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Laboratory Evaluation of Endoscope Water
Bottles
Who’s Da Nurse
Nursing Image in
Disarray
By Patricia L. Raymond, MD, FACP, FACG
 They’re rumpled and disordered,” declares Sandy Dumont.
“Loose and limp. Nurses have got to get back into uniform. Then
they’ll have power and authority, and be taken more seriously.
Scrubs are not a uniform.”
Sandy Dumont is an image consultant (http://www.theimagearchitect.com/),
with more than 25 years experience directing the image of executives
for Fortune 500 companies. And she thinks its time to resuscitate
nursing uniforms.
“White denotes extraordinary cleanliness and
sanitation. I’d choose a modern fabric, like a wash-and-wear soft
polyester. It would be tailored to enhance the figure, and have
powerful shoulders...perhaps epaulets. This would give the new
nursing uniform power and authority, and insignias could denote rank
or station in the hospital.”
Sort of like the folks in “Star Trek,” I muse.
But, does that mean that nurses must go back to “The
Cap”?
Not to worry. Dumont says the cap should stay
gone. “They’re simply unrealistic given the physical exertion of
your modern profession. You don’t have time to glide like a swan
with the cap upon your head.”
Nursing has an image problem with the public ...
they can’t see you. We’ve all heard patients speak of “the nurse who
took my blood, the nurse who cleaned my room, the nurse who took me
to radiology.” Everyone in the hospital is in scrubs, and patients
are simply not savvy enough to keep the players straight. I too have
fallen victim to their confusion. As a young female doc, I am often
asked dietary questions should I visit the hospital sans long white
coat and shoulder draped stethoscope ... my uniform. Endoscopy
nursing lacks a strong image with the public, and within the
hospital community as well.
And nursing has an image problem with
gastroenterologists. We doctors fail to look beyond the bedraggled,
faded hospital scrubs to see the qualified professionals eager to
accept responsibility standing right beside us in our suites. Dumont
believes that physicians would respond differently to nurses in
uniforms of power rather than in rumpled attire. “I would quit my
job if they made me wear something like that,” she opines, “And
those cartoon character jackets — no wonder they have no
authority.”
It’s not about having the skill or the training.
We know that you’re qualified, especially those that bear the CGRN
designation. Dumont explains, “A uniform doesn’t make you good. A
uniform gives you respect.” She shares an example from the aviation
profession. Although Southwest Airlines has loosened uniform
standards for its flight personal, you still don’t see the pilots in
cut-off shorts. “When we need to trust you with our lives, or our
families, we’d like you to look professional.” Or trust you with our
patients lives. Help your docs know that you are a medical authority
and to be respected.
Your hospital requires scrubs? I discussed this
topic with Julia Nist and Fay Massulle of West Virginia University
Hospital at the Dallas SGNA conference. Their hospital understands
the importance of their nurses being identified as such. “They have
a picture posted in each patient’s room; it explains to the patients
that the nurses are in royal blue or white, the LPNs and nursing
support are in teal or tan, and ancillary hospital personnel like
transport, cleaning, or dietary are in black or grey scrubs.” I love
it; it allows the patients to know at all tines just who is caring
for them, and gives status to the nurse.
And those cartoon jackets? At West Virginia
University Hospital, for major holidays they can be worn for a week
before; for minor holidays on the day of the holiday only. Sounds
fair.
But what about your loss of personal freedom?
Dumont believes that the benefits to the profession will outweigh
the costs. She explains that some costumes become ennobled, and
convey personal qualities, attributes, and virtues. Nurses have
“given up their comaraderie, given up their credibility, their
‘bonding by means of cloth’. Why do you believe that your personal
freedom outweighs the right of the patient to have trust in you? And
you’ve chosen to look silly in the doctor’s eyes. You’re the only
thing between their patients and death, and you’re covered in
cartoons.”
So how can you commandeer the power of uniform
for your endoscopy profession? Start out locally. If your hospital
won’t do it, develop your own uniform of power for your unit. Select
identical, solid well-tailored scrubs in a bold, strong color, a
starched white lab coat, and display nursing pins and honors. Insist
on a name badge with your last name, degrees and honors; refuse the
friendly but belittling ‘Suzie, RN’ badge. Patients are not your
friends, they are your responsibility.
Move the initiative nationally, as it grows from
unit to unit, from hospital to hospital. Discuss it at regional and
national SGNA conventions. Work with uniform manufacturers to design
a powerful classy new image to reflect the endoscopy nurse of today.
Nurses give up their power and authority as a profession when not
dressed uniformly.
If you wish gastroenterologists to treat you as
a colleagues in healthcare, society to acknowledge you as
authorities, and to be paid as your profession deserves, insist upon
the image of a professional.
SGNA favorite, the nattily attired Patricia
Raymond MD FACP FACG is a Virginia gastroenterologist, and writes
and speaks on helping physicians and nurses to play nicely in the
sandbox of medicine. Her books, “Don’t Jettison Medicine” and the
cult comedy classic “Colonoscopy: It’ll Crack u Up” are available at
http://www.rxforsanity.com/
or Amazon.com.
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