Nursing uniform policy might outline specific rules and dress codes for work

Nursing can be a rewarding profession; it requires medical training and some additional schooling, but it doesn’t require the kind of medical training or school that a doctor has to go through. Despite the fact that you won’t get the credentials of being a doctor, you can help other people and earn a healthy living doing something worthwhile.

Like other professions in the medical and “first responder” line of jobs, there is usually some kind of uniform that has to be worn. To some degree, what the actual nursing uniform policy will come down to who you are working for and how big the organization you are working for is. Nursing uniform policy is basically the rules and guidelines that a company institutes for their nurses and other employees.

These policies tend to say that all nurses must abide by a certain kind of dress codes. There can sometimes be some leeway when choosing what to wear but other times, the policy lays out what everyone must wear to work on any given day. Almost universally, a nurse working for any medical clinic or hospital are going to spend most of their days wearing an outfit that is often referred to as “scrub sets.” These are basically made up of matching shirts and pants that have a very distinctive look that is almost universally recognized in the United States as being an outfit that is worn by medical professionals.

What the nursing uniform policy is for each hospital or medical facility can deviate somewhat once you get past the “scrubs” part of the policy. Some organizations will become very strict with the policy and have certain scrubs that need to be worn on certain days. Some organizations will only allow for people to wear solid color scrubs, while others want there to only be “print top” scrubs.

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Depending on the organization, the policies can lay out a certain number of colors that can be worn, but the nurses can decide what days they want to wear the colors. The policy regarding what kinds of scrubs can even vary from one week to the next. There are even rather large hospitals that might even have different color of scrubs depending on what floor or what department a nurse works in. This means that in certain hospitals, the maternity ward nurses might wear pink scrubs while the ER has green or blue scrubs required. This kind of nursing uniform policy makes it easier for other employees to know where one employee or another works in the hospital.

When going beyond wearing scrubs, the policies can vary wildly depending on where the nurse works. Another area that tends to be the same no matter what organization the nurse is working for is the shoes. Almost all medical facilities are going to have a policy that all nurses must wear closed toed shoes. Most places will also require that the shoes be gym type shoes, meaning that they are not dress shoes or high heels. The nurses must be able to get around their work place without running the risk of stumbling or falling.

There are certain places that will even require a nurse to wear a wrist watch, while also making sure that the nurse isn’t wearing an inordinate amount of jewelry. As far as how the clothes should be worn, most places have decency requirements. This means that the scrubs must fit properly and that there aren’t body parts showing that wouldn’t normally be showing. Midriff’s should not be visible and the pants should be covering the posterior at all times.

Quite a few places will not outright ban tattoos, but plenty of medical organizations will make sure that if a nurse has a tattoo, that he or she wears clothing that covers those tattoos. The bottom line is that when you interview for a nursing position, you should make sure and inquire about what the office, clinic or hospital uniform policies entail.