Uniforms and dress codes

[inkedRN]

I currently work in med/surg (although I will be moving to the ED in a week ). The hospital I work at has a committee looking into requiring their med/surg RNs to wear "uniforms". Essentially they will tell us what color scrubs to wear, but we will be required to buy and launder our own scrubs, so my thinking is it's really a dress code and not a uniform. Their reasoning for doing this is the claim that MDs can't tell between the RNs and the Techs and the RNs don't look "professional" enough.

Personally I think it's a terrible idea, as do many of the other RNs and techs, but we're pretty much being over ruled by a handful of older RNs and bigwigs. If a MD wants to know if I am an RN they are free to ask me at any time. Additionally, while they have said they will not provide us with scrubs, nor will they give us an allowance to buy them, the currently provide our L&D and OR RNs with scrubs which seems kind of unfair.

So my questions are;

1) Does your hospital require a uniform or dress code and if so, what color, type, etc

2) Do they purchase and launder your scrubs

3) How do you feel about it

TIA

[lvICU]

Our hospital is also putting something like this into effect soon. They say it will roll out over in the the next year. Our CNO claims that it is to help our elderly population differentiate the nurse from other employees. She also says we will have two colors we can wear. I do not think that patients are going to see a blue uniform and be like "oh that is my nurse", many of our nurses are upset about this change in the dress code.

[AmyCardsNP, RN, NP]

We rolled out the same thing about 2 years ago... all of the nurses wear red tops, techs wear navy blue, unit clerks wear teal, etc, etc. When we all learned we were going to have to start wearing uniforms, no one was very pleased- we were happy with what we had picked out on our own. But, after just a few months, it became "the norm" and now no one thinks twice about it.

I actually enjoy it when I'm floated to other units, I can tell who the nurses and/or techs are so I'm asking appropriate questions to the right people. So, I can imagine that the doctors/patients feel the same way. I know you mentioned that they are more than welcome to ask you if you are an RN, but I think that's just as big of an inconvenience for them as it is for us when we can't see a doctor's name tag... it'd be nice just to KNOW rather than have to ask.

Try and go into it with an open mind... you'll find that it's not that big of a deal afterall (as we did at my facility).

[DeeAngel]

We have to wear navy or white pants and white tops. That's it, and we have to launder our own as well. All the pretty uniforms and prints out there and that's what we're stuck with. *sigh*

[SandraCVRN]

Navy/white any combination for nurses, no allowance. Teal cna/pct, green resp. No one really seems to mind. We had the same colors where I worked as a new grad in 03.

Actually easier on everyone. We can wear holiday tops for 1 week prior.

[inkedRN]

Well, it'll be a big deal for me considering my scrubs cost me $30 to $40 a set plus I need to have them all hemmed because I'm short lol

[firstyearstudent]

I think if the hospital wants employees to wear something in particular, they should give it to you at the very, very least. Ideally, they should also wash it for you.

[stressgal, RN]

Each department at our hospital wears a different color scrub. The uniforms are provided by the hospital, pretty much. We get an allowance annualy and if we want to spend more than that they payroll deduct. I like knowing who is in my patient's room, be it phlebo, radiology, tech or whatever. I think it also assists with security. I may see someone in scriubs but can easily identify if they are an employee or not. Our dress code is pretty strict when we are not in scrubs, say attending a staff meeting or ed day. No open toe shoes, no capri's, sleeves on shirts, no jeans and so on. I chose to work there, pay is good and location is important to me, so I comply.

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

We are undergoing similar discussions where I work. We recently accquired a new DON and at out staff meetings she has hinted at having the nurses going back to all white.

Currently my depaertment (ED) they supply us with the standard blue scrubs, but we can wear are own as well. Our ED was expanded and remolded and they wanted us to get new scrubs for the new ED. We all voted as to what color we would want which was a silver/gray to match the new ED, they took our sizes down and were going to give us 2 sets of scrubs. However with the new director hinting at white, I dont think that we are going to get the grey scrubs.

The hospital also supplys OR and L&D with their scrubs as well

They did have compliants that the older population could not tell who was who so now they have added to our name badges. Under the name badge in huge letters about 3 inches tall is either RN, CNA, MD, CHAPLIN.

[ShonaRN0522]

The facility that I work at allows us to wear whatever colors we want. We wear different colored badges with RN, LPN, or CNA printed in large letters. It works well for us.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

At our hospital M/S nurses get 400/year for uniform allowance. Dialysis/OR nurses are provided hospital scrubs.

In MH we get no allowance although that is being discussed with management by the union.

[rn/writer, RN]

My hospital went the other direction about three years ago. We nurses used to have to wear teal (we could wear plain pants and compatible print tops) and the PCAs wore purple. You'd think patients would be able to figure out who was whom, but no. Research showed that there was still plenty of confusion. And teal was getting harder and harder to find.

The change made a big difference in morale at no cost to the hospital. Those who didn't want to spend the money just kept wearing the teal or purple. The rest of us went shopping.

I understand the rationale behind having a uniform appearance. I just don't know if the evidence backs it up. Especially when you have six or seven different disciplines in as many colors. Patients have a hard time keeping the color code straight. And even when they do, they don't always know which people do which jobs.

In this tight economy, seems like a poor time to ask folks to shell out more money on new scrubs they don't really need. At the very least, they should bring in a couple of vendors with decent prices, supply a subsidy, and set up payroll deduction to support this expensive change.