Distinguishing Nurses from other Workers

Wednesday 09th of May 2007 03:43:34 AM

Nurses who work in The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada will be getting new uniforms they can choose to wear if they want to. Many nurses at the hospital wear scrubs, street clothing, and other causal clothing that resembles other employees who work in the hospital. “We wanted to have a look for nurses at Sick Kids, a look that would be kind of professional, but casual, comfortable and cool. It would be trendy," said Chief Nursing Executive Margaret Keatings. Uniforms will consist of t-shirts, cargo pants, and polo shirts. Each employee will be given three outfits to wear with the option to purchase additional clothing.

“We're not mandating it. What we're doing is encouraging the look. Something happened in the '80s and '90s where gradually the uniforms became much more casual. Oftentimes, you couldn't distinguish between what nurses wore at home and at work,” said Keatings. While many nurses wear scrubs, they do not all wear the same colours, which is confusing for patients, visitors, and families.

“It's important for the public to be able to identify who the nurses are in the organization. We play such diverse roles... It nice to be able to wear pieces that say, `Yeah I'm a nurse.',” said Barb Brunise, chair of the Registered Nurses’ Council for the hospital. uniforms are made of comfortable fabrics and have lots of pockets so nurses will be able to carry equipment and other items with them as they do their rounds each day. Higher collars were also added to make carrying stethoscopes more comfortable.

(c)Margan Zajdowicz, www.sxc.hu