The one in white is the RN...

[pammer]

Some workplaces are instituting a policy that all RNs wear white. This is to help colleagues, patients, and visitors know who the RNs are. What do you think about this policy requiring that RNs wear uniform-like clothing such as this?

[PWhite]

In my practice as a Medicare Home Health Nurse I always wear white.
In fact, I wear white culottes with big pockets, a tastefully "decorated tee shirt" a lab coat, hose, and white shoes.
This "costume" saves me thinking about what I am going to wear daily.
All the pockets provide me storage for alcohol preps, thermometer, scissors, clamp, flash light, CPR barrier, Pulse Ox, pressure cuff, gloves, pens, etc.
In addition, over the years I have heard from so many patients that "It is nice to see a Nurse that looks like a Nurse".
The only confusion I have encountered is that some think I am "the Doctor" initially.
Indeed, my "costume" cuts through a lot of explanations when I show up at the door as there is never any confusion as to "What I am"...I am clearly some kind of "medical person" and not there "to read the meter".
This is just a "system" that has worked for me for years...and over time all my patients "get the joke" about my pockets...LOL.

[Fleurette]

Can one have to many pockets? I don't think so.
I used to wear white happily. Then I learned to wear colored scrubs happily. I don't honestly care . . . .except. . .there's something about being required to wear white that feels. . . disrespectful. Like nurses have told how to look and act professional. ("Hi, my name is Fleurette. I'm the RN on this shift. Have you seen a CNA lately?") Maybe I'm oversensitive.

[LindaJ.]

I think that when the patients and their families see so few healthcare providers in white, they are going to be really nervous and rise up against the establishment. Maybe this is the impetus that is needed for revolt and reform. (gee, do I sound like a product of the 60s? I swear I did not graduate from Berkley).

[bryan]

That may very well be true Linda - my observation currently is that the family(including my own)/visitors refer to EVERYONE as 'the nurse".------If they only knew!!!

[Fleurette]

That almost sounds as though what a nurse wears determines the level of care she/he provides and the level of a patient's sense of being well-cared for. I know you don't mean that. Requiring nurses to wear white is a diversionary tactic on the part of administrative types -- or you could call it a stalling tactic. It's a substitute for hiring enough staff, paying them adequately, and treating them professionally. If hospitals honestly wanted to improve the quality of health care and patient "satisfaction" there are far more effective and long overdue ways to accomplish that than having nurses wear white.

[Hepburn]

I am not sure what you mean, Fleurette, that it is a diversionary tactic??
Linda makes a great point, it might work to our advantage when the public realizes that all those folks in lab coats and scrubs are not nurses but housekeeping, pharmacy techs, lab techs, radiology techs, ekg techs, etc. Our cafeteria staff even wear scrubs!!
Personally, I like white. It is clear who you are--a NURSE, and damn proud of it, it looks clean and crisp (and it IS clean, or else you'd know.) and I think it looks neater and more professional than cutesy prints or dark colors.

[Fleurette]

I am not sure what you mean, Fleurette, that it is a diversionary tactic??

I hoped it would be clear that I think it diverts attention and action from what is really causing patients to feel dissatisfied and like they don't know who's the nurse. THAT would be that nurses are so rushed and so pressured that they barely have time to do what must be done --- certainly not time for introductions, explanations, preparation, nurture, counsel, etc. Not due to what color uniform the nurse is wearing.
I like white, too. It looks sterile and crisp, unless it's dingy and stained.

[reesern-63]

I like white, too. It looks sterile and crisp, unless it's dingy and stained.

Which is what mine would look like given the area I work in.
I agree with you, Fleurette, this is a cosmetic change that doesn't really address the heart of the issue. And if patients can't tell that I am an RN by my badge with the ginormic RN in red, or after I have specifically stated that I am an RN, then I hope that my actions would let them know that I am a professional.
I don't wear cutesy scrubs, btw. Just plain old dark blue.

[PWhite]

As we all know when people are really sick their alertness levels can be somewhat limited.
In addition, blind people (like me) can't see clearly without wearing their glasses and it is highly unlikely that I would be lying in a bed with them on.
Therefore the "color differentiation" becomes an easier way for patients to tell who the "real" Nurses are especially "the older crowd".
Just a recent thought on this subject.

[reesern-63]

I respectfully disagrree.

[copperrose]

I always tried to wear white when I was working in the hospital. Several of the hospitals in DFW have rules about what color the RN wears. In one hospital group all of the RN's wear white only, in another it's white or royal blue. The hospital where the nurses wear only white has a picture on the wall of every room that says what color each dept wears. (Housekeeping is one color, RT is another, Lab another etc) This helps the staff as well as the pt's. To me it doesn't have anything to do with history or putting nursing down etc. It has to do with practicality and helping the pt's and family.
As for what Fleurette says, a nurse can NEVER have too many pockets (and the deeper the better)! Years ago the hospital where I worked ran out of alcohol wipes on the saturday of Labor Day weekend. (someone in stores didn't order correctly) Everybody dug out their pockets and lockers and the unit had enough wipes to last till tuesday!

[kristennc]

I work in Pediatrics, so I think I may be absolved either way. =)
But I think I have a political issue with white - whether I like it or not. The fact that nurses traditionally wore white due to the influence of religion on "lower moral" and lower class working women, I'm not sure that continuing that trend really works in our favor.
I don't know...

[PaulaJo]

lol, kristennc, where did you get that info? Do you think that is why sailors traditionally wore white?

[Hepburn]

LOL PaulaJo, I had the same thought!
BTW, doctors and dentists used to wear white too.
If anything, it was to keep the idea of "clean and sterile" going, including on your person.