Saturday, September 1, 2012

ER Fashion Trends

Back in my shiny, noob nurse days, when I was all excited to go out and buy my uniform for my exciting new job in the ER, I wandered into a scrub shop while out running errands with my husband, found some relatively cute shit, and bought it with my fancy new nurse intern money.  As I was checking out, the lady at the counter asked me if I was a medical professional.  I replied that yes, I was an RN, with the typical shit-eating grin of someone who hadn't yet had to start drinking to cope with my chosen  profession. Okay, she told me, you get a discount then.  Just write your name down here.
I remember thinking at the time that it was so odd that they did that, because who the hell buys scrubs that isn't a medical professional? Who exactly is buying this scratchy, expensive crap to wear in their downtime?
Um, yeah.  My patients, that's who.  Most of the time they present to triage in their scrubs, I guess in the attempt to trick us into thinking they're some kind of medical professional or nurse or whatevs, except when you open your mouth and start talking about your vaginal discharge that you've had for two weeks and how your baby's daddy had that gonorrhea last month, it kind of ruins the illusion, but thanks for playing. One girl even showed up a while back in a scrub top with a little cutesy print with "RN" as part of the pattern, and then proceeded to blow her cover in record time with a chief complaint that not even the dumbest of RNs would present to the ER for.
Even better is when they show up wearing this shit as we're taking care of their family member like they're at work here (bonus points for showing up in the uniform of whatever fly-by-night 6 week medical assisting/phlebotomy program they're currently enrolled in) and then stand at the bedside trying mean mugging anyone involved in their family member's care.  Even more bonus points for googling the shit out of everything we say and then trying to argue about what we're doing.
Come to mention it, a general rule of thumb ER BFF and I have come up with is that if you are wearing scrubs and advertising the fact that you're a "nurse", chances are, you're NOT. This comes from several years of empirical evidence during which we've looked up face sheets and verified people's licenses online. Most of these people are actually lab techs, in the best case scenarios, they are nursing aides, but a good portion of them are also just total liars/cray-crays. Most actual nurses, myself included, wear street clothes and say nothing about being a nurse.  People are more likely to show the real time of care they intend on giving when they aren't trying to impress you, and you can more accurately judge whether or not they're a douche.
Anyway, complete tangent, but are my patients the only ones who try and pull these kinds of shenanigans? It's really a terrible waste of money.

22 comments:

  1. No way are you alone on this one, around here it's the family members that come in in scrubs. And some of them are cna's, lab techs, nurses in nursing homes, or xray techs. Hospital nurses always come in in street clothes unless they are on shift when they visit, and then we all know them anyway. I can tell you what tho, if those previously mentioned areas are the areas you are working in, it will get you no brownie points by dressing up like you are a nurse. I'm still going to do my job, and I'm still going to treat you like you're a visitor and your family member is a regular patient because that's what you are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. What's happening in your neck of the woods? Hope the random scrub wearing doesn't spread to where I live, because that is just plain crazy.

    As soon as I stopped working in the hospital I dumped my scrubs. Who, in their right mind would want to wear those things outside a hospital setting?

    Hm. I think I just answered my own question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dunno, sometimes the scrubs can be advantageous...one time my friend got a free oil change because she was wearing scrubs and the mechanic found out she was a nurse and was so thankful for her "service".

      But then when she tried it again at a different place, the mechanic asked what hospital she worked at and when she told him he was all like "What?! I know Dr. So-and-So works there, he KILLED my DAD!".

      Soooo I guess it works both ways. Haha!

      Delete
  3. Yeah, no real nurse ever says they are a nurse. I took someone to my hospital's ED the other day and tried to hide my face the whole way in in case someone recognised me.

    I usually only ever figure out someone's a Dr/nurse after a few hours when they accidentally use the right word for something.

    Now, if someone used to be an assistant at the medical library or something useless like that, oh you'll hear all about that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember Hearing a nurses aid tell some guy on the phone that she was a nurse. When she caught my look she amended it to "going to be". I think we've all gotten those people who want to throw what they think they know around.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll sew you some awesome, nonscratcy scrub top!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I adore the Grey's Anatomy scrubs. Pricey, but oh so comfortable and non-scratchy! I am a paramedic in the ED, but I don't wear my scrubs on the days I am not working. Even though I wash them, I still imagine icky germs and what-nots crawling on the uniform..

    ReplyDelete
  7. I will have to admit that I am a teacher but I wear scrubs. I bought them for a Halloween costume and they are sooooo comfortable (not itchy at all). I do ONLY wear them as pajamas though. I'd be completely embarrassed to wear them out of the house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally sleep in the surgical scrub pants they give us after we get sprayed in blood or whatever at work. It's probably disgusting, but they're crazy soft.

