Uniform color by discipline

[annetter]

Where I work, nurses, cna's, lab, x-ray, housekeeping wear a distinctive color for that department so that patient's can decipher who is who. Some people think this takes away our freedom to choose what we can wear and few I have spoke with like the idea. What do you think?

[ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN]

We are coded that way, used to be coded by department but that got voted down.

[sairin8]

Isn't the point of a uniform that you DON'T choose what you're wearing? It seems a very odd question to me, but maybe that's a cultural difference between NZ and USA...

[lilmith]

i like it; everyone walks around claiming to be nurses when they are house keepers just messing with beeping iv pumps.

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

I think it's good for staff to identify each other, but it doesn't work on patients. Patients assume anyone in scrubs is a nurse or physician.

[jabroadwater]

I don't see it as an issue of being able to "wear what you want", many companies and organizations have uniforms (police, military, mechanics, just to name a few).

I personally like the idea, not so much from a patient perspective, but when you're interacting with someone within the hospital, you know exactly who you're dealing with and predominately what their job is.

[KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN]

Personally I think being color coded is retarded. Isn't that why we all wear name badges with our picture, name, title, and department? Do they hand a color code sheet to patients when they are admitted telling them what color signifies what department? I thought not.

[goldberryRN]

I don't mind color coding, it beats having to wear all white all the time like when I first got out of nursing school. When I did refresher course clinicals earlier this year, the floor I worked on had no uniform policy, it was a free for all and it looked sloppy.

[Flo., BSN, RN]

Actually my hospital is color coded and in every patient area there is a chart that tells what the colors mean. I love it for quickly identifying what department a staff member belongs to.

[red2003xlt, LPN]

As a former patient, I loved it so did my wife. She and I found it to easy to identify who was the RN, CNA, and housekeeping.

The doctor was the identified by his super-sized ego.

Now as a student-nurse I wish all hospitals were color colored. Much easier to identify the various specialties at a quick glance.

[aikz]

I like the freedom of choosing :) The only departments in my hospital that has to wear a distinct color is our ED

[Aurora77]

I like it, personally. I think it looks more professional. I did clinicals at a place that didn't require color coding and it was hard to identify people quickly. There were also a lot of mismatched scrubs/jackets.