Scrubs for ED Volunteer!

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XeReX

XeReX

Aspiring Surgeon
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Would it be appropriate for me to Wear Scrubs while volunteering in the ED?

I am not allowed to wear jeans in the ED, the dress code is suppose to be business causal. So i always used to go wearing dress pants and shirt to ED, but my Volunteer hours are right after i am done with my classes on Monday and Thursday, and i have to take the dress pants and shirt with me to school and put them on a hanger and hang them in the car, then i have to change from my regular clothes to the 'business casual' clothes and its just tiring and i also don't wanna go to school dressed on the days i volunteer.

I hope u guys get the gist of what i am saying! this chick asked the volunteer director if she can wear scrub pants and she said yes u can. I don't know if it ll be too cheesy, me wearing scrubs to ED, but i was thinking it would be easier for me to just wear scrubs from home when i am coming to school and then go straight to the ED without the hassle of changing clothes or wtv, and also i don't want to look like a dork coming to school all dressed up!
That's why i wanted opinions from u guys that would it be appropriate for me to wear Scrubs to the ED.

P.S. Have any of u guys volunteered in the ED wearing scrubs?
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Look at how everyone around you dresses. If all the docs are in scrubs then I think it's totally fine. If you're going to be one of the few people wearing scrub pants there than maybe not so much.

Around the ED here most people are wearing scrubs, especially in the evening.
 
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They make the volunteers here wear a green lab coat. Yuck. 🙁
 
littlealex said:
Look at how everyone around you dresses. If all the docs are in scrubs then I think it's totally fine. If you're going to be one of the few people wearing scrub pants there than maybe not so much.

Around the ED here most people are wearing scrubs, especially in the evening.
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Yeah everyone wears scrubs, and i also volunteer in the evenings usually 4-8pm.
 
XeReX said:
Would it be appropriate for me to Wear Scrubs while volunteering in the ED?

I am not allowed to wear jeans in the ED, the dress code is suppose to be business causal. So i always used to go wearing dress pants and shirt to ED, but my Volunteer hours are right after i am done with my classes on Monday and Thursday, and i have to take the dress pants and shirt with me to school and put them on a hanger and hang them in the car, then i have to change from my regular clothes to the 'business casual' clothes and its just tiring and i also don't wanna go to school dressed on the days i volunteer.

I hope u guys get the gist of what i am saying! this chick asked the volunteer director if she can wear scrub pants and she said yes u can. I don't know if it ll be too cheesy, me wearing scrubs to ED, but i was thinking it would be easier for me to just wear scrubs from home when i am coming to school and then go straight to the ED without the hassle of changing clothes or wtv, and also i don't want to look like a dork coming to school all dressed up!
That's why i wanted opinions from u guys that would it be appropriate for me to wear Scrubs to the ED.

P.S. Have any of u guys volunteered in the ED wearing scrubs?
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Sounds like you really just want to wear scrubs to class. "Business causal" isn't really inappropriate for class (i.e., at most schools, there are people in a polo and jeans or polo and khakis regularly, which you could probably get away w/ as "business causal" in the ED). That being said, I wouldn't walk around in the ED in nice clothes unless I were doing pt access....
 
XeReX said:
Yeah we have to wear a light blue lab coat, its not that bad!
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The green lab coats here look like the volunteers are trying out for a little green giant commercial. Light blue would be far better. 🙂
 
I personally wouldn't. I would wear what you are supposed to, but I guess if they say its alright then go for it. I would personally ask your boss first. I could see the rest of the employees in the ED being uncomfortable about you being in scrubs but thats just me.
 
Frazier said:
We wear khakis and a polo shirt at my hospital. I would feel like a tool if I wore scrubs.
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Same for me when I was doing hospital volunteering many moons ago. However that was also through a program that put pre-health students on various units, not limited to the ED, and was the official uniform.

However, if you do go the scrubs route, make sure you find out which color the hospital wants you to wear. A lot of time the color of the scrubs acts as sort of a color code. Physicians wear great, RNs where another color (can't remember), CNAs wear maroon. So on and so forth.
 
At my place, I wear light blue scrubs, same as some of the other staff. I'd feel really wierd not wearing them in the ER. Its nice not being easily identified as a volunteer. The only way someone can tell is if they read my ID badge, which is the exact same design as everyone else. OP: Just ask the program director, it will very from place to place.
 
lol no don't wear scrubs. I volunteer in the ED and it would be very unnecessary.

ED volunteering isn't intense or anything, you replace linen, some patient contact, not very exciting at all...Honestly, i get bored, sometimes the ED is just dead.

I wear white khakis and a collar shirt which most volunteers do. You mostly just run round and do what the nurses tell you to do. (Dirty work) = Which is their job. .
 
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Scrubs are totally appropriate to wear for volunteering. In the past I have volunteered in a hospital setting and always have worn scrubs. I would go in my regular clothes, change into the hospital's scrubs then change back into my clothes before I left. I wouldn't spend any of your money on them, the hospital has plenty! Plus, I wouldn't want to wear anything special while volunteering because body fluids might come your way even as a volunteer!
 
torshi said:
lol no don't wear scrubs. I volunteer in the ED and it would be very unnecessary.

