Who is a professional nurse?

[jmqphd]

Patients cannot consistently recognize an RN. You cannot expect patients to be able to read the name tag. Everyone is in random colors/pattern/prints scubs. They don't know if I'm the housekeeper or the CNA or a real nurse.

Do you see this as a problem? If so is it a clinical (patient welfare) problem? Or do you see it as a professionalism problem?

What would you suggest to correct it?

[ebear, BSN, RN]

I still like nurses in white. Not necessarily with caps, though.

[drmorton2b]

How about Introducing yourself?! Maybe a start... I get made fun of introducing myself but the purpose of having a nurse there is to provide nursing care...

If I introduce myself to the patient upon first contact a small rapport is built (of course this is very patient specific) the patient is more likely to work with you easier.

Of course this fails if the patient has say dementia. A large family owned LTC chain in the area makes all nurses and CNAs wear white. I can see that being a good setting since that generation of patients is more used to seeing nurses in white.

I realized big badges that say LPN or RN hanging behind your ID badge can help. But PLEASE clip your ID badge to your scrubs don't leave things hanging. I once saw a nurse who had a lanyard and their ID badge not clipped to their shirt and well... the patient was being tested for C. Diff and was being moved.. the hanging badge landed yup... there..

I think a single color for hospital nurses and in any nursing setting you work in INTRODUCE yourself upon interaction with the patient.

I wear scrubs in the psych/detox setting I work in... I am allowed too and I am one of the few nurses that does. I wear single color scrubs. One day I decided to stop wearing them for about a week. Patients had no Idea I was a nurse until I told them... thought I was the mental health worker.. etc. etc. Since in Psych/Detox street cloths are common for staff to wear.

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

Where I work in Oz we have navy scrubs with the hospital crest and NURSING above the left breast if we choose to wear scrubs. ( they have just reintroduced the uniform) otherwise in civvies you could be a nurse doctor or PT with a stethoscope hanging off your neck.

Most nurses are wearing the uniform and the rest of the staff have uniforms that has their service enbroidered on the breast (enviro, porter, kitchen etc) Desk clerks would NEVER wear scrubs.

Some of the older nurses who still have their whites from the early 90s still wear them (I'm impressed they still fit!) One colleague of mine still has one dress from that period because it has "charge nurse" embroidered on the pocket. We don't use the term any more.

In Ireland we still wear tunics and pants of specific colours usually while tops with a designated piping colour and the same colour of pants as the piping.

[jmtndl]

I introduce myself.

[taalyn_1, CNA]

At our facility, the nurses are suppose to wear white pants but may wear any color of scrub top they choose. I think it should be more uniform in order to make it less confusing for the pts. Why not have Navy (pick a color any color but white and stick with it) top/white pants for nurses and ceil blue or something for aids? The rest (laundry, dietary, housekeeping etc) can wear specific uniforms but not scrubs.? Makes sense to me. The only thing I have against all white traditional uniforms for nurses is that 1) it gets dirty QUICKLY and 2) Im a guy and I think wearing a beanie cap would look a bit silly =)

That being said I do think there should be a standard uniform for nurses to keep pts from being confused about who to ask for what, plus it looks nice to have everyone in a uniform color.

[sam0714m]

No because as soon as you get in contact with the patient, you should introduce yourself and you should let them your title at the end.

If the patient is impaired and the patient is seeking for help, as an employee of that place, you are mandated to let the nurse or the charge nurse or any nurse know. =)

[EmergencyNrse]

I still like nurses in white. Not necessarily with caps, though.

I absolutely LOVE the nurses in white. Skirts... the stockings... the hat. (Hot!)

Might be a fetish-thing though.:heartbeat

It would be good for those of you seeking your MRS degree. It does get you noticed.

In the Army we had sanitary whites (males). I hated them though. Can't say I would agree to put them back on. We now have BIG blue RN tags with our ID badges. Dr.'s have a BIG red MD on theirs. Works for me...

[0402]

We have a badge that hangs below our ID w/ RN in large letters. We are also going to one color for RNs. The problem with this is that, currently, techs wear royal blue, PT/OT wear navy blue, and RNs are going to be wearing ceil blue. Pretty sure we're going to hear "The one in blue. Which shade of blue? I don't know, it was blue."

We do go in the rooms at the beginning of the shift and introduce ourselves as we're writing our name on their board in the space next to where it says "Nurse:" Pts still get us confused, though, so I just clarify, as needed.

[brownbook]

Since I always worked night shift I know patients can be lying in bed in a darkened room but still awake. Any and all hospital staff from housekeeping, to CNA'S, to the nursing supervisor, can be (quietly) going in and out of patients rooms. You are not going to wake the patient to introduce yourself if you don't need to, therefore the patient will have no idea who you are. I think distinct nursing outfits, colors and very large "RN" on the name tag is a great idea.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

A professional nurse is NOT in what she wears but in HOW she carries herself and if percieved by others........

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

In South Africa the ward nurses wear uniforms, but there are distinguishing devices that indicate the "rank" of the nurse. RNs wear maroon epaulettes, ENs wear white, ENAs no device. Scrubs are only worn in theater - the ward staff only wear them if they've had a regrettable accident with some or other type of bodily waste....

Back in my student days, I wore the white dress, cap, hose etc, and I can testify to the illogicality of it; clean and crisp when you go on duty, by the end of one dressing round, spattered with everything from chlorhexidine to betadine to blood and pus. Pantihose with a series of ladders by the end of the day...damn things cost me a fortune every month. I was only too grateful when they phased out the caps, they looked fine early in the day, but the more hectic it got, the more they shifted. The planet doesn't hold enough clips to keep the things in place.

Nah, keep your white nurses dresses for a dirty weekend....

[MomRN0913]

I do think colors help the patients and families identify nurses. The hospital where i worked recently changed RN's to white tops and blue bottoms. I however loved my fun scrubs. But i can see where the issue can be. I am greatly opposed ot white however. White pants for women aren't fair. I don't mean to be gross, but come on, you never know when Aunt Flo is going to visit, or nurses barely get to pee, let alone a chance to tend ot feminie needs in a timely manner..... Plus all the yuckiness that comes from these patients just doesnt make white conducive...