Monday, August 18, 2008

Neat-o site and a question:

In reverse order.

First, for those of you who work in hospitals/clinics/whatever that require uniforms or particular scrub colors: Does your facility provide any sort of scrub allowance for employees? (Nursing students, sorry, but I just want the working RNs/aides/PTs/OTs/secretaries etc. to answer this one.) Do you have particular scrub shops where you can get an extra discount? How about folks coming to the facility itself to sell scrubs? Tell me all about it.

Now, for those of you *looking* for scrubs, here's a site which has--hurrah!--coupon codes! One of the very pleasant founders emailed me the other day and asked that I put it up. 


Why this theme in particular? Because Sunnydale General has decided to go to a choice of scrub colors, all of which are hideous, beginning in November. Two of the choices are so very unflattering that I'm thinking of going with straight old-fashioned whites. Not the the degree that I'll wear a skirt and blouse, mind you, but whites. This uniformity craze seems to be a trend--I've heard lots about it from other RN friends of mine lately.

*sigh* The last time I wore whites was in nursing school. We'll see if they've come up with non-see-through pants since then.

13 comments:

The loco days of locolorenzo said...

When I was interviewing at a hospital that required scrub colors...I honestly decided that 2 things turned me off one particular unit...
1. Had to wear whites...I mean, I just got out of school to get to wear my own clothes.
2. Staff described the group as "catty".
There was not a scrub allowance, but we could shop at the hospital equipment store. Didn't help as they stopped selling unisex scrubs....so us guys were outta luck.

Beth Young said...

My first nursing job required RN's to wear whites. Print tops on a white background were allowed. That's the only place I've ever worked where you could tell who was who. I kept wearing the whites when I changed jobs because that was what I had, and patients started commenting on how professional I looked. Since then, I've pretty much stuck with white because of the respect and professionalism that it garners. I usually buy online at Lydia's or anywhere else with a sale, but uniforms last forever if you're not worried about fashion, so I don't buy many.

Anonymous said...

My facility seems to vary substantially by floor, but most of the floors seem to require some kind of uniformity (all the ER nurses wear dark blue for some reason). My unit requires whites (with patterns on a white background being acceptable for tops). This is my first nursing job, and I have to say that I do think there's a lot to be said for nurses being easy to pick out among the staff, though it doesn't stop some of the patients from assuming that a man walking into their room wearing white must be a doctor (meh). Also, this might be a guy thing, but there's something convenient about just grabbing one of my identical scrub sets in the morning and not worrying about what I'm wearing.

The hospital where I did most of my clinical hours didn't seem to have requirements for uniforms apart from wearing scrubs, and it felt awkward going onto a new floor and not being sure who was a nurse vs. aides, monitor techs, etc.

We don't get a scrub allowance, but there's a uniform shop across the street that does payroll deduction, so at least it's pre-tax dollars. I haven't seen anyone selling scrubs/uniforms on-site (unlike soap, chocolate, and atrocious knick-knacks).

Incidentally, long-time reader, first time poster. I started reading Head Nurse while I was going through nursing school, and you provided a lot of inspiration and comfort during that process. Thank you very much!

Anonymous said...

I think white pants are a special little form of torture for nursing students, at least at my school.
If you can find a good source for non-see-through white pants I will give you one million dollars.

Lisa G said...

My facility allows staff to choose whatever pattern and style of scrubs that they'd like. We also do dress-down fridays, when the whole facility (120 bed SNF) can wear jeans with a scrub top. Personally, I'm glad I'm the DON, LOL, 'cuz I get to wear street clothes.

marachne said...

The VA pays an allowance, but there are no dress codes for scrubs. There would be occasional folks on campus selling scrubs, but it was not an all the time thing -- I think they were raising money for something or another, (the on-site day care center?)

I love ScrubMed (http://www.scrubmed.com/), they're not the cheapest out there but they are QUALITY -- good fabric, quality work, really, really like their prints but you're SOL on that aren't you? They do have a range of solid colors too. A $2 discount if you buy tops and bottoms, but that's not much. The only other discount I believe they have/had was actually for students. And their 2x/year sale is great but you have to live in this part of the world.

I still think they're worth checking out.

GuitarGirlRN said...

In our hospital, only L&D nurses get scrubs provided for them, because they have to take them out of the special pyxis for uniforms--they're sterile or something.

We get a "gift" of two tops and two bottoms for ER nurses week in May--they're embroidered with our hospital's name and "Emergency Medicine."

I think we can buy discount scrubs from the laundry, but I've never done it.

We're color-coded at my hospital: White for med/surg nurses; light blue for tele and the ICU; green for L&D; and navy blue for ED nurses. The nurse techs wear cranberry colored scrubs.

Anonymous said...

Our hospital is making the switch in the winter. All nurses must wear blue because patients were having a hard time picking us of out from the the resp techs that wear green, dietary that wears maroon, all other techs that wear navy and PCTs that wear a hideous shade of teal green. All PT/OT and lab/pharms must wear long white coats over whatever they want and LD/OR can wear the authorized hospital logo scrubs. If you are a nurse, you can wear any cut or style of scrub, but the color must be a certain blue. No one likes it. I don't care cause it's not white.

Anonymous said...

First of all I am jealous of Guitar Girl. I get zilch for ED Nurse week. My manager takes that week off annually to avoid the whole thing. We have no uniform mandates/allowance.Professionalism can vary wildly . There is a casual friday in which we can pay a dollar to wear jeans on a Friday once or twice a month but noone in the ED wants to chance our jeans with what comes in.ABout twice a year a vendor comes in with some funky and pricely scrubs.I like uniform advantage or Taffords for online shopping but be careful of sizing as they run large. White...EGADS the horrors of matching different ages,hence different hues of white makes me twitch.I hope we never go to a cerain color. I would miss my skull/crossbone/hearts w/grommets top. Yvonne ED rn

Elena said...

We have a color code at our hospital. Nurses wear royal blue, LPN's (me) wear turquoise, PCT's wear black. We have no allowance but many store give discounts if you show your hospital ID when you purchase scrubs. We are allowed to wear prints as long as the background color is the corresponding color to our position. Most of the nurses on my floor wear solids though, we notice the doctors seem to take us more seriously than if we're wearing butterflies or flowers.

Anonymous said...

going to uniform colors for all departments. non clinical have to wear a certain color polo-like tops and khakis. environmental services have to wear provided services shirts and black scrub pants. all other departments wear their unit colors and rn's must wear white jacket/top. allowances are only given to lesser incomes people and their are 2 local companies that offer substantial savings,however, they only offer unisex scrubs. if you want other styles, you have to purchase on your own. our nurse manager formed a committe and allowed us to bulk order certain styles from lydia's and everyone liked that. we all hate the entirely white shoes, not nike or nb, but white nursing shoes. cost too much and hurt feet. hope this helps

Anonymous said...

Hi Everyone!
For those of you who are looking for new nursing scrubs, particularly those of you who don't receive scrub allowances, we're having a contest at LydiasUniforms.com where you can win $250 worth of free scrubs- check it out!

GingerJar said...

I will only wear white under total duress. I worked at a maximum security prison for 13 years and the inmates wore white...and that was the only color we were never allowed to wear. To this day if I see a painter wearing white, walking down the road, I reach for my phone to call a cop...."hey, I think you have an escaped convict down here on Lazy lane...he looks like a theif to me!" Anyhow. Yes mandatory scubs are not fun. I prefer the "wear what you want and a white lab coat" mentality. Seems like the patients and visitors could learn to look at the required name tags that clearly state your specialty....but then again, that's asking for some initiative.