, and maint. in our hospital wears scrubs, but only nurses RNs and LPNs usually wear white. While I am at it let me throw in my two cents worth about nametags!!!! Several nurses in our hospital (and other folks too) put all manner of stuff all over their nametags, if I didn't already know who and what they were I sure couldn't figure it out, and I have normal vision and am not ill. Imagine what trouble sick, injured people, or just mixed up people have figuring out what we are. Well ope that helps your poll and by the way thanks for letting me vent. Particular
2. In what field of nursing are you working (i.e. long term care, acute care, rehab, etc.)? Have been in sub-acute and psych. Trying to get into NICU.
3. Where geographically are you located? Wisconsin
4. What is your level of training? (i.e., ADN, LPN, CNA, BSN, masters or higher education level, CNP, CRNA, etc.) ADN
5. Do you think nurses should return to wearing a uniform? I do not, for all the reasons previous posters have cited and a few more. I have worked in places where white was the mandatory color and here is what I remember. A small handful of nurses looked crisp and clean (at least at the beginning of the shift), but many more looked weary and gray.:stone If you live in a hard-water area, it doesn't take long for your whites to become yellows or grays no matter how much water softening you do or how many laundry additives you dump in. Whites are also unforgiving, stainwise. White originally became associated with healthcare because early hospitals bleached and boiled the heck out of everything and then dried it all in the sun. That was the only way to launder anything back then. I like to think we've progessed a little since then.
I don't like the colorless and starchy image that goes with whites either. I love it that, within reason, we can show a little personality on the job.:balloons: Goodness knows, there are enough areas where we have dance to the company tune.
And one last reason (it's trifling, I admit it). Except for healthy brides, I don't know very many people who look good in white. Unless you're dark-complexioned or very tan, it tends to leach all the color from your face and leave you looking sickly.
6. If you think nurses should return to a uniform, what type of uniform do you think nurses should wear? If someone insisted that my institution switch to uniforms, I'd say they should be as scrub-like as possible. Maybe navy pants and jackets for nurses and compatible top of choice.
Caps are out. I wouldn't want to waste two seconds (or ) for something that I consider, distracting and unnecessary.
I can appreciate that some patients might like to see nurses return to wearing white dresses and starched caps. I personally would like to see nuns (the few that are left) go back to the traditional habits that looked so good on Ingrid Bergman and Loretta Young and Celeste Holm. Both ideas should just be filed under N for nostalgia. I'm thankful there are so many wonderful scrubs out there.
2. In what field of nursing are you working (i.e. long term care, acute care, rehab, etc.)? Have been in sub-acute and psych. Trying to get into NICU.
3. Where geographically are you located? Wisconsin
4. What is your level of training? (i.e., ADN, LPN, CNA, BSN, masters or higher education level, CNP, CRNA, etc.) ADN
5. Do you think nurses should return to wearing a uniform? I do not, for all the reasons previous posters have cited and a few more. I have worked in places where white was the mandatory color and here is what I remember. A small handful of nurses looked crisp and clean (at least at the beginning of the shift), but many more looked weary and gray.:stone If you live in a hard-water area, it doesn't take long for your whites to become yellows or grays no matter how much water softening you do or how many laundry additives you dump in. Whites are also unforgiving, stainwise. White originally became associated with healthcare because early hospitals bleached and boiled the heck out of everything and then dried it all in the sun. That was the only way to launder anything back then. I like to think we've progessed a little since then.
I don't like the colorless and starchy image that goes with whites either. I love it that, within reason, we can show a little personality on the job.:balloons: Goodness knows, there are enough areas where we have dance to the company tune.
And one last reason (it's trifling, I admit it). Except for healthy brides, I don't know very many people who look good in white. Unless you're dark-complexioned or very tan, it tends to leach all the color from your face and leave you looking sickly.
6. If you think nurses should return to a uniform, what type of uniform do you think nurses should wear? If someone insisted that my institution switch to uniforms, I'd say they should be as scrub-like as possible. Maybe navy pants and jackets for nurses and compatible top of choice.
Caps are out. I wouldn't want to waste two seconds (or ) for something that I consider, distracting and unnecessary.
I can appreciate that some patients might like to see nurses return to wearing white dresses and starched caps. I personally would like to see nuns (the few that are left) go back to the traditional habits that looked so good on Ingrid Bergman and Loretta Young and Celeste Holm. Both ideas should just be filed under N for nostalgia. I'm thankful there are so many wonderful scrubs out there.
Miranda F. :)
The day nurses have to wear whites with nursing caps is the day I quit! Seriously! No kidding here. That couldn't be more impractical in todays nursing practice. Hey....todays nursing practice (and the medical practice in general) is completely different than 20 years ago. The public needs to "get over it" and "get educated".
