Monthly Archive for February, 2010

Uniformity of Nursing Uniforms

Published
by
admin
on February 19, 2010
in Nursing Career
. 2 Comments

nurses_7One of the highlights of nursing school for me came during sophomore year when we were given our “shopping list” of things we would need to start clinicals. The list included our very first stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, pen light and yes, the all important nursing uniform.

For school purposes, we were instructed to look as identical as possible – white dresses or white tops and white pants. This way the staff nurses at our clinical facilities would see us coming down the hall and be properly alarmed – “oh no, here come the student nurses!” As a group of about eight students, we looked rather like a process of church acolytes.

However, after graduation, free from school policies, I went shopping again. Now that I was able to branch out beyond all white, the colorful uniform options were almost overwhelming. It was like trading in a black and white television for a color unit. There were flowers, stripes, cartoons and every other type of print under the sun.

Excited by the possibilities, I bought a little of everything. But I also kept my little white dress from nursing school. And, surprisingly, once I started working as a real RN I ended up wearing the white dress more than any of the multi-colored scrub tops and pants. For some reason, I felt a special sense of pride and professionalism when I donned the white dress, white pantyhose, and white shoes and pinned by school BSN pin on the lapel. I felt more like an RN than ever.

I realize that many other nurses do not feel the same way about uniforms and I respect that. There are two basic sides to the “nursing uniform debate.” The first argues that nurses should wear the white or at least agree on a basic uniform so patients will be able to differentiate their RN caregivers from the hospital workers tasked with bring them their dinner tray, transporting them to surgery or drawing blood. The second side argues that comfort, functionality and individuality for nurses trumps uniformity.

In England, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) recently voted 76 to 24 percent that every nurse in that country should indeed dress alike for exactly the reasons that I cited. Although according to the Department of Health, the RCN vote does not indicate any plans to introduce a “national uniform.”

What do you think about the uniformity of nursing uniforms here and abroad?  I wonder what Florence would say.

New Innovation Standardizes Shift Reporting

Published
by
admin
on February 5, 2010
in Nursing Career
. 0 Comments

patient information guideThe system I used to organize important information about my patients before and during a shift was not exactly high tech.

My charting system consisted of a clipboard and a sheet of plain blank paper that I would methodically divide into squares with a ruler before my shift. Each patient got a square wherein I would write clinical data such as diagnosis, vital signs, medication times, procedures, IV information and other “need to know” facts to keep my patients straight.

I would continuously update the squares with the most pertinent information throughout my shift. It was like “Hollywood Squares” meets “ER,” and yet it was effective for providing organized, quality patient care. It also kept all my patient information right at my fingertips for a smooth, streamlined shift report to the nurse taking over my patients.

Thank goodness someone has had the good sense to update my little arts and crafts project shift organization system. Actually two “someones” – a pair of RN, BSN sisters from Florida have accomplished this.  The Elson (not Olsen) sisters have invented a product called “RNReport card” to standardize patient note taking and shift reporting. This will especially benefit nursing students and nursing new grads, finding their way through the often daunting process of thorough and accurate patient documentation.

The product is a 5×7 booklet that fits easily in uniform pockets and standardizes how patient information is recorded and then communicated at shift change. It is also useful for having the most critical patient data available in the same standardized format at a moment’s notice to share with physicians or other members of the patient care team.

Standardized tools for reporting patient information also reduce the likelihood of a medical malpractice action due to inaccurate or missing patient documentation. After all, even as I was dividing my sheet of paper into squares at the beginning of each shift, the adage – “If you didn’t write it, you didn’t do it” – was always on my mind.