Submitted by: Sally Ryan

Medical uniforms have been a professional requirement of health care workers starting as early as the middle of the 19th century. By 1880, Florence Nightingale had established a system to train nurses and used a hat and band system to identify nurses of different rank. Nurse hats originally were modeled after nun’s coifs, which gave the nursing uniform an increased look of respectability.

The First World War brought about a change in nursing uniforms to allow increased functionality in order to provide fast and efficient care to the large number of casualties of war. Bulky aprons were discarded and skirts were shortened. This change led to a post war period where nursing uniforms begin to mimic popular fashion.

In the 1950’s, hats began to be de-emphasized in order to make the nursing uniform less feminine and therefore attract more male nursing trainees. By the 1970’s the hat had disappeared almost completely except for use in nursing training institutions. The new trend in nursing fashion became uniform scrubs. Today, at most hospitals everyone wears uniform scrubs at all times to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Cherokee Scrubs arrived on the market with new styles to flatter the body and make scrubs less unisex fitting. Cherokee Scrub Pants came in a variety of styles to compliment different female body shapes, as well as the original men’s unisex styles.

Uniform scrub pants also come in regular, petite and tall lengths. The standard size range was expanded to include XP to 5XL in order to accommodate all healthcare workers who were required to wear uniform scrubs. Cherokee Scrubs fast became a popular uniform scrub staple in the marketplace by expanding the color selection of scrubs from the original hospital green or blue to a rainbow of color coordinated solids and prints to brighten the wardrobe of the scrub wearer. Hospital often differentiated departments through the use of specific colors. Cherokee Scrubs continues to follow fashion trends and colors to provide healthcare workers with a comfortable, easily laundered and fashionable wardrobe.

I dont understand the trend to demean the wearing of uniforms. This trend does not just apply to the Nursing Industry, but extends to the vast number of business categories where a look is appropriate.

Consider the airline pilot. Would we be a happy traveler if we boarded a plane, looked into the cockpit (if indeed that was still possible) and saw our pilot clad in jeans and a T-shirt? Somehow, that stiff, crisp uniform with shiny buttons, white shirt, and most of all the captains hat fills us with confidence that our flight crew is indeed trained and certified to fly the airplane.

The white shirt on our bank President fulfills the same purpose as the airline pilots uniform. It inspires confidence in his ability to manage not only the banks money, but ours as well. Would we invest our hard earned dollars with someone sitting behind a desk in clothes that look like they just did a days gardening chores?

The nursess uniform is similar in nature. The health care uniform, whether it be a traditional white uniform or scrubs, is a symbol of knowledge. It represents the long hours studying anatomy or meds, the hours spent in clinical practice, the numerous nights spent cramming for tests. Symbolically, the knowledge learned is represented by the capping ceremony and graduation.

The uniform worn by a nurse is their badge of knowledge. It is the physical representation of years of studying and work that went into achieving that precious nursing degree. So why would a nurse not want to be recognized as a professional healthcare giver? Why not wear a uniform that sets them apart from the general public? Why not wear it proudly..

About the Author: I have been involved in the healthcare uniform industry for 20+ years. Operating two retail locations and an extensive outside sales territory of nursing schools, I became familiar with the uniform industry, its products and its problems. Visit

uniformscrubsz.com

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