there's been a debate on another thread about the way scrubs, particularly patterned scrubs, are perceived by non-nurses. the original poster's position was that they diminish the respect (or potential for respect) other health care professionals have for nursing. many members argued that patients, particularly paediatric and geriatric patients, prefer them.
research indicates that the public find it harder to identify nurses now that the 'traditional' uniform of whites (plus or minus cap) is the exception. skoruspki and rhea (2006) compared perceptions of four kinds of uniforms and ten characteristics, finding that
the white uniform was the most frequently selected for 5 of the 10 characteristics: confident, reliable, competent, professional, and efficient. the print uniform was most frequently associated with the other 5 characteristics: caring, attentive, cooperative, empathetic, and approachable. in contrast, the solid uniform was least of ten selected for 6 of the 10 characteristics with the print uniform being least often selected for the remaining 4 characteristics.
for overall images, the white uniform was paradoxically the uniform most often selected as the nurse that patients would "not like to take care of you" but also most often selected as being "easiest to identify as a nurse." the print uniform was the most often selected as the nurse "you would most like to take care of you." the solid was the least often selected both as being the nurse "you would most like to take care of you" and as the "easiest to identify."
in other words, the white ensemble allows easy role identification and conveys the professional aspects of nursing care, while a patterned uniform makes identification harder but conveys the human aspects of nursing care and is preferred by patients.
as a student i wore a very traditional uniform, complete with voluminous starched white apron and belt, laundered by the hospital. as a newly registered nurse i wore a pale blue dress (known as the blue sack), until a new don noted that the only other staff who wore uniforms were support staff, while the other professionals wore street clothes (scrubs are reserved for or, ed and icu). i wore, and still wear, black laced shoes, navy or black pants, a white polo shirt or t-shirt and a vest (red, navy or black). i introduce myself to my patients and their visitors as "hi, i'm talaxandra and i'm the nurse caring for you today." i've never yet had a patient or family member voice confusion about my role or status.
i think reducing role fragmentation (so patients have interactions with fewer people), uniforms for support staff, and a policy that all staff introduce themselves would improve identification by families and patients without requiring the regressive step of starched white attire. what do you think?
We wore whites during clinicals and other than keeping them clean, I didn't have an issue with them. If I wind up having to wear whites, no problem, as long as I can wear my own style of scrubs. That style would consist of fabric holding lots and lots of pockets together. The most annoying scrubs I wore were the reversible unisex surgical models I wore during OB clinicals with one small breast pocket and one rear pants pocket. Really comfortable, but no room for the stuff I carry. j
While in Hawaii some years back one of my kids tangled with SOME kind of critter while swimming. We had to take him to an emergency room. I noticed a lot of the nurses and doctors wearing Hawaiian print scrubs tops with solid pants. I thought they looked pretty good and would get some myself except I don't think small town Texas is ready for that.
My hospital has the strangest dress code I've ever seen. Doctors wear whatever they wish, of course; the OR staff wears a bluish-greenish color (scrubs that are lent to them by the hospital). Everyone else wears ceil blue scrubs. Everyone.
Everyone wears ceil blue scrubs: RN's, CNA's, RT's, unit secretaries, phlebotomists, management, human resources, housekeeping, security, dietary, medical records, my boss, my boss's boss. Freaking everyone. The idea behind this is to declare that EVERY member of the healthcare team is as important as any other (except doctors, I guess) so we should all dress alike. I like the idea, but in Real Life, where I live, my Boss is still my Boss even if we're dressed like twinsies. I'm certain the only reason the OR people have a (slightly) different color is so other nurses won't steal hospital scrubs.
We had so many complaints from patients about not being able to tell who's a nurse and who isn't (heck, the only way I'm able to tell is because I've worked there long enough to personally know everyone) that the hospital finally gave us a backer to our badges that has RN in red letters, which can be read from either side if your badge flips around. It doesn't help much.
We still get patient complaints about it, and this issue is raised in every monthly staff meeting (because staff meetings are mostly dedicated to informing us about patient complaints and how we should do better). So every month we get mildly chastized about the patients not being able to tell who anybody is, and we're reminded we have to improve on this.
The upside is that I have owned the same two pairs of scrubs for 4 years and don't intend to purchase any more until they become too ratty to wear.
