uniforms are killing us

RNonsense · Mar 23, 2003

Men with tool belts...anybody in uniform...cabana boys...pool boys...

SharkLPN · Mar 23, 2003

Originally posted by JnJTyson
Hey!! No offence meant by the reference of Chili Pepper uniform tops! Sorry! =0)

Oh pish! Absolutely none taken! It's quite an icebreaker to wear chilis on your person. I usually tell patients to watch out because your night nurse is a red-hot mama, or considering how cold it was this winter in the northeast, that I was trying my hardest to generate some heat!

And to answer the question about jewelery, a few of my fellow staff *have* complained in front of pts and family of how bad their pay is (mostly the PRN staff who pull in more an hour than those of us who are perm staff), and many of them were sporting large rings. Yes, their spouses provided that expense, but it embarassed me to hear them say that they were 'not paid enough to do this sometimes' when the stone on their finger could pay my rent for a month or two.

Rings can be an infection control issue. Bacteria and germs can get trapped in them, large settings can create holes in latex and vinyl gloves, and it's hard to get your hands clean if you have to try and scrub out under rings. Same as big artificial nails.

Oh, and this nurse goes for the uniform type, but also a particular fella who comes home from work covered in dirt and needs a good spongebath!

RNFROG3, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2003

I have to agree with karosnow queen and smiling blueyes. In the ER where I work we just went from all navy to any professional matching scrub outfit except the denim look ones. I personally am much happier. I felt my personality being stifeled looking like everyone else. I think a clean smelling and looking person, neat scrubs , ordinary length clean nails(even if they are fake) and a person that takes pride in their appearance goes a long way in the professional appearance department, even if they wear a multi colored top.

KMSRN · Mar 23, 2003

Most of the posts here mention that patients don't care what nurses wear as long as they get good care and that is probably true for the most part. It is equally (if not more) important that nurses be taken seriously as professionals by other professions and this is an uphill battle. Physicians, administration, and others are quite content for nursing to remain sub-professional. They don't want the girls to get uppity - don't want to have to deal seriously with nursing. (Hence our rewards tend to be cutesy -pizza parties or ice cream.) For nursing to be taken seriously as a profession it has to start from within and that includes appearance, education, and autonomy for a start. And people are judged on first impressions which are formed very quickly and are very difficult to reverse. I don't think we have to wear white, but please lose the cartoons, fairies, frogs, puppies, etc. Wear whatever you like on your own time but work is not the time for free- for- all personal expression. Lawyers wear suits, physicians usually wear suit or shirt and tie, administration wears suits, dietitians and speech therapist dress professionally with white lab coats. Nurses continue to dress to align themselves with the CNAs and housekeeping.

GraceyB · Mar 23, 2003

I am about to start a CNA class and I feel that our dress code is as strict as the nurses. For our clinicals we have to wear a white skirt uniform (who wears a skirt anymore), with an apron, hair off the shoulders, nails short, no fake nails (contain bacteria), simple ring or plain wedding band, stud earrings, no necklaces/chains, no visible piercings of the tongue, nose, eyebrow, white hose, white shoes, no sneakers, even have to wear a whole slip.

baseline · Mar 23, 2003

Originally posted by KMSRN
Most of the posts here mention that patients don't care what nurses wear as long as they get good care and that is probably true for the most part. It is equally (if not more) important that nurses be taken seriously as professionals by other professions and this is an uphill battle. Physicians, administration, and others are quite content for nursing to remain sub-professional. They don't want the girls to get uppity - don't want to have to deal seriously with nursing. (Hence our rewards tend to be cutesy -pizza parties or ice cream.) For nursing to be taken seriously as a profession it has to start from within and that includes appearance, education, and autonomy for a start. And people are judged on first impressions which are formed very quickly and are very difficult to reverse. I don't think we have to wear white, but please lose the cartoons, fairies, frogs, puppies, etc. Wear whatever you like on your own time but work is not the time for free- for- all personal expression. Lawyers wear suits, physicians usually wear suit or shirt and tie, administration wears suits, dietitians and speech therapist dress professionally with white lab coats. Nurses continue to dress to align themselves with the CNAs and housekeeping.

When I worked on the nursing units, I wore scrubs, and the MD's I worked with were great, and gave me all the respect and autonomy I could ask for........but I worked in a small specialty area, and really didn't see many of the other MD's.

My current job allows me to wear street clothes or scrubs. I wear street clothes....why? Because I am asking and on occasion telling, physicians, administrators, managers etc, what they need to do....and quite frankly, smart business like street clothes take me alot farther than my kitty cat scrubs.

I am sorry to say it, but pnysicians in general give me more attention, notice me, and often start a conversation with me on the elevator.....the same physicians who saw right thru me in the past. I look like someone in some kind of authority.... so I should be nice to her.

