Who is a professional nurse?

KeechieSan · May 15, 2011

I have a huge tag on my badge that says "NURSE" and I introduce myself to every patient at the start of the shift, plus my name and title are on a white board in front of their face. I'm sorry if that isn't enough, but I *REFUSE* to wear color coded scrubs. I'll wear what I want, thanks.

bagladyrn, RN · May 15, 2011

Whites are totally impractical for most areas of nursing. I know I could never keep them clean in L&D. Skirts are much less modest than pants for the types of positions we frequently end up in. As for caps, aside from being a pain to keep on and an infection risk, I also find them to be sexist since men in nursing have never been required to wear one! (I always thought back when we HAD to wear them men should have been required to wear a beanie or something)

breaktime · May 16, 2011

I think most of the general public still has no idea what nurses really do, and so just color-coding uniforms or having badges with RN on them doesn't really solve the problem. A good portion of my friends still think the major responsibilities of my job include wiping butts, fluffing pillows, and handing out a few pills that a doctor told me to (without even at least the credit for knowing what those medications really do/are being given for). I think until we, as a profession, do a better job of educating the public about what we do, this will continue to be a problem.

In regards to dress-code on my unit, very few people wear scrub tops (in fact, most of those who do are fellows, not RNs) as most people where unit-specific t-shirts (they have the organization name on them, and PICU). I would say our patients (or their families) are more likely to confuse other staff, such as diet, PT/OT, speech, as one of the attending MDs as opposed to a nurse. Of course, being an ICU we have at max 2 patients instead of 5 (or 6, 7, or 20) and thus I think it is easier for them to remember us since we have to leave the rooms of any one patient less often then say, most med/surg nurses must due to patient load.

Sart45 · May 16, 2011

This is an interesting topic. I worked as a CNA for 9 months; nurses wore different scrubs (style and color) than CNA's. I always introduced myself as the Certified Nursing Assistant. Because I am older and educated (I'm a retired teacher with a BA and an MA) many, many patients "thought" I was a nurse. This happened almost daily! I don't know if it was because I was professional in my job, the way I talked, looked or whatever???

jmqphd · May 16, 2011

I think that people can infer from what I do and say that i am his nurse. But he will ask for care from the cleaning gal. And he might tell me that "that other nurse gave me this ice-bag and I think the soreness is better.
So,I guess our patients just assumes we're all nurses.
I think CNA's and other ancillary folks should have dark blue (green, maroon, whatever) scrubs with thier title very boldly written on the top.. ""CNA," HOUSEKEEPER, DIET TECH, TRANSPORT
I would like to see Nurses with a bold RN name tag on it the front breast pocket 4 x 3"
The impressing ppart of the story was how they kept their data about patients responses to an RN in white dress/cap/hose/and shoes. The patients loved it.

WOw... my spelling and syntax s#cks after I take zolpidem. Remind me not to post while sedated!

jmqphd · May 16, 2011

Here is a pet peeve of mine.

Why in the name of heaven do nurses wear Betty Boop, Bambi, Bunny Rabbit, cute little hearts and valentines, posies, angels, paisley prints in garish colors etc etc scrubs?

First: It looks like you're wearing your flippin' pajamas!

Second: How can you expect other disciplines to take nurses seriously when we dress like that?

I have a closet full of colored scrubs (that I wore before my teaching job when I was working at the bedside.) But mostly they are solids.

(Of course... for pediatrics the childish prints make sense. No argument there.)