Since 2004, nursing staff at Sydney Children’s Hospital have been given the choice to wear suitable professional attire or uniform. Choice of professional attire is based on guidelines developed by management and staff.
The choice of uniform or professional dress was given to the nurses based on research on nurses caring for children and their families and is consistent with many other childrens’ hospitals both nationally and internationally.
Research has shown that children react with greatest anxiety towards traditional nurses uniforms which is the reason why paediatric nurses internationally often wear colorful uniforms. This research is supported anecdotal feedback in 2004 when nurses were surveyed following the transition into professional dress, one nurse reported that there is “No ‘blue shirt syndrome’. Children don’t instantly freak out as often‘” (The Lamp, 2004)
Based on this research and many more reasons I think that maintaining a choice for paediatric nurses is important, What do you think?
The picture I used for this post was taken from a film I made for the inaugural NSWNA Nurses Short Film Festival 2009. The video is at the top of this post.
Do you have any comments about why we should or should not wear uniform? Does anyone work anywhere else that has been given the choice?
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Uniforms in Childrens Hospital I agree that Paediatric nurses should not have to wear traditional uniforms. At Sydney Childrens Hospital, nurses are still easily identifiable as we have a dress code that ensures we still look professional.
absolutely,kelly! thanks for joining
missnursetoni Totally agree. Having trained at Camperdown in the 70′s, it’s great to see change for the better. The children would often be alarmed with our caps, veils were ousted because of this. We need to keep up with the times of change and make the world a happier place for these children.
Hey missnursetoni – I trained at camperdown kids in the 70′s as well. those uniforms were something else weren’t they!
We don’t want to wind back the clock Every profession wants progress, uniforms will be a step backwards. A proper case for no uniforms was put forth before we could change to the polo shirts or scrubs. Why are we even considering going back to uniforms? In all my years at SCH there has not been an issue with nursing staff being hard to identify.
Uniforms in Childrens Hospitals I work in a paediatric ward and we where dora the explorer scrubs alongs with dr suess, sesame street etc the kids love it and the older kids think we are warped and have a good laugh at us.. I love it and would never go back to a “normal” uniform..I find parents love it also..we have had no complaints only great compliments.
I work in a paediatric Ward however we are still wearing the noraml uniform, i would love to wear scrubs as would many of my co-workers it’s just hard to get the approval of the managers in order for us to be able to wear them. I believe it would be beneficial for the kids to be able to identify something friendly that they are aware of ie; cartoon characters which would make their hospital stay a less scary one.
any ideas to convince the managers to agree to this would be greatly appreciated.
i don’t see why it’s ok for other speciality areas to wear a different uniform but not us !