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Facilities that have adopted uniforms say they help patients to distinguish roles of the health care team and improve overall staff appearance. In surveys, physicians’ offices where people wore uniforms were rated cleaner and more professional.

W hen California nurse consultant KT Waxman, RN, MBA, asked a relative about his hospital care after surgery, she was stunned when the former patient said that he rarely saw a nurse. The people who came into his room wore scrubs or even T-shirts, he reported, and he presumed the nurse was at a desk and didn’t want to be bothered.

“We assume patients know who the nurses are,” Waxman said, “but obviously that’s not the case. I understand moving away from the traditional white, but I don’t believe it was anyone’s intention to promote unprofessional attire. I would advocate we go back to some kind of uniforms, identification that people can recognize.”

A few years ago, Ann Stovall, RN, BSN, chief nursing executive at Christus Jasper (Texas) Memorial Hospital, initiated a hospitalwide move to wearing colors specific to position.

“We have a [substantial] geriatric population and with everyone in scrubs, they didn’t know who was a nurse or a housekeeper,” Stovall said. “There was nothing that looked professional, mismatched colors, some people who were neat and others who were not.”

Nurses wear royal blue and nurses aides, burgundy. Prints are not allowed except on special holidays. “Solid is more soothing than busy prints, which can be disturbing to geriatric patients and disturbed patients,” Stovall said. Nurses can wear a solid blue or white lab coat as well.

Once the nursing departments changed over, hospital CEO Deborah Wiegand, RN, decided to implement color-coded scrubs for all staff involved in direct patient care. The hospital gave employees six months to change over.

As a small rural hospital, Stovall said, Jasper Memorial couldn’t afford to buy staff uniforms, but did have uniform companies bid in order to find the lowest price. The hospital also offers paycheck deduction for uniform purchase.

Cost wasn’t much of an issue for the nursing staff, Stovall said. “Typical cost of a complete outfit, pants and top, is around $15. Patients do notice that everyone looks good. I think it has made everyone more aware of their appearance and caused them to take a little more care.”

Appearance is important in any workplace, said Kim Zoller, owner and president of Image Dynamics, a Dallas corporate training firm that specializes in personal and business effectiveness, including health care.

First impressions

“Studies show that you make an impression in three to seven seconds without even opening your mouth,” Zoller said. “Ninety-three percent of that impression is outside of your words. Appearance does matter. The consistency of uniforms looks better, and the recognition factor is very reassuring.”

In surveys done by Zoller’s firm, for example, physicians’ offices where people wore uniforms were rated cleaner and more professional.

Staff at Christus St. Joseph Hospital in Houston recently went a step further, switching to uniforms that conformed to specific guidelines in addition to color.