      Delete
  8. Scrubs were god's gift to comfort and fashion

    - Joe
    Buy Med Medical Supplies

    ReplyDelete
  9. not to worry, i'd never pass myself off as a nurse, i'm too proud of being a teacher. and i just hate when people wear neat, prissy clothes trying to act all smarty-panted like educators.

    seriously though, i am equally seriously disabled, wheelchair bound, now mostly bed bound, and though i have help, he's old, getting tired, and would prefer to stare at the computer than to help me wash and dress.

    i buy cheap scrubs -- but comfy. i try to buy cotton but accept a measure of polyester for neatness' sake. when i go out, i never wear a scrub top, because, face it, most of the patterns are stupid and the plain ones do scream "health care worker wannabe" (or any other field that uses them as uniforms). but since i cannot control my legs and my hands are getting difficult to master as well, please excuse the hell out of me if i wear the bits of cloth that so define you......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. K dude. I'm not the scrub police, I'm simply expressing that I would not be interested in wearing this stuff were I not a nurse. Probably because I wear them 45 hours a week. I don't literally mean my patients are the only non med professionals buying scrubs. If you aren't putting this stuff on and checking into the ER for an STD check, then I'm not talking about you.

      Delete
  10. I had a patient who's husband was a porter at my hospital (she was an RN at a different hospital) biggest pains in my ass ever. The wife had a open choli done, and wanted to be on a sat monitor, and a pain pump, and steri strips because her "incision was dehissing" Her husband went into the staff only areas and when I tried to re-direct him, he was like "but I am staff here"
    I have had family members in the hospital before, and never advertised the fact that I'm a nurse, nor tried to interfere with the care. Looking back, I wish I had spoken up when my nursing sense told me something was wrong with my sister, and it turned out her hemoglobin was 51.
    But I digress, I think the people in your ER are a special kind of cray cray.

    ReplyDelete
  11. http://crasspollination.blogspot.com/2011/07/caught-in-lie.html

    One of my favorite 'gotcha' moments still...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's amazing. We had one like this who checked in for some non emergent complaint on a super busy night and started acting all crazy when she realized her complaint was not a priority. She started saying she knew that her pain level made her a priority because she was an RN and demanded to be re-triaged by someone "who knew what they were doing". The super awesome ER doctor on that night looked her up on every database he had access to and then confronted her about not being an actual nurse as well as having fucktons of narcs prescribed to her the same months and then proceeded to share those findings in her medical record. She was so much nicer after that!

      Delete
  12. The last time my job required a uniform I was still in the Army. Still, wouldn't someone's first action on returning from work be to take off their uniform? So if that's the case, the only reason someone should show up in scrubs is if they came directly from work -- and would be wearing a hospital ID tag, not to mention various unpleasant fluids, no?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I strip off my scrubs and shower immediately when I get home from work. My pet peeve is seeing people at the grocery store in scrubs -- I'm hoping they didn't just get off work and are wandering around the store covered with nasty bacteria, etc.

      Delete
    2. It's entirely possible to work a 12 hour shift and not get urine, feces, vomit, blood or the like on them. Maybe I'm just lucky because I do have a friend who always seems to be getting pooped on, although she does work as an aid. I consider myself very fortuante. I'm also a clean freak and refuse to sit down at any computer or work station for the day without Cavi wiping it all off.

      Delete
  13. DayCare workers wear scrubbs too, b/c I am around daycare workers more then hospital ppl I kidna think all ppl in scrubbs are daycare workers I forget about nurses.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was just thinking about this as I saw a family member wearing scrubs. He'd come in wearing scrubs that were at least one size too small (so attractive!) & stay the night....never changing clothes. Gross!

    One time I took my brother to the ER for what we thought was a spider bite infection on his thigh. I warned him not to say a word about me being a nurse. Almost gave it away when I moved in for a closer look as the doc was lancing it. Gooey!

    And I am one of those nurses you might see in the supermarket after work in my scrubs. I'm not germ infested...I just want a few things after being on my feet the last 12 hours. I'm not touching anything with my scrubs.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I was just thinking the same thing, sometimes I like to stop at the grocery store because I didn't get a chance to eat during a busy 12....13 hour shift in the ER and all I could think of was "boy such and such would taste so good when I get home", you betcha I am going to stop in and get it! and if my kitty is running out of food, he comes first too! Also...there is the wipes at the door if you are afraid we might have touched something, (but I'd be a little more worried about those darned sneezing people out there.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Just gotta say as a labbie, we wear scrubs 'cause we deal with blood, urine, poop, body fluids, sputum, CSF, acids, bases, dyes, other fun chemicals, etc. Not because we want anyone to think we're nurses. And I have never met a lab scientist who would WANT to be a nurse, even pretend. We do what we do because we DON'T want patient contact. When people find out I work at the hospital, they say, "Oh, are you a nurse?" And my response is always, "Dear God, no!"
    And yeah, I stop at the store at midnight in scrubs on my way home from work. Sometimes that's the only time I can get there, especially since I have kids. I've been on my feet for only 8 hours, but I too often don't get a chance to eat or pee either.

    ReplyDelete