The retro nurse's outfit has returned

Published

Yeah, as much as I HATE the idea.......I've put in over 100 apps and haven't gotten a single call for an interview. If a recruiter offered me a job on the condition that I wear a stupid white dress......who am I to argue at this point? If employment = nurse dress....so be it. I'm a little ashamed that I would cave so easily, but I would really like a job.

That my dears is what it all boils down to in the end.

If the CofS, board of directors or whatever powers that be summoned the DON into their office and told them the dress code for nurses would change to "whites", then you either comply or seek employment elsewhere. It was that way in the 1950's, 1970's, 1980's and guess what.......

Sure lots of nurses didn't like wearing whites (dresses and all that came with those garments included), with or without caps back in the day, but they did it because their love of the profession (and or paycheck), trumped any personal quibbles they may have had. So they sucked it up and got on.

One can gripe and or engage in all the passive/agressive behaviour you wish, all that will get you is marks on your record and sooner or later discharged (one way or another).

Like another poster stated, know of at least ten recently graduated and experienced nurses who would gladly dress in whites and even a cap for a steady paycheck.

Ainsi Sera, Groigne Qui Groigne

(Grumble all you like, this is how it is going to be)

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
So, people can't tell nurses from housekeepers because everybody wears scrubs. Solution: nurses shouldn't wear scrubs.

Is it just me, or has the world lost its mind?

How about, not have everyone ELSE wear scrubs? There is no need for housekeeping or HUC's to wear them, I think that's the bigger confusion than anything. :twocents:

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I think that there's a happy medium between starched whites and showing up in your pajamas.

I wear whites. My facility requires that nurses wear them but that wasn't a problem for me because I wore them anyway. I sometimes wear skirts, sometimes pants. I launder things properly and have to say that the only things I couldn't get out were blood and ink from a pen I washed with them.

I think that caps are a fantastic visual cue as to who is a licensed nurse. However, they don't need to be the uncomfortable, impossible traditional caps. What about something soft and white with built-in loops for bobby pins, or a flexible headband?

I am very, very proud that I have the right to white.

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Certain professions in general, nursing in particular as one of those professions, have paid dearly for a too relaxed attitude toward the psychological importance of tradition and traditional uniforms. I'm not suggesting nurses go back to anything that's uncomfortable. Comfort is important. But you can't easily dismiss the important role unforms play in a profession's identification, and with that, the specific attibutes and qualities associated with that profession. When you can't tell a nurse from a cna from housekeeping, there's a problem. When you blurr that distinction, you diminish the status of nurses and nursing and the importance of their high level of training and education. We can dismiss "status" all we want. But it counts. It matters. It's intimately tied to skill, trust, experience, education and the whole concept of what it means to be a professional. Nurses need to be recognized as nurses, distinct from all the other staff that inhabit hospitals. My opinion.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Yeah, as much as I HATE the idea.......I've put in over 100 apps and haven't gotten a single call for an interview. If a recruiter offered me a job on the condition that I wear a stupid white dress......who am I to argue at this point? If employment = nurse dress....so be it. I'm a little ashamed that I would cave so easily, but I would really like a job.

A warning, love:

That particular hospital eats staff and spits them out.

It has probably one of the worst reputations among experienced travel nurses and does not have a good local reputation. Their Press Gaineys outweigh good healthcare decisions.

Thus probably the reason that they force their staff into retro outfits, to make all the retirees in the area happy.

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Nurses need to be recognized as nurses, distinct from all the other staff that inhabit hospitals. My opinion.

And that could easily be accomplished by telling housekeeping,etc. to stop wearing scrubs, instead of telling nurses to wear something from 60s.

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Specializes in Oncology.
Certain professions in general, nursing in particular as one of those professions, have paid dearly for a too relaxed attitude toward the psychological importance of tradition and traditional uniforms. I'm not suggesting nurses go back to anything that's uncomfortable. Comfort is important. But you can't easily dismiss the important role unforms play in a profession's identification, and with that, the specific attibutes and qualities associated with that profession. When you can't tell a nurse from a cna from housekeeping, there's a problem. When you blurr that distinction, you diminish the status of nurses and nursing and the importance of their high level of training and education. We can dismiss "status" all we want. But it counts. It matters. It's intimately tied to skill, trust, experience, education and the whole concept of what it means to be a professional. Nurses need to be recognized as nurses, distinct from all the other staff that inhabit hospitals. My opinion.