ED volunteering isn't intense or anything, you replace linen, some patient contact, not very exciting at all...Honestly, i get bored, sometimes the ED is just dead.

I wear white khakis and a collar shirt which most volunteers do. You mostly just run round and do what the nurses tell you to do. (Dirty work) = Which is their job. .
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Today at my "boring er gig" I stood 5 feet rom the bed and watched 2 ER docs and 2 anthesiologists struggle or 30 minutes to tube a 20 y/o girl who collapsed in cardiac arrest while walking to her car. 😴 It was hella boring.....
I think scrubs help you blend in more with the rest of the staff, hence gaining better clinical experience.
 
Please don't. You'll look ridiculous. You don't need to wear scrubs for stocking gloves.
 
Just don't do it. Dress casual

You don't want to walk up in there and everyone stare at you like who the F*** he think he is!?
 
From reading this thread, am I really gathering I'm the only one who's required to wear scrubs?
 
What if you get something nasty on your clothes?
 
IHOPness said:
What if you get something nasty on your clothes?
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You won't, volunteer's in the ER don't do much. They sorta run errands for nurses and just do very BASIC things. Such as clean rooms/make beds and all that boring stuff.

It's not like your going into surgery.

I volunteer and i never got anything on my clothes.
 
torshi said:
You won't, volunteer's in the ER don't do much. They sorta run errands for nurses and just do very BASIC things. Such as clean rooms/make beds and all that boring stuff.

It's not like your going into surgery.

I volunteer and i never got anything on my clothes.
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That's pretty much what I do and I was worried that I wasn't getting the most out of my volunteering experience. Good to hear your experiences were similar. I guess there isn't much to volunteering at the ER.
 
StudyShy said:
They make the volunteers here wear a green lab coat. Yuck. 🙁
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Ours are this awful salmon pink color and the one that's assigned to me is huge so at the end of the day it doesn't really matter because I'm this little person walking around with essentially a pink button-up dress on.
 
n3xa said:
Ours are this awful salmon pink color and the one that's assigned to me is huge so at the end of the day it doesn't really matter because I'm this little person walking around with essentially a pink button-up dress on.
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Up until a year ago, we had to wear scrubs that were that terrible salmon pink color. Top to bottom in pink - pretty awesome 🙂 They changed us over to grey scrubs this year thankfully. At least now patients don't make fun of me
 
What's wrong with going to school business casual? To me it just shows you have somewhere to be/have an obligation/are responsible. You should give it shot. Dressing well could also have effect of increasing your performance in class. I totally empathize about the inconvenience of taking clothes in your car. I would either wear whatever to the hospital and change into scrubs there (if appropriate, and assuming they have a locker room) or wear business casual to class and volunteering.
 
bucks2010 said:
What's wrong with going to school business casual? To me it just shows you have somewhere to be/have an obligation/are responsible. You should give it shot. Dressing well could also have effect of increasing your performance in class. I totally empathize about the inconvenience of taking clothes in your car. I would either wear whatever to the hospital and change into scrubs there (if appropriate, and assuming they have a locker room) or wear business casual to class and volunteering.
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You know I sorta agree. It's probably because I went to a high school that had a dress code and when I started college, wearing everyday's clothes just felt strange. Not that I would ever go to class wearing business casual now. It just looks stupid when no one else is wearing them.
 
apumic said:
Sounds like you really just want to wear scrubs to class. "Business causal" isn't really inappropriate for class (i.e., at most schools, there are people in a polo and jeans or polo and khakis regularly, which you could probably get away w/ as "business causal" in the ED). That being said, I wouldn't walk around in the ED in nice clothes unless I were doing pt access....
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I think you're right :laugh:

But yeah, OP I think the general answer here is that if the hospital is explicitly okay with you wearing scrubs instead of business casual, and you have a reason to prefer them, then do it. Just DON'T wear them to class beforehand. If you really don't want to have to change between class and volunteering, wear business casual to school. Seriously, it's not weird. Just wear your shirt out in class and tuck it in before you go in the ER.
 
the duck said:
From reading this thread, am I really gathering I'm the only one who's required to wear scrubs?
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To volunteer, yes, you're probably in the minority. You're not clinical staff, so why would you be dressed like you are? If anything, it might confuse pts. (Just last night, I had a Pt absolutely convinced a tech was her nurse. She had no idea who her nurse was and my hospital uses color-coding. Adding volunteers in scrubs to the mix just sounds like a recipe for trouble!)

torshi said:
You won't, volunteer's in the ER don't do much. They sorta run errands for nurses and just do very BASIC things. Such as clean rooms/make beds and all that boring stuff.

It's not like your going into surgery.

I volunteer and i never got anything on my clothes.
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At least at the ED where I work, our Pt Access Reps have to wear full 3-piece suits for the men and formal skirts & tops for the ladies. The hospital takes care of dry-cleaning and supplies the uniforms, but the fact is they're wearing very nice clothing when interacting w/ pts (they go to pt rms, talk w/ pts about finances and such, and so forth -- about 50% of their time is spent in pt rms -- quite a bit more interaction even than most ED volunteers). If they can wear formal attire in that setting, I really see little to no reason for volunteers to be wearing scrubs.

