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Miami Valley prescribes scrub colors for nurses
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Deborah Minton, front, a nurse manager in Miami Valley Hospital's cardiology unit, was one of the hospital's employees who researched whether employees attire, color-coded by discipline, would increase patient satisfaction. Minton ended up doing her thesis on the subject and the hospital has adopted a new dress code.DAYTON — Some master's thesises collect dust on the shelves of academia, but Deborah Minton's has changed what her colleagues wear to work at Miami Valley Hospital.
The hospital's new dress code, which took effect last week, requires nurses to wear navy and white. Other hospital workers must wear scrubs ranging from teal to sandstone in color.
The requirement that scrubs be certain colors stemmed from two Miami Valley nursing units wearing color-coded scrubs last year as part of Minton's thesis research. That research found color-coded scrubs improved patient and nurse satisfaction 3 percent to 8 percent.
"I never imagined doing this in two units would involve changing the dress code," Minton said.
Miami Valley is spending roughly $100 per employee to defray workers' cost for new wardrobes. That adds up to roughly $360,000 for the 3,600 Miami Valley Hospital employees covered by the new dress code, said Gary Blake, Miami Valley's vice president of operations. The hospital bought the scrubs from Shumsky Enterprises in Dayton.
No longer will nurses be able to wear scrubs bearing Brutus Buckeye or other prints.
"It does take away from this individuality, but it's the right thing to do for the patient," Blake said.
In emergency situations, the colored scrubs can immediately gives nurses and their colleagues a visual cue, alerting them to who they can call on for assistance even if they don't know their coworkers, said Jayne Gmeiner, director of the hospital's Center of Nursing Excellence.
The hospital has printed new brochures and will soon have signage throughout the hospital and in patients' rooms to demystify who wears which colors.
The policy applies to the Miami Valley South Health Center in Centerville.
Miami Valley Hospital said it's the first in the region to prescribe scrub colors. A handful of other Ohio hospitals already have such dress codes.
"We really wanted to provide a way to tell at a glance who was the nurse," said Debra Albert, chief nursing officer at the Cleveland Clinic, which has required nurses to wear white for three to four years. Patient feedback has made believers of many policy critics, she said.
Miami Valley's "professional image policy" also prohibits dangling jewelry, bracelets, and visible body piercings. Those giving direct patient care may not wear artificial fingernails and must keep nails well-groomed and trimmed to a quarter inch or less.
The hospital isn't returning to the days of starched uniforms for nurses, but the new dress code shows "the pendulum is coming back to where nurses are dressing more professionally," hospital spokeswoman Nancy Thickel said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.
