Uniforms.. color scrubs vs whites

justme1972 · Mar 31, 2007

Maybe I'm a sucker for the good old days, but I think when nurses got away from an all-white uniform and you couldn't tell them from the rest of the staff...I think THAT measure, is what set the profession backwards a few notches in terms of professionalism and how the general public sees the nursing profession.

Clothes matter. I just does. It doesn't matter, at the end of the day, how people feel about it on an individual basis...clothes do matter in perception.

Ever wonder why if you go to a Mercedes dealership, everyone there is wearing an expensive suit (even the women), and you go to the Toyota place and the guys there are wearing khaki's and a polo shirt?

CNN Headline news, a couple of years ago, went to a new format of "business casual" for their morning news show. They advertised this heavily before the change as the "New face of CNN News". Not only did it get spoofed on Saturday night live, their ratings plummeted, and after viewers showed no signs of returning, CNN went back to their suit-and-tie formal format...and guess what? Their viewers mysteriously returned.

Is white practical? No. I'll agree with everyone here on that...but does it make a difference in how the public perceives nurses? I believe if you took a poll among patients, you would find that it does.

It used to be, that the only folks wearing colorful scrubs were the non-RN staff and the RN's in pediatrics...as an effort to cheer up the children, and so the babies who were in for the "long haul" wouldn't associate a particular uniform or look with painful stimuli...so the uniform was different every day. How that generalized to the rest of the staff, I have no idea. I saw another post from someone else awhile back that said, "there is something seriously wrong with being in the ER and working a code with Spongebob scrubs.." or something to that effect....and I totally agree.

I very strongly feel, that white matters.

Alexsys · Mar 31, 2007

I am going to go with the majority here. I hated to have to wear wites during NS. I could not keep them clean. I had to keep replacing them. (Got very expensive BTW). At work, I wear solid loose fitting scrubs, but I do look neat, my mid section is not showing, my hair is up in a french roll, abd I have an extra thing under ny badge that says in big, dark letters, RN and I am as professional as a nurse can be. I have even gotton some comments on how neat I looked from my patients and I never wore white after NS. I think that quality of care is most important. I agree with the poster that stated that nursing has evolved. It has. In more ways than one. That includes dresses, caps and capes becoming obsolete. Kinda had for me to bend and move and lift while wearing a white dress. But in some ways, I do see why the people of yesteryear would like to see the old image of the nurse return, I am just not one of them.

My grandma was a nurse back in 1942. She told me stories. I am glad that thing are the way they are now for us nurses, including clothing as long as a nurse looks neat and professional, it should not matter what color.

I have to pose a question. I was not a nurse back in the 70's ( I only made my debut into the world in the mid 70's)

My question is; Didnt the caps become obsolete due to infection control issues?

rn undisclosed name · Mar 31, 2007

Here is a point to ponder...
Have you ever walked into a hospital and couldn't tell the doctor from the rest of the staff?
I actually, never have. They have always dressed the same...dress clothes with a lab coat, unless they were doing surgery, or other things...but they are still easy to spot. Their "uniform" has went unchanged for almost a century.
Medical schools fully intend to keep it that way....and you can bet there is a reason for it.
What you wear in a profession is extremely important, and the image sets the tone and perception. It doesn't have to be reasonable or rational, it's just human nature.

Unfortunately I have seen doctors who do not look like doctors and couldn't differentiate them from a visitor. It's more of a problem on the weekends. There are certain doctors we don't see on a regular basis and when they come in wearing jeans and t-shirt with holes and enter the nurses station we're like and you are who? We do ask them who they are. They don't always have their badge or lab jacket on either. We comment to them on that also. I have also seen a female doctor come in with her velour sweat outfit on tight fitting. So, just because you are a doctor doesn't mean you dress like one. Actually how should a doctor dress anyway??? I've yet to see a handbook on how a dr should dress anyway.

I will continue to wear my colored scrubs with my print tops. I don't do cartoons, disney, or comic strips. I get many comments on my scrubs from patients/family and I enjoy wearing something that I think is a little more flattering than a boxy scrub top and pants. That is just my opinion. I always introduce myself to a patient in the am as their nurse and write my name on their board. They don't have a problem with remembering I am their nurse unless it is a confused patient and honestly if they're confused then they won't remember you're they're nurse anyway.

ETA: Just because someone is dressed up doesn't make them a doctor. Have you worked on Sundays? Many visitors are dressed up because they went to church and then came straight to the hospital. So, do these people look like doctors just because they're dressed up?

CRIMSON · Jul 24, 2008

I loved my L&D scrubs that had my name and title embroidered right on the Left chest where a name tag would be worn. They were in large enough print to be read and eliminated the need for the germ bearing name tag. It was even better they were laundered and returned wrapped in plastic by the hospital.:monkeydance: