Public Opinion wanted

[unusuallyconfused]

This is all great information BUT only if the nurses stand together, and in most cases we don't. Sad. [/B]

Hi, even if you were not able to get nurses to stand together, if the policy was something you couldn't live with you would have a significant amount of options. That is the great thing about the nursing market.

Otherwise, I could give you a lot of BS to try to counter the suggestion, but I would have to know the executives before I could create a strategy.

 

[Desert Amazon]

 

[RisiaSkye]

Simply Me

I sympathize with your desire to express yourself through your scrubs, particularly in an environment as institutional and monotonous as a hospital.

However, I think the administration actually has a point. Because of my mother's severe diabetes, I've spent a lot of time in hospitals, doctors' offices and clinics. In my experience, in a crisis, people are not easily able to process information, especially details. This means that many of the people coming in, both patients and panicked family/friends, aren't in the right mental state to read name tags, or ask around until they find someone from the right group (RN, LPN, PA, etc.) to meet their immediate needs. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be able to follow the color coding (especially at first) either. However, once they learn it, they don't have to re-learn it, while using name-tags as markers requires fairly constant and/or repeated attention. So, having found out that RNs wear teal, for example, someone can use this information to find another RN later. Especially for people like my mother, who experience frequent and/or long stays, this could be an enormous help for both the patients and their visitors.

Additionally, it has also been my experience that people in different parts of the hospital often don't know each other, especially if it's a large facility (particularly those with "special" locations like burn centers, women's clinics, etc) with a correspondingly large staff. In that case, the color coordinating might even be useful for staff working in an unfamiliar part of the hospital, etc. The compromise (coordinating pants, but not tops) someone suggested seems like a good idea--gives you the chance to personalize, while still affording everyone the benefits of uniform recognition. What do you think of this idea?

I don't know if that helps at all, but there you have it!

 

[Weird Harold]

I wasn't challenging you.
...
The only change in the USAF I switched to was BDU's... I don't remember the time limit but didn't think it was that long... It's been so long...I want to say they gave a year-

I never took it as a challenge, just a point needing clarification.

FYI, BDUs were the last Uniform change I went through. They were approved for optional wear for three years, normal fatigues were discontued in Clothing Sales and given two more years to wear out and be replaced. Individual units had the option of making them mandatory sooner after the fatigues were discontinued.

I agree that in the context of hospital uniforms, it would be a bit of a strain on the budget if they continued to fund a clothing allowance, but I should think they could probably afford three sets for existing employees, and any new hires as a one time uniform issue.

Many other civilian companies do that. You get two or three uniforms issued when you start, and can buy as many more as you want. When you terminate employment, you return two or three uniforms to clear accounts. Any additional are yours to keep.

Another approach used by many civilian companies is to simply provide uniforms and laundering, and the employees never actually own their own uniforms. (I think hospitals used to do this with scrubs, but quit to reduce operating costs.)

Last, but not least, are the companies that stencil their logo on shirts and give them to employees as advertising. I have a very nice polo shirt with an auto parts company logo on it, acquired via a friend of my daughters who was tasked with getting rid of the leftovers when the company changed names.

There are a lot of options the hospital has, but I don't think causing an out-of-pocket expense to all employees is one of them. (Maybe one of the Lit Lawyers knows something about labor laws?)

 

[Simply Me]

Weird Harold. We did propose that they give us so many scrubs and bring them back for laundering, but their reply was that the scrubs would be lost, not returned, or stained to the point of not being reusable for someone else. Well, yes they do get stained, and we eat the cost and replace them now, but we replace them with something we like. I probably spend somewhere in the excess of 1,000-2,000 a year on scrubs and lab coats. These will now hang in my closet and I will take a loss. I next proposed that we be allowed to come in in our street clothes, check scubs out, then return them at the end of the shift, so far have not heard back from that. If doing this will help the general public in knowing who to approach, then I will quit moaning and resign myself to looking like Kermit everyday in the ugly green/teal scrubs. I personally think that the uniforms that we wear are a lot neater looking than the baggy scrubs that O.R. wears with the draw strings. And most O.R. people I talk with agree. Someone mentioned not letting a nurse with blue hair take care of them, lol. I've not seen this where I work, but now I tell you, if that blue haired nurse could notice a slight change in my condition that could ultimately be fatal if no intervention was made, then I really don't care. Most nurses I see are clean,well-groomed and professional looking. I think if there is someone who has stepped beyond the lines of good taste, then address that person. And yes, the hats were awful! When I graduated nursing school, I took my hat and placed it behind the wheel of truck and ran over it twice,lol. I have gotten lots of good ideas from you guys, and will carry them to the table on Monday, thank you. But I still think they are gonna pay for it, still not letting go of that! And I really think some guy is going to challenge them on some of the more sexist rules. You guys are great..ty.

 

[nitengale]

I probably spend somewhere in the excess of 1,000-2,000 a year on scrubs and lab coats.
[/B]

Simply, you need to shop at better places! Holy smokes...shop catalogs!

1-2 thousand a year???

 

[Simply Me]

lol Nitengale..Yep, I know it's alot which is why I am jumping up and down about the change. In the trauma unit we have situations arise alot (mainly D.I.C.) in which we don't always have time to grab a gown from the pyxis, just grab gloves and run, and so our clothes are often bloodied.
In the E.R. we do have time to gown up, but unfortunately the gown doesn't protect the scrubs pants, so they are the ones I most often replace. You don't even want to know how many pairs of tennis shoes I end up replacing. That is why I have proposed that they supply our scrubs for us.

 

[SweetCherry]

Well, this is just my opinion. I can't see all that well, and trying to read a name tag to tell which department someone is in....well, I would have my nose right on your breast to see it. Color coding works well for me.

In a hospital around my area, they hyave color coding. Not a Uniform tho. Just a smock that they wear over their regualr clothes. Those who work in pediatrics wear really cute ones with clowns or balloons or something like that. I can't exactly remember, since it's been a while since I've been there.

Another option I think would be color coded Name tags. You know, like purple for maternity, yellow for pediatrics, something along those lines. Then again, what do I know?