I am not saying not to wear your kitty cat scrubs ... I am just sharing an observation.

Teshiee · Mar 23, 2003

I agree. I don't understand what the hoopla is all about. If it is clean, neat what is the problem just as long as the scrubs don't have bias racist or sexual overtones I don't see a point in censoring what we have to wear on the floor. I was forced to wear that sterile white in nursing school I will not wear it if I don't have to. I think it is a personality thing. Nursing is stressing enough then to be uptight what you should wear. Like we don't have enough issues.

ziggyRn · Mar 24, 2003

Originally posted by KMSRN
Most of the posts here mention that patients don't care what nurses wear as long as they get good care and that is probably true for the most part. It is equally (if not more) important that nurses be taken seriously as professionals by other professions and this is an uphill battle. Physicians, administration, and others are quite content for nursing to remain sub-professional. They don't want the girls to get uppity - don't want to have to deal seriously with nursing. (Hence our rewards tend to be cutesy -pizza parties or ice cream.) For nursing to be taken seriously as a profession it has to start from within and that includes appearance, education, and autonomy for a start. And people are judged on first impressions which are formed very quickly and are very difficult to reverse. I don't think we have to wear white, but please lose the cartoons, fairies, frogs, puppies, etc. Wear whatever you like on your own time but work is not the time for free- for- all personal expression. Lawyers wear suits, physicians usually wear suit or shirt and tie, administration wears suits, dietitians and speech therapist dress professionally with white lab coats. Nurses continue to dress to align themselves with the CNAs and housekeeping.

So true.

Good post IMHO. Nursing will continue to be hampered by a 'blue collar' status as long as many of its members continue to think like and act like 'subprofessionals'. :confused:

SC RN, RN · Mar 24, 2003

I was recently hired on to a L&D unit ... we have to wear cotton candy pink or ciel blue pants but can wear any coordinating top.

So, I thought, this will be easy ... boy was I wrong! How many tops are out there? A thousand? And I found 3 or 4 that I like and that coordinate! I don't want pink panther or i love lucy or hello kitty across my chest. I just don't. And I'm young ... just 29 ... but then some of the prints are so fuddy duddy! I am half convinced to go to the fabric store and have someone make me my tops.

Ugh.

nursemouse · Mar 24, 2003

Originally posted by baseline
When I worked on the nursing units, I wore scrubs, and the MD's I worked with were great, and gave me all the respect and autonomy I could ask for........but I worked in a small specialty area, and really didn't see many of the other MD's.

My current job allows me to wear street clothes or scrubs. I wear street clothes....why? Because I am asking and on occasion telling, physicians, administrators, managers etc, what they need to do....and quite frankly, smart business like street clothes take me alot farther than my kitty cat scrubs.

I am sorry to say it, but pnysicians in general give me more attention, notice me, and often start a conversation with me on the elevator.....the same physicians who saw right thru me in the past. I look like someone in some kind of authority.... so I should be nice to her.

I am not saying not to wear your kitty cat scrubs ... I am just sharing an observation.

I'm getting to this thread late, but I've observed this as well--and for that reason, not ANY sense of superiority, I also wear business clothes to work. I have answered call lights in a suit, started IVs in a suit, done CPR in a suit, cleaned poo in a suit, and tried to be as accessible to my colleagues in a suit as I would be in scrubs. The professional line I straddle in my role requires me to provide education, advocacy and support to staff members in all healthcare areas. Sometimes it also requires going toe-to-toe with physicians and management, often over quality improvement issues and nursing staff needs.

That being said: at this point and at the place where I work, I'm not as worried about the type of print my colleagues in scrubs wear as much as I passionately wishing that they MATCHED! :rolleyes: If I have to look at one more pink fairy top with Halloween labcoat (in July) I may toss my twinkies! :eek: The biggest offenders are, unfortunately, some of the sweetest and most hard-working nurses so I hesitate to say a word to them. I don't know how much for a role financial hardship plays in their uniform choices. Nursemouse

GatorRN · Mar 25, 2003

Personally I like the print scrub tops. I work ICU where it can be pretty depressing for pts and family members sometimes.

I have received many complimentary comments, especially about my Looney Toon one. (your never too old to appreciate looney toons) They appreciate the cheerfulness in what can so often be a very drab time for them. Besides, I agree with previous comment...........white makes me feel like an ice cream vendor.

ShelleyERgirl, LPN · Mar 25, 2003

GatorRn, while I can appreciate what you are saying about the cheerful tops in what I know first hand can be a very depressing setting, I am not sure I would take the news very well about a loved ones death with Yosemite Sam or Sylvester staring me in the face while I heard about it. Don't get me wrong, I love the Looney Tunes just as much as the next person, I am just not sure the unit is the place for it.