At this point, I want a job. I will wear whatever the place wants me to wear, and at the point where the economy improves, I doubt that a driving factor in where I chose to work will be what the mandated uniform is.
Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.
It is years old but the blue and white striped dress (or tunic and dark blue pants) for staff nurses, navy blue dress for sisters ( or navy blue tunic and pants combo). White tunic with dark blue trim for physios, White tunic trimmed in maroon for radiographers and same but with dark green trim for OT's seems standard across many UK hospitals. HCA's wear a grey and white tunic or dress. All wear name badges with job title on them.
Ward clerks wear smart office dress, name badge and ID card as do all admin. staff.
Seems to work OK although there are minor variations. Some hospitals embroider the name and logo of the hospital on all uniforms, others do not. Patients do seem to know who is what.
That's an excellent point, iNurseUK - unless you work at the only hospital in town, even if patients and families unravel the identification code for your staff, they're at least equally confused at the next hospital.
"Oh. I thought purple meant housekeeping, but you're the NUM?"
It sounds link in the UK uniforms are universal, which would allow identification everywhere and be reinforced through locally-made media, where all the staff are dressed (I imagine) the same on set as on the floor. Interesting.
Just MHO, I had several hospital stays in the nineties as a 20 year old. The first one was to correct a CHD. At the time, I assumed that anyone entering my room wearing scrubs was an RN. I didn't know that they were anything from RNs, housekeeping, CNAs, and other staff members. But it really didn't matter to me because everyone in scrubs treated me with the utmost respect and kindness but I just didn't realize that staff other than surgeons and RNs could wear scrubs. I only learned this when I became a nursing student.
To me, even when RNs wear their title on their badge, it doesn't stand out enough. My idea would be to take a lesson from the fire departments. Here in the U.S., most fire departments wear the dark blue t-shirts with large, white print on the back of the shirt identifying themselves as firefighters with their name and rank on the front of the shirt. I wouldn't mind wearing dark blue scrubs with a large RN in white letters on the back and my name, department, etc. to identify RNs and other staff.
I actually saw one of these shirts at a disaster preparation scenario that I participated in for my city, and ever since, I've just thought it was a great idea. Like I said, it's just MHO. :)
I agree with other posters that everyone wearing scrubs is confusing. I know that when I've been a pt at a hospital I tell the housekeeping from the nurses and I don't think that's a good thing at all.
In my opinion scrubs should be reserved for direct patient care and the other staff should wear some type of uniform like a polo top and pants.
I really don't care what color we wear but what I do like is consistency. So for example at my place of employment all the nurses were navy and or white. The CNAs, US, etc were maroon, the housekeepers where green, RT wears light blue, etc ... This is very helpful if you work in a large facility were you might not know who someone is, but if the colors are consistent you then have a clue. Same goes for the pts, the docs, visitors - part of my unit orientation includes explaining the color codes to the pt and family.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i really don't care what color we wear but what i do like is consistency. so for example at my place of employment all the nurses were navy and or white. the cnas, us, etc were maroon, the housekeepers where green, rt wears light blue, etc ... this is very helpful if you work in a large facility were you might not know who someone is, but if the colors are consistent you then have a clue. same goes for the pts, the docs, visitors - part of my unit orientation includes explaining the color codes to the pt and family.
if you work at a large facility, you probably still know the names and job descriptions of those you work with every day.. when you get floated or someone new comes along, you can ask. color coding achieves nothing for the patient -- believe me, i've been through it with my elderly parents. it just makes some nurses feel good to be wearing the same thing as everyone else. if you really want to look the same as everyone else, join the army.
there's quite a lot of literature about what patients think about nursing attire, including focuses on: role confusion (2006), perceptions of professionalism and competence based on image (2007, 2009), public perceptions of contamination potential of uniforms worn in public (2007), how non-traditional uniform (ie scrubs) increases confusion for patients with dementia (1998)...
:)
jc3015
57 Posts
We wore whites during clinicals and other than keeping them clean, I didn't have an issue with them. If I wind up having to wear whites, no problem, as long as I can wear my own style of scrubs. That style would consist of fabric holding lots and lots of pockets together. The most annoying scrubs I wore were the reversible unisex surgical models I wore during OB clinicals with one small breast pocket and one rear pants pocket. Really comfortable, but no room for the stuff I carry. j