Perceptions of nurses' uniforms

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the public's perceptions of the professional nurse based on type of clothing worn by nurses who work in hospital or inpatient facilities. The study population was a convenience sample of 50 subjects drawn from the rural population of Sussex County. Using a descriptive study design, data were collected using the Nurse Image Scale (Mangum et al.), a Likert-type scoring sheet for nine photographs which pictured nine different styles of dress and asked the respondents to rate the styles of dress against ten attributes of the professional nurse. Participants also provided demographic information and answered the following questions. The additional questions were: Which style of dress does the public prefer? Which style of dress makes best first impression? Which style of dress makes it easy to identify the nurse among other healthcare workers? Data were tabulated using frequencies, means, and t-tests. Photo seven, depicting a nurse dressed in the traditional uniform of white dress, stockings, shoes and cap was the choice of respondents regardless of age, gender, or college experience. It was also chosen as the answer to the additional questions stated above. Due to the small sample size, generalizability is not possible.