Unity: A Real Morale Boost

Why is it that so many hospitals and doctor’s offices require their staff to wear the same, if not similar colors? The answer is simple: unity. They want to make it very easy for patients to recognize who is a nurse, who is a doctor, who is a surgeon, and so on by the uniforms they wear. But more than that, a unified group of employees is a more organized and happier group of employees. Who wants to walk into a hospital where nobody knows anything that is going on, where nurses can’t find patient files or the doctors to work on them? It has become very important for hospital staff to be one unit, for both their patients’ sanity and their own. When walking into a hospital or doctor’s office, we want to get the feeling that we are in a safe environment, where the staff knows how to take care of us and is happy to do it. A unified dress code portrays just that. It shows patients that the nurses and doctors are here to work for them, and that the patient should relax in a safe environment. On the other hand, that unity means something more for the nurses and doctors themselves. Dressing everyone the same instills the doctors and nurses with a sense that they are on a team. It is a much more organized, calming experience for the patients as well as for the staff. So much so that it is a morale boost for the hospital employees. Being one unit tends to bring people together in a way that makes them work harder as individuals and happier while doing so. Imagine this: you are injured and in severe pain. You go into the emergency room and see people dressed in their normal, casual clothes, running frantically back and forth, confused and unable to find anything. What a nightmare! Where are the nurses? Who do you speak to about your injury? Now picture this: in the same situation, you go to the ER, and you notice the nursing staff, smiling to patients while walking with purpose in their ceil blue Cherokee Scrubs . This unity tends to help the patients relax, which in turn helps the nursing staff get the information they need. Why is morale so important in a hospital? A happier nurse smiles to her patients and is generally nicer to them. When a nurse is nicer to her patients, they in turn are nicer to the hospital staff, and make the nursing staff’s job much easier. For example, an irritable patient may not want to talk, and when a nurse is trying to get the patient’s medical history, this can be an issue. However, if the nurse is kinder and gentler to this patient, they may be more inclined to open up. So, when choosing the scrubs your medical staff will wear, think about the morale in your office or hospital first. Will this new style promote unity among the employees, or cause more confusion? You be the judge.