uniforms in psychiatry

[debinius]

I was wondering if anyone had some input regarding uniforms for staff working in psychiatry. I am a nurse working in an acute psychiatric unit of a hospital. My manager just proposed that he wants all the staff to wear khaki pants and matching polo shirts. I personally, along with all the other nurses on the unit despise the idea. First of all, we don't work in a restaurant, and as a nurse it seems like a very inconvenient outfit to wear especially with the geriatric patients who require more medical than psychiatry most of the time. Not to mention they are only giving us 2 shirts and we have to buy our own if we want more, and most of us work 5 days a week.The dress code now is business casual, and most of the staff wears scrub pants and some form of shirt with no "loud" designs or decals, and usually a jacket or sweater with pockets for convenience. From what I'm hearing there have been studies about uniforms in psychiatry and have yet to come across any of these studies. I've had my fill of khaki pants and polos when I worked in restaurants through school, I felt like a dork wearing it then, and I'll feel like a dork wearing it again. I know we are not trying to make fashion statements, but after all, we are nurses. I don't think it's a surprise to any patient to see a nurse in scrub pants and a clean shirt, jacket or sweater. Although they may be delusional, depressed or psychotic, they are aware that they are in the hospital.Does anyone have any input regarding this topic?

[CharlieRN]

If your manager wants uniforms, why not the traditional whites? But what is your manager thinking of putting you in uniforms? Psych staff usually wear street clothes. If you do have to buy uniforms of any type, they are tax deductible.

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

I don't like that idea! Maybe the pts will get confused thinking they are at McDonalds and try to order a Big Mac, and a side of fries! If they want staff to all look the same, why not have everyone wear the same color scrubs? When I worked psych, we wore street clothes. No jeans, except on fridays. (we also wore them on sat and sun since there were no suits to say otherwise) We wore any kind of top we wanted. Just no fringes/strings or anything that would be a safety issue.

[debinius]

I don't know what my manager is thinking, and neither does anyone else. I think he's going for the "go team" approach.

[CharlieRN]

I don't know what my manager is thinking, and neither does anyone else. I think he's going for the "go team" approach.

Somrtimes humor works. How about lapel pins that say, "Would you like fries with that?" It would get across to him that the uniforms are having a negative effect. If he didn't get it, I bet his superiors would.

Speaking of which, has anyone formally protested this idea to those superiors? Letting them know there is a problem may be necessary. They may very well miss it otherwise. Supervisors want to believe that things are being handled correctly by their underlings. They don't go looking for trouble.

[StuPer]

In the facilities I have worked in the 'uniform' was dependant on the clients. For the young and adult wards a smart casual dress was deemed appropriate so as not to convey an authoritarian 'us and you' attitude to the patients. Wheras in psycho-greiatric facilities standard nurse uniforms were worn as the old patients responded better to a nurse in a uniform, and a "who the hell are you" to those not in uniform.

regards StuPer

[Felixa]

My employer is also wanting to introduce trousers and polo shirts or button-up shirts as a uniform, across all the hospitals in my region. I work in an adult forensic unit, and I think it will only enhance the 'us and them' problem already illustrated by our heavy keys and custodial function.

And what do we do about community escorts? Are we supposed to wear our uniforms then and draw attention to our client, or bring spare clothes to work every day because we might be taking someone out that day?

We have worn plain clothes for decades, so I don't know what the justification is for going back to uniforms. I can understand for Older Adult psych, as older people are less confused and violent when they realise it is nurses washing and dressing them rather than random strangers! But why adult psych?

[ARM4S]

I work on a psychiatric unit where uniforms are "not allowed" for fear it will cause a "stigma" to the patient. We are in a hospital! We not only provide mental health services, we also provide medical services. Our patients have the option to wear the unit scrubs or their own clothing. This sometimes making difficult to differentiate the staff from the patient. I believe that if we have the patients wear our hospital scrubs, they are labeled a patient in a hospital. Thus contradicting the idea about the "stigma".

Anyway, my question to you all: In the years Ive been employed their, I have worn and currently wear "street clothes" and "scrubs". Now my boss tells me not to wear uniforms because of the previous mentioned "stigma". Then goes on to further states "Well, only the night shift can wear scrubs because the patients are asleep and dont see them". (Um, not quite. 7P to 7A, patients see the nurses). Then my boss says, "break up the uniform, dont wear a complete set". OMG what does this mean?!?!?!?!

First of all, I will follow the rules (as long as EVERYONE does). But stating how to wear the scrubs and who can and cant wear them I believe is wrong. A nurse is a nurse, being in the day or night shift. My reasons for wearing them vs street clothes are: $$, comfort and accessibility. Im often having to change soiled patients, shower & feed them. Getting the scrubs dirty doesnt feel as disgusting as getting my street clothes dirty. And I also believe it makes staff more approachable, like nurses should be.

Please help me out. What do you all think???? Thanks!

[ccoombs]

I'm a graduate nurse but I had clinical in a couple of different psychiatric facilities. In the private hospital everyone involved in patient care wore scrubs, techs, nurses, whatever. I'm not sure if this was actually policy or just what everyone chose to wear. In the state hospital the dress code seems to be more loose with some nurses wearing scrubs and some wearing street clothes. The techs almost universally wear street clothes. I did my capstone preceptorship at the state hospital and I always wore business casual. It seemed appropriate and professional. I have since been hired at this facility and I intend to continue wearing the same attire.

[inthepink07]

I work in a 60 bed facility. We went to a "uniform" a year ago. In the beginning everyone was pretty negtive about it but a year later no one is complaining and actually like it. The pts also like it because they know easily who is staff and whether or not you are a nurse or tech. The RN's wear Navy tops and tan pants. It can be polo shirts or scrub shirt\pant as long as the color combo is correct is doesn't matter. The techs wear maroon shirts and tan pants. When it was first introduced staff was given 6 month notice so that they had time to buy them. The hospital did not pay for anything. It really has worked well for everybody.

[sharpeimom]

i'm the dissenting opinion here. i worked for several years in a state psych hospital and we wore docker style navy or tan pants with navy or tan or white polo tops with the hospital's name and "rn"

embroidered on. if we wore tan pants, we wore white or navy tops, and with navy pants, wore tan or white tops and whatever sneaker-type shoe we wanted. our socks could be as wild or as plain as we chose. getting dressed was a real no-brainer and i never felt like a waitress or a wal*mart employee.