As an ED volunteer, you are fairly unlikely to encounter body fluids unless you get sneezed on or something. You shouldn't be touching dressings, IVs, needles, etc. and the majority of the time we get blood on our scrubs is during a stick or while cleaning a wound.
 
Agree with apumic -- I'm very surprised that some volunteers are allowed to wear scrubs in any circumstance. If I were a patient, I would always assume scrubs = clinical staff.

But yeah, if you've been told the appropriate attire is "business casual," scrubs would definitely not be acceptable. Sorry 😉

I've only had one "close call" volunteering in the ED, and that was walking with a patient who was extremely nauseated... Fortunately no clothes were damaged 🙂.
 
For the love of god DO NOT wear scrubs as a volunteer. You look like a giant tool as a volunteer in scrubs.
As a volunteer you are not part of the clinical staff, so don't try and pretend like you are. You are just like the housekeeping staff. You provide a valuable service to the unit, but you should in no way be confusing the patients.
 
oar2386 said:
For the love of god DO NOT wear scrubs as a volunteer. You look like a giant tool as a volunteer in scrubs.
As a volunteer you are not part of the clinical staff, so don't try and pretend like you are. You are just like the housekeeping staff. You provide a valuable service to the unit, but you should in no way be confusing the patients.
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Our housekeeping staff wears purple scrubs... And volunteers are usually designated by a certain jacket/coat/vest. If anything, business casual makes me look like I'm an ER secretary.
 
torshi said:
You won't, volunteer's in the ER don't do much. They sorta run errands for nurses and just do very BASIC things. Such as clean rooms/make beds and all that boring stuff.

It's not like your going into surgery.

I volunteer and i never got anything on my clothes.
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Sometimes it is the things that you can't see but smell. 😀
 
LizzyM said:
You think that you would look like a tool wearing business casual to school, but you'd look ok wearing scrubs to class.😕

Scrubs are not business casual.
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Absolutely. Scrubs are somewhat trashy. Printed scrubs are even worse unless you work peds. :barf: I loathe the day I have to wear scrubs again. Plus, they never have hospital scrubs that fit me right. They either are all too big or too small. What happened to medium?
 
n3xa said:
I never understood the point of printed scrubs.
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Self-expression. When everyone has to wear the same outfit every day, people sometimes like to be unique.

As for loathing wearing scrubs, I can't agree w/ that. They're awesomely comfortable. I definitely like my scrubs for a work outfit. Still, I'd feel pretty weird going anywhere else in them even though my job does require me to wear them.
 
apumic said:
Self-expression. When everyone has to wear the same outfit every day, people sometimes like to be unique.

As for loathing wearing scrubs, I can't agree w/ that. They're awesomely comfortable. I definitely like my scrubs for a work outfit. Still, I'd feel pretty weird going anywhere else in them even though my job does require me to wear them.
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Yeah, I guess they are comfortable. I would definitely not want to go shopping or school after wearing them all day. That's just gross. It's like, nice Hep suit! :barf:
 
LizzyM said:
You think that you would look like a tool wearing business casual to school, but you'd look ok wearing scrubs to class.😕

Scrubs are not business casual.
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+1 LizzyM! I too am confused by the OP's view on scrubs vs. business casual at school...I personally see nothing wrong wearing khaki/polo (or in the OP's case, dress pants/shirt) to class. In my class of a few hundred, there is inevitably at least someone dressed nicely because they have somewhere to be after class.

OP, you'd look a lot sillier wearing scrubs in class than business casual clothing AND you'd possibly look "out of place" wearing scrubs as a volunteer when your dress code is "business casual". They likely don't want volunteers wearing scrubs to avoid patient confusion about who is clinical and volunteer staff.
 
LizzyM said:
You think that you would look like a tool wearing business casual to school, but you'd look ok wearing scrubs to class.😕

Scrubs are not business casual.
Click to expand...
Oh i didnt knew that! 🙄
 
Asyouwereatrio said:
+1 LizzyM! I too am confused by the OP's view on scrubs vs. business casual at school...I personally see nothing wrong wearing khaki/polo (or in the OP's case, dress pants/shirt) to class. In my class of a few hundred, there is inevitably at least someone dressed nicely because they have somewhere to be after class.

OP, you'd look a lot sillier wearing scrubs in class than business casual clothing AND you'd possibly look "out of place" wearing scrubs as a volunteer when your dress code is "business casual". They likely don't want volunteers wearing scrubs to avoid patient confusion about who is clinical and volunteer staff.
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Yeah u are right i should just go wearing business casual. Would i look weird wearing sneakers under dress pants? coz see thing is that i dont wanna go to ED wearing nice dress shoes, and the director also told us to wear sneakers coz its a very mobile job so its better to wear comfortable sneakers.
 
If the director told you to wear sneakers, just go with that.
 
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