Here you go [del]Bonnie[/del] Sicks Ate.
Nice!
I mean, it’s not this,
but it’ll do.
My own stint in healthcare was when everyone still wore white, but my mother was a nurse in the 1970s, right at the time things were changing over. (This was also the time nurses’ whites were changed to allow pants.)
-
Each nursing school had it own design for a nurse cap. Just like chef’s hats, they eventually became non-functional, but everyone still wore them even though a hairnet would be better. If I recall correctly, nurses wore caps while they were working at the desk (in public), but didn’t have to when they were directly caring for patients. I’m not going to search for old graduation photos from nursing schools to find a male nurse, but I’d guess they also got the same cap, but were excused from wearing it. What really counted was the stripe on the cap. Only registered nurses got to wear a stripe. Licensed practical nurses who went to a nursing school, and student nurses had a cap, but no stripe. Registered nurses also had a pin, which they wore all the time.
-
At least in the case of the psychiatric ward, someone finally discovered some patients were intimidated (not reassured like you’d think) by doctors and nurses in white uniforms, but not by aides wearing scrubs. So both physicians and nurses ditched the uniform (and caps) for scrubs, although the physicians insisted on keeping their dumb lab coats.
-
Once hospitals realized that white uniforms actually made some patients more nervous than less formal scrubs, they gave nurses the option of wearing whites or scrubs. A few, like my mother, wore whites until they retired, although my mother did switch to pants. The rest of them quickly converted, because even if scrubs were no more comfortable than white pants, they showed a lot less dirt, and a patient who was a little intimidated by a white uniform, was a lot more intimidated by one with blood stains, rather than a colored uniform that had a sort of brownish stain on it.
As for the color of someone’s scrubs, or how to identify the real nurse from the aide, I have no idea. I suspect the idea is to have patients talk to anyone on the “care team” immediately rather than waiting for the supervisor to come around. My daughter who works in a doctor’s office also has no idea either, except that some office doctors do have all their staff wear the same color. Perhaps one of us could ask that nice person in a smock they next time we give blood.
And yes, my mother and I worked at the same hospital, although it was made clear we wouldn’t work together except in an emergency.
90% of them are women
LOL. I skimmed over your post and saw “titles” and “big”, but thought “titles” was another word! I was seriously WTF for a split second! 
Having recently spent several weeks in hospitals, I think I’ve cracked the code:
Blue scrubs = nurses
Green scrubs = clinical assistants
Red scrubs = technicians, who do things like take x-rays or draw blood or die on away teams
White coats = doctors, nurse practitioner, physician assistants
Civilian clothes are tricky. Sometimes it can be a doctor. But it can also be somebody who works outside of medicine - which can be the cashier in the gift shop or the CEO of the hospital.
This is the traditional nurse uniform??? Doesn’t look the slightest bit like what I had in mind, and I wouldn’t have identified it. It looks like a French maid traditional dress, except for the color. Why would a nurse wear an apron???
The traditional nurse uniform, in my mind, looks like the first picture on this page : Articles: Nurse Uniforms, What Happened?
Yes, it’s especially frustrating when you’ve come out of surgery (even after a couple of months) and your mind is foggy and you forget names within two minutes. It would be nice to have a name tag so when you are trying to be polite you can address them by name.
I haven’t felt comfortable enough to ask.
I guess now that I look at it again, you have a point. Though I’m not sure I would call it a French maid dress exactly.
Let me revise my comment to say he wore a nurse’s uniform that apparently conformed to Guiness’s standards.
My ex-wife always wore one when she was seeing patients in her office. I assume she still does. Heck, there’s probably one or two still lurking in the back of the closet around here.
@kunilou
Did you buy your own uniforms/scrubs? BTW, I assume you’re female, my apology if you’re not. I ask because while don’t think I’ve seen anyone wearing a nurses uniform or solid colored scrub top outside the hospital. However, in Hawaii, floral printed scrubs are the norm for most female nurses (can’t recall what the male nurses wear, I think solid colors) and they’re commonly worn outside the hospital. It’s common enough that I’m sure at least some people wear them even if they’re heading to or coming from work.
Also, AFAIK, there’s no set pattern/style/color as there’s usually a variety in the hospitals and nursing homes I’ve visited. The exception is possibly clinical assistants and technicians as Little Nemo posited.
Just remembered, I think my Mom pointed this out when she was the hospital, later nursing home. The nurses aides wear floral prints, but the nurses wear solid colors. Don’t know if that’s a set rule everywhere though.
Edit: Don’t know if this is true or not, but I have a vague memory hearing that the different wards (e.g. maternity) wear different solid scrubs. I hate hospitals, especially the maternity ward, so don’t have any plans to visit one (voluntarily) anytime in the near future.
They are all color coded at my Doc’s office. I think the code is the same as Little Nemo’s.
Besides that, I don’t need to know who is who. I sit on the table and whoever pokes me with a needle I assume is the nurse and not the office clerk.
Actually I’ve noticed a growing trend (in my experience) for hospital personal to have large bold letters on their ID badge that say for example: MD or RN so you don’t have to hope the nurses all wear white dresses and the doctors all wear white coats and a reflecting mirror on a headband.
Male RN checking in.
As mentioned, most hospitals have adopted a color coding system (although admittedly they are not great about sharing the info):
Navy blue: RN
Light blue: Nurse assistant (Patient Care Associate, Medical Assistant - title varies)
Black: Respiratory therapy
Green: Pharmacy tech
Teal: Phlebotomist
Our badges do have a large “RN” on them. Most flip them around because they hate their photo.
When I was in school, all white was mandatory for both men and women (as students, anyway). Yes, the women wore nursing caps. I had to wear actual nursing shoes (no sneakers!), white pants, and this smock-like top that made me look like a barber. No cap. Also no facial hair.
I have been around long enough to remember actual working nurses - not just students - wearing the all white nursing uniform that was actually a dress.
BTW, it’s Nurse’s Week. High-five a nurse you know.
mmm
That’s not a nurse’s uniform, it’s a fancy dress costume. That was part of the controversy. A fake uniform was acceptable because it was sort-of in the traditional style, but it actual uniform was unacceptable because it was non-traditional.
In this thread, I observed:
This is still very much the case.
Turn around, Bright Eyes.
When’s Steinman gonna write that opera, ferchrissakes.
Banned in UK NHS hospitals - they’re deemed to be unhygienic (long sleeves and worn more than once before washing). What with additional rules around no trailing fabrics (long sleeves, ties, scarves, jewelry), a lot of hospital doctors tend to wear scrubs too, just to really confuse everyone.
NHS does the different coloured scrubs thing for different roles too - but I think different regions have different colour rules, so no one is any the wiser.