Among nurses, personal style, professionalism, and specialty lead to a variety of preferences and opinions. In an informal analysis of responses from nurses who read an article about white uniforms,7 preference forwhite over colored uniformswas evident 3:1.8 Opinion statements suggest that many nurses want to be recognized for their knowledge, not appearance.9,10 Patients want clinicians to appear professional, be identifiable, and demonstrate readiness to work.11
Patients and clinicians want nurses to be able to be rapidly identified, in emergent situations when it is vital to communicate competence and readiness to assume their role in patient stabilization.12,13 Despite a clear desire to uphold a professional image and to provide excellent patient care, the dress code dilemma remains unresolved among the nursing profession.