The Dress Code

  The Dress Code, everyone has one, most people hate it. That little bit P&P that tells you how you must look when showing up to work, even when some days just showing up deserves a medal.
  You would think that as nurses we are used to this idea of someone dictating what we wear right down to our socks, I mean we all went through nursing school and I DID have an instructor tell me to wear white socks instead of the colorful ones I was wearing. Sheesh! Talk about Nurse Ratchet! Anyhow, it has always been a constant source of amusement to me that nurses have been bucking the Dress Code. Yes several years ago we could wear whatever scrubs we wanted and were able to walk into the unit looking like Rainbow Brite if we wanted to, but as I have said before, the Good Ole Days are over and the days of Customer Satisfaction Scores are here, for now.
  Seriously though, in some ways this ain't so bad. I mean really, I wouldn't be able to take a nurse wearing Dora scrubs seriously if she was treating me in the ICU. I'd be like:  "Hey did you get lost on your way to the peds floor?".   Don't knock it folks, I have seen it. Let's be honest, your outer appearance has a lot to do with how people see you. Yes, we should never judge a book by its cover but in reality people make decisions about you based on what they see. I mean would you take financial advice from a guy wearing torn jeans and an AC/DC shirt? Probably not. 
  That being said I do understand how uniforms can cramp your style, I'm relatively lucky in that my employer simply asks all nurses to wear navy blue. That's it, individual style is up to you, no company logos embroidered, no material preferences and you can wear whatever you want to on your feet. Awesome! Navy blue is a sight better than white if you ask me, and yes two hospitals in my town require the nurses to wear white, eeks! I personally love my uniform and am happy that I don't have to think about what I put on when getting up to go to work. But if you have the uniform blues, here are a few of my tips on how to make peace and maybe love it.

Love the clothes you are in. Meaning there are a ton of scrubs out there. If your employer only dictates color than go wild and shop around. Find scrubs in a cut that you find flattering and in a material that feels good!  Cheapest isn't always best, remember you are going to be wearing these for 12 hours straight! Most people don't wear one outfit for that long. Find something you look good in and feel good in, it makes it way easier to get up and go to work when you do.


Work around it. Dress codes specify what you can and can't do, so get to know yours and work with and around it. My dress code doesn't allow us to wear nail polish or fake nails to work, but I love getting my nails done, and I still do. Now I get a full pedicure and a shape and buff on my fingers with a parafin dip, this way my fingers look great, it actually helps keep breakage and hangnails down to a minimum but I don't get nailed at work. Ok that was a horrible pun, couldn't help it. Other gals I work with wear crazy socks, one gal has a pair of socks for every holiday and wacky colorful ones for days in between. It's her little way of rebelling, and it makes us all laugh.

Accessorize! Have fun! Get a badge holder you love, a cute stethoscope tag, or sweet pair of earrings. It's your way of expressing yourself, go to it, just remember a couple of safety tips. 
Don't go hoops, not even the little ones, they catch things way to easily and you don't want to make a trip to your own ER. Trust me I've seen it happen with a pair of tiny gold hoops and a pediatric patient, it was ugly. Also, nothing that doesn't have a break away feature, I saw a nurse nearly get strangled with her own lanyard when she was running to a code and got caught on a piece of equipment. Pretty scary stuff.
Have fun with your hair. It's easy to fall into the one hairstyle rut, but there are a ton of cute hairstyles that keep your hair up and out of your face. You'd be surprised how much a difference changing up your routine will make. Here's one of my favorites that takes about 5 minutes and looks awesome.

The Simple Gibson Tuck

  For instructions on how to get this cute look head over to saralynnpaige.com she has a full video tutorial on how to get this up do and a bunch of other really sweet hairstyles.

  In the end, I guess everyone has their own version of a uniform, as nurses ours are just a little more defined, but it doesn't mean we can't have fun with it and learn to love it. We worked our butt's off to earn this recognition, lets wear our scrubs proudly no matter what color they are!

All Codes Are NOT Created Equal

  Due to low census, I worked all three shifts this week in the ED. I think there is a conspiracy brewing to convince me to transfer over, as everyone has been super nice to me and asking me if I like working there better than in the ICU. Every time someone asks me this question I am totally honest, they may share a lot of commonalities but they are two very different worlds and I enjoy both.


  For example, my last night on the red line (direct line to ambulance) buzzed and alerted us to a code coming our way. Teenage male found down in home in asystole and was headed our way in a hurry, ETA was about 10 minutes. I tagged along to see how the ED handles a code figuring that since it was looking like I might be spending a lot of time here I would get a feel for how things are done here.


  They opened the ambo room, it has big double doors that opens right up to the ambulance driveway so they can wheel the patient straight in. The code cart was wheeled in, IV start cart was brought in, and IV poles positioned. The staff began to divvy up tasks, two nurses assigned to starting large gauge IV, one nurse to record, two RT's to assist with intubation, three staff were assigned compressions,  one nurse was handling the code cart and meds and me, the runner. The Doc began giving the RT's orders on what to set up for intubation. Then we waited with the bay doors open wide, several minutes ticked by and then we heard it, the wail of the ambulance sirens. The ambulance pulled up and the lead EMT immediately gave report to the Doc.


  What followed next was 10 minutes of what looked nothing like an ICU code to me. If you watch medical dramas like ER and see those crazy, wild frantic codes with everyone yelling and it looks like chaos, well that is what an ICU code looks like. The code that I saw last night was clean, controlled and although the tension was coiled tighter than a bed spring there was no chaos, just a group of well trained people who knew their roles and worked like a well oiled machine.


  Afterwards I stopped to think about why I saw such a difference in that room and then it hit me. Preparation, because of the red line heads up everyone was ready for what was coming. Everyone knew their jobs and had some idea of what the situation was. In the ICU we don't get much of heads up, yes you can "see" a code coming by monitoring your patient well, but you can't predict when they are going to crash. This gives you little time to do more than nudge the code cart closer to the patients room so you don't have to run as far. 


  The other thing I noticed when all was over was that the staff seemed less impacted by the code. In my limited experience in the ICU, most people look a little shaken and need a moment to recover. The nurses in the ED returned to business rather quickly afterwards, very few of them looking overly shaken up. Perhaps just having that moments notice, having a minute to prepare mentally for whats to come really does help.


  As for me and what department I like better, I am unsure at this moment, but I can say with certainty that I am very lucky for this unique opportunity to try my hand at both the ED and the ICU and learn what I can from both. Not many newbies get such an opportunity, and I am truly grateful for it.