Uniforms in an of themselves are generally not associated with a professional career. Uniforms are associated with people working at burger joints or other entry-level jobs. Looking nice? Good. All looking exactly the same? Bad. My hospital used to have a dress code for nurses and it was ditched because the patients complained about everyone looking the same. You can't please everyone. There are other ways to distinguish the nurse- writing your name out for the patient, simply introducing yourself, and largely lettered RN on name tags.

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I think that there's a happy medium between starched whites and showing up in your pajamas.

I wear whites. My facility requires that nurses wear them but that wasn't a problem for me because I wore them anyway. I sometimes wear skirts, sometimes pants. I launder things properly and have to say that the only things I couldn't get out were blood and ink from a pen I washed with them.

I think that caps are a fantastic visual cue as to who is a licensed nurse. However, they don't need to be the uncomfortable, impossible traditional caps. What about something soft and white with built-in loops for bobby pins, or a flexible headband?

I am very, very proud that I have the right to white.

I would wear whites if necessary, but not dresses, and only if the guys had to wear whites too. Same with caps, if guys don't wear them, neither do I!

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Do. Not. Like.

It is interesting to me that the majority of the responses revolved around the superficial ideas of looks and clothes. Ah well, typical female behavior.

Listen. This uniform shoud be a reminder of the days when nurses were nothing but the "Dr's handmaiden". I am pretty sure that there are nurses old enough to remember the massive workloads, the gross disrepect of the Drs, and the often subtle intellectual insult that is so often associated with that white uniform. People who were white are not going to be doing too much ladies.

I cant help but feel that 1/2 a century of sacrifice and protest was for nothing. We are now going back to the days when nurses are given unbelievable work loads, is often disrespected and work in petty environment where the emphasis is looks. Oh wait, they are already here. :twocents:

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Uniforms in an of themselves are generally not associated with a professional career. Uniforms are associated with people working at burger joints or other entry-level jobs.

Wow. You associate police officers, the military, paramedics as "entry level" workers? I'll tell that to my best friend in the RCMP and my husband who's in the military. Both have served their country for over 25 years and hold a rank far above "entry level".

Clothes don't make the professional. The attitude and skills are the important things.

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It is interesting to me that the majority of the responses revolved around the superficial ideas of looks and clothes. Ah well, typical female behavior.

Listen. This uniform shoud be a reminder of the days when nurses were nothing but the "Dr's handmaiden". I am pretty sure that there are nurses old enough to remember the massive workloads, the gross disrepect of the Drs, and the often subtle intellectual insult that is so often associated with that white uniform. People who were white are not going to be doing too much ladies.

I cant help but feel that 1/2 a century of sacrifice and protest was for nothing. We are now going back to the days when nurses are given unbelievable work loads, is often disrespected and work in petty environment where the emphasis is looks. Oh wait, they are already here. :twocents:

That's a load of BS and insulting to everyone with integrity! I work my a** off when I'm on the clock now, and would still do it even if I had to wear whites, thank you very much! I happen to have a very good work ethic that doesn't hinge on what I'm wearing! :mad:

BTW, your :twocents: isn't worth anything as far as I'm concerned.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

I could tolerate the white, I do love white in a spring and summer wardrobe outside a hospital but WITH another color. Although I would prefer black with maybe a solid color top.

But caps, ummmm no thank you, and button up dresses, that is just asking for a lot of wardrobe malfunctions and button up tops are not very feasible for some very well endowed woman, especially when they aren't "plus size" everywhere ( to just go into the xx sizes) just big in the chest.

Always leaves a gap between the buttons and you can see everything.

Plus I bet most the men would look better in the dress then I would!!!!

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