This might be a bit off-topic here, but, rn/writer, as a Catholic, I can tell you that the nuns that are following the Pope's dictates still do wear traditional habits. The Daughters of St. Paul, the Dominicans, Mother Teresa's sisters, the Poor Clares... and the list goes on. There are quite a few traditional nuns left, thank God; all you have to do is look.
Err... I guess I better answer the original question posted if I don't want to have to duck rotten tomatoes and fruit on my way out! :behindpc:
I'm not a nurse yet, and have only been a CNA for a little over four months.
I work at a nursing home/retirement home.
Like I said, I'm currently a CNA, but am hoping to study to become an RN soon.
I have never worked in the white uniforms, so I may not be truly fit to judge. That said, yes, I do kind of wish nurses would go back to them, or at least the cute little caps. I know from when I was volunteering in a hospital how difficult it was to tell nurse from CNA, and the one nurse who did wear her cap got many appreciative comments from her patients. 'Sides, I'm kind of old-fashioned, and love the dignity and professionalism of the uniform.
If I find the dresses to be as impactical as everyone says they are when I become a nurse, I'll probably just stick to scrubs and a nursing cap.
I think caps are fine. And I never minded wearing mine. And while it is possible that there are germs on your cap, they can't be much worse than the shoes I see everyday. I don't have any problems with nurses wearing sneakers, I wear white New Balance, but they should be clean. I also think they should be left at work, and not worn in and out. Same thing with the jackets people wear over their scrubs, sometimes the ones our ER docs wear are gray to put it mildly.P
I think caps are fine. And I never minded wearing mine. And while it is possible that there are germs on your cap, they can't be much worse than the shoes I see everyday. I don't have any problems with nurses wearing sneakers, I wear white New Balance, but they should be clean. I also think they should be left at work, and not worn in and out. Same thing with the jackets people wear over their scrubs, sometimes the ones our ER docs wear are gray to put it mildly.P
Can you imagine . . .
. . . any kind of scenario in which a nurse's shoe might fall off onto a patient?
. . . the hullaballoo that would arise if anyone suggested that doctors might have to wear some kind of unwieldy formal headgear?
. . . what male nurses would think of wearing caps.:eek:
This last thought is the reason I think caps are gone for good. I can't see the legal department of any hospital okaying a requirement that applies to one sex and not the other. :eek:
well, they actually do inforce the caps in some hospitals. As far as 5 years ago, I know of many in the mid west and now the east. They are mostly priviatly owned hospitals and they actually are able to staff nurses with no problems. There are many of those "old fashioned" nurses out there that are willing to make good money, enjoy our jobs and the respect and wear our "old and outdated" uniforms. go ahead and laugh:rotfl: Nurses can be our own worst enemys. We don't do it for the fashion.
I understand many of these hospitals have a high senior and elderly population, are owned by doctors and they took the time to learn what the population in thier area wanted. What they did for the men? I don't know. It would be interesting to find out.
So if any of you that are reading this, are working in one of those "special" hospitals and would be so kind as to let us know, I am sure we would be interested. I wonder how that was handled?
As far as the cap is concerned, I know they are all different, but there is a way to attach them with a hair comb on top, that secures them. I never have had mine fall off and when I put it on, I do not touch it till I take it off. Except for an occational tap on something, I will straighten it,,just as I would rub my head, if I hit my head on something. I do belive it pays to be short in this respect.
well so much for my 2 cents.............All I know is that we need to make some kind of a change for our paitents and for our respect as well.
Can you imagine . . .
. . . any kind of scenario in which a nurse's shoe might fall off onto a patient?
. . . the hullaballoo that would arise if anyone suggested that doctors might have to wear some kind of unwieldy formal headgear?
. . . what male nurses would think of wearing caps.:eek:
This last thought is the reason I think caps are gone for good. I can't see the legal department of any hospital okaying a requirement that applies to one sex and not the other. :eek:
You are probably right in that shoes don't fall into patients, I never lost my cap in one either. But anyway, I think the real concept here is to look as sharp as possible. I think I look sharp in my white, or white and navy. I know nurses who wear different colors of pressed, or permanent pressed scrubs that also look sharp. If you are wearing grungy uniforms then whatever color of style they are won't matter, the same with shoes. I do live in fear that someday the other nurses will all vote while I am on vacation that we all have to wear orange or something. My bottom line is that you should look and be clean in what ever you wear, including all your accessories including shoes, stethoscopes, coats etc. Particular
) for something that I consider, distracting and unnecessary. 
I'm thankful there are so many wonderful scrubs out there.
LatinaRN
19 Posts
1. three years
2. icu
3. nc
4. bsn
5. yes, i think that nurses should have a uniform just for them. in my hospital cnas, housekeeping, radiology techs,dieticians, etc. wear scrubs. you can't tell that someone is a nurse unless you are close enough to read their id badge.
6. i don't think that we should go back to white caps because that would not be practical today with all the men that we have in nursing. (thank god!) working around too much estrogen can get old. but i do think that the uniforms should be white. we should look immaculately clean and professional.