the scope of things

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 (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 www.RxForSanity.com or Amazon.com.

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