My husband sent me an email yesterday with an excited “Check this out!” in the subject line. I clicked on the link and it was pictures of contemporary nurses, working and wearing nurse’s caps. Apparently my husband thought (as had I) that the wearing of caps in the workplace had died out some time ago.

It made me think about not only caps, but uniforms in general. Back when I was in nursing school the first time, our uniform was an uncomfortable and unforgiving white dress with a blue-edged pinafore. White hose only, and proper nursing shoes. I remember when I put that scratchy thing on, I felt like an imposter—like I was playing dress up in someone else’s clothes. But when we started our clinicals, I saw lots of nurses wearing the traditional white dress and I thought, “Ok, that’s how it goes I guess.”

Fast forward almost 20 years when I entered nursing school again. This time, our uniforms were white scrub pants, white scrub tops, and sensible nursing shoes. Still no caps, of which I was glad, but also no more dresses. It’s amazing how easy it was to bend, move, and lift wearing the nice, baggy scrub pants the school was now allowing. And while all the nurses I saw were in scrub pants and not in dresses, I could count on one hand how many actually wore white. Instead, scrubs have bloomed into lots of different colors and patterns.

After graduation, people joked that they would burn their nursing school scrubs. They wanted the freedom to choose their own clothes, and to step away from the white which in many minds during school, came to symbolize ‘student’ rather than ‘nurse.’
I guess I am different because I kept my scrub uniform, and wore it until there were one too many stains on it to justify its continued use. Even now, I wear white pants almost exclusively at work, and my tops are generally solid color and low-key.
Local hospitals have been establishing dress codes recently, in order to better allow the patient to understand who is the nurse and who is, say, the environmental service provider, seeing as everyone wears scrubs. So far my hospital isn’t quite on the bandwagon yet, although there was a pilot involving the colors white, black, and khaki. Now, however, we are just wearing really big badge clips with RN or LPN on them, and that seems to suffice.

I personally feel that the color white is associated with medicine, and that we should take ownership of it. Doctors, NP’s, PA’s, Residents…they all have white lab coats. Nurses are the only medical professionals who are traditionally associated with white pants. Sure its hard to keep clean, and sure they get dirty easy—but that’s why they are scrubs and that’s why they are inexpensive and budget friendly.
Me, I will be in whites until the day I retire. I’m even thinking of buying a cap, just for fun.

Scrubs at Nurses Station

These are all aspects of professionalism, and they are expected of us in the workplace.
What happens, though, if you are not on the clock?
Does professionalism stay at work, or do you carry it around with you at all times?
Think of the last day off you had—what did you wear when you ran your errands or filled up your car’s gas tank? How did you act when you went out with your friends to the newest club or bar? Did you tell anyone you are a nurse, and do you think if you did, that others would look at you differently if you weren’t dressed to the nine’s, or if you had more than one or two drinks?
Yes we know that licensure demands ‘good moral character’, but that is a broad and hard-to-define term. Are you less professional if you have a few drinks with your friends? Are you more professional if you dress up to run errands? And as licensed professionals, are we obligated to act the part of professional any time we are in public, or just when we are in scrubs and on the clock?
Is there a grey area somewhere…between living life as a person first, and nurse second. After all, while being a nurse is a huge aspect of who I am, it is not the complete definition of me. What about you?

Cherokee Uniforms, has what we at Nurses Station think is a terrific award program. Cherokee Uniform’s “Inspired Comfort Award” recognizes nurses and other non-physician healthcare professionals who demonstrate exceptional service, sacrifice and innovation, and have a positive impact on the lives of others. This is the 5th year that the leading designer and manufacturer of healthcare apparel and scrubs has honored inspirational caregivers. The Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award reaches nationwide. Nurses Station salutes Cherokee Uniforms for celebrating these healthcare professionals.

Click here to see the list of 2007 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award recipients and to read their stories of inspiration.

If you would like to nominate a nurse or other non-physician healthcare professional for the 2008 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award, click here.

Nurses Station is dedicated to offering nurses and other healthcare professionals quality scrubs at an affordable price. To ensure that we are offering the scrubs that healthcare professionals like best, we have created a brief survey. Help us provide you with the lines of scrubs that you are looking for by filling out our survey. We will add styles, brands and sizes to our scrubs collection based on your answers.

Click here to take the survey. Thank you for helping us help you!