During the interview, the nurse manager clearly states the staff dress code. All staff must dress in white or X color on this unit. NO PRINTS, no all white, no other colors permitted.
It is annoying and seems childish but I figure that I can deal.
Before I accept the assignment, my recruiter, and later her assistant, reinterates the dress code. There is no confusion.
The standard paperwork comes for the assignment...and the dress code is again reinterated.
I stop by an outlet discount shop, on the way down from Baltimore, and buy enough of the appropriate scrubs for the assignment. While not my favorite, it is more than tolerable to do this. If not, I would have...as a responsible traveler...declined the assignment.
So I show up (promptly) at 0650 for the 0700 orientation, wearing the appropriate attire.
So why is it that over half the orientees show up in the wrong colors, street clothes, or prints? Many from the same company that I work for and some with the same recruiter. Many had the same folder paperwork....with the same dress code handouts.
I won't even get into the ones with attire that was completely inappropriate: flip flops, sleeveless tanks, low rise pants, jeans, shorts. Or the ones that showed up late, or didn't shut off their cell phones. For goodness sake, one of the ICU nurses was wearing a tinkerbell scrub.
Several were sent home to change clothes...and of course whined and moaned about how "petty" it was.
Did they read the handouts, hear the rules? Well, yeeeaass, but they Really didn't think it was serious/didn't think that it referred to jackets/vests, etc, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------We sit through orientation. At one point, the topic of limiting restraints comes up, and someone asks about sitters. The speaker says that there are almost no sitters - unless the pt and family will pay for them. The nurse that asked proceeds to question why not and argues why they are needed ( I agree but also recognize that in the culture of this state, facility and area that there will be no sitters and if you pull an aide to sit, you double the chances of other patients falling, leading to the need for more sitters).
Nurses sit here on the BB/and IRL and gripe and about professionalism, and being seen in a better light. But if one cannot dress properly - especially when carefully instructed in the rules.....where is the professionalism? If you cannot follow a simple set of rules, why would administration trust you to dress like a professional when left to your own devices.
