Last Christmas, when Harriet arrived at the children’s hospital with a badly broken arm, she was in pain and felt very anxious. Yet, when nurse Tom turned up to examine the arm with a big smile, a terrible joke and a Christmas themed nurses scrub, Harriet was smiling again in no time.
Without doubt, Tom’s manner and professionalism were key, but research points to the uniform also playing a part. A recent randomised trial of 240 children found the level of anxiety in children whose nurses were dressed in pink was lower compared to children whose nurses were dressed in navy blue uniforms. An additional study in the Journal of Clinical Nursing has shown nurses wearing brightly coloured non-conventional uniforms resulted in children feeling more comfortable.
Not only did the non-conventional scrub help the children to feel more comfortable, the study also demonstrated that brightly coloured non-conventional uniforms resulted in higher levels of parental confidence as well.
It’s not just the young patients who benefit from non-conventional uniforms. Positive impacts can also be seen in adult patients, in particular, those with dementia. There is significant debate in the literature as to the benefits of wearing a uniform when working with dementia patients, with a key concern being the anxiety that can be induced by a uniform. Non-conventional uniforms offer the middle ground, looking less like a uniform while also adding colour and interest for patients.
If you’d like to know more about the science behind the UniformMe designs, please get in touch or check out the full range on our website.
