How do you like your 'professionals' to dress?

I’m concerned by the number of healthcare workers who wear their uniforms on public transport, and must pick up loads of germs!

The solution to that is scrubs.

There often arent adequate changing/showering facilities at hospitals any more. And the only uniforms that hospitals launder now are scrubs.

That said, public transport isnt any "dirtier" than the hospital canteen/cafes, which are often public places. So hospitals will usually tolerate staff going on buses from home to work in uniform, but not, say, going for a brouse around tesco.

Also bear in mind that public transport operators don't adequately consult with hospital staff, even though they are one of their largest customer groups. So for example, the first bus of the morning which early staff at my nearest hospital need to use gets them there a few minutes AFTER the first shift starts. So no time to change, if you are there gor an early appointment you will sed them all running in, and they have petitioned the bus operator about it with no luck.

Nonnie it is perfectly possible to wear loose comfortable, practical clothes that also give an impression of professionalism and competence.

I was brought up and surrounded by people who believed that dressing cleanly and becomingly was a sign of self-respect and I still think someone who cant to be bothered to dress properly is probably slapdash in their job as well.

DD exemplified this last year when she had a skype interview for a new office job after several years working from home. She dressed smartly, make-up, hair looking nice, right background then sat in her desk chair already to be interviewed, when she realised she was still wearing bunny slippers and immediately dashed upstairs to change them, because, as she said,' I know they are unable to see what I have on my feet, but I know I cannot do a fully professional interview if I am wearing them. She didn't and she got the job.

Medical school used to be more elite than it is now and some people still expect docs to be dapper and posh.

Its good that participation has widened and IMO its nice to see docs from all walks of life because after all patients coms from all walks of life.

When I first started teaching jeans were never permitted. I once worked for a head who didn't let her women staff wear trousers and I remember a long hot summer when the Australian supply teacher turned up in shorts-very smart knee length ones. I don't think their teaching was affected by their clothes. Times change and we must too.

That doc with the face tattoo might be just the ticket to connect with the suicidal kids in A&E who notices that they like the same music etc. I had a dreadful time with some preppy male doctors dealing with my womens health issues, really awful, I had to insist on switching consultants and when I say I was a frumpy slightly scruffy middle aged woman like me I was SOOO relieved and instantly felt more at ease after being patronised and miss treated by the poshly dressed male team I had before who clearly looked down on me.

"When I SAW it was a frumpy.."

Similarly I had a midwife who dresses as if she was working in a posh office (pencil skirts, high heels & blouse). It was TOTALLY inappropriate to be that dressed up for midwife clinic IMO and as the clothes suggested she was very "hands off" and aloof, unlike the scruffier midwives who were always ready to roll their slieves up.

The point you make nonnie is that clothes give a message and doctors need to tread that line of being approachable but authoritative.

I very much doubt if someone suicidal would even notice the gender of the doctor treating them let alone notice whether or not they had a face tattoo.

I had the undoubted boon of going to a university with a medical school. As a result no doctor can ever imtimidate me. If they try I just look at them and remind myself they were once medical students - and having seen how medical students behave, they had quite reputation where I was studying, it satisfactorily reduces Mr Intimidate to a drunken student being sick in a gutter.

I saw a very young neurologist at the hospital last week.

He looked like one of my sons - a bit geeky, bespectacled but dressed in a check shirt and jeans. If I knew his parents I'd write to them, congratulating them on producing a lovely young man with impeccable manners and an easy charm. He was thorough, talked me through why he was doing various tests, was interested in what I had to say and asked me a few personal questions too, about my career and family. He was very easy to be with, put me completely at ease, despite worrying symptoms and on leaving he shook my hand and said it has been lovely meeting me. I said the same to him.

His clothing didn't matter. His lovely manner and expertise did. I hope he goes far in his career and never loses that wonderful way with patients.

I want my GP to be competent and to listen I really couldn't care less how they dress or if they were covered in tattoos and piercings

Exactly flexiblefriend

I think nonnie and M0nica have highlighted the inescapable truth that humans judge.
Which is why I always come out in favour of a type of uniform to allow people to distinguish one from another.

For my taste, flat shoes and a long line freshly launder jacket worn over normal clothes could do the job easily in the NHS. If people with different jobs wore different coloured jackets the general public could understand who they were dealing with more easily.

When I qualified as a doctor in the early 80's we were expected to wear skirts and dresses. By 2003 or thereabout until I retired I virtually lived in trousers as did most of the other female GPs. The advantage of trousers to me was socks and comfortable shoes. I am sure I work better when I am feeling comfortably dressed.

I very much doubt if someone suicidal would even notice the gender of the doctor treating them let alone notice whether or not they had a face tattoo.

Suicidal people are still people and mental health staff are informal and non uniformed for a reason! That "air of authority" that some people on here like in a doctor can be counter productive when trying to relate to someone who is fighting authority having likely just been retrained by police and admitted against their will!

For my taste, flat shoes and a long line freshly launder jacket worn over normal clothes could do the job easily in the NHS.

Jackets are against policy. The clothes they chose have to be "bare below the elbow" which is why you see either sort or rolled up slieves. Unless it was a very light jacket (therefore more likely to crease) or had cut off slieves it wouldnt comply outside of meetings.

"Short"

Oh my goodness, a doctor on duty in jeans. Why on earth would a she (or he) think jeans are appropriate work wear?

I always say that 90% of people seem to wear jeans 90% of the time. After reading this thread I had better make that 100% on both counts !

They are casual wear and are never smart enough for someone in a professional position.

I honestly fail to see the appeal of them, but I know I am in the minority.

Jeans are traditionally work wear. I dont wear them sadly I look AWFUL in them and always envied those whom they flatter, but they do have a practical "get on with work" non fussy sense to them, and there are jeans and there are jeans.

Tight black jeans can look as smart as a fitted black trouser IMO I dont see why the distinction between trousers and jeans if you can get smart jeans and slobby jeans, and smart trousers and slobby trousers.

Clean & well fitting plain jeans are fine for work IMO. Maybe not rippef jeans with diamonte "SEXY" lettering on the bum

The two GPs in our practice whom I choose to see both work with their shirt sleeves rolled up which is in accordance with hospital practice. They wash their hands before and after examining a patient. Better that than the 3-piece suit that doctors wore in my youth.

I remember a GP coming to our house (remember home visits?) wearing a filthy coat. She kept numerous spaniels and I think they must have shed every last hair and attached them to her coat.

Wrt scrubs, my trainee medic dd is tiny but small size scrubs are as rare as hen's teeth. She sometimes ends up looking as though she's wearing a duvet cover!

Sue I remember leather doctors bags! Or "public transport" if you were a germ LOL

notanan, 'approachable and authoritative'. The two terms are not incompatible. Would anyone in any condition be happy with a doctor who gave an impression of dithering uncertainity and insecurity, however competent they actually were underneath.

I think you are equating' air of authority' and 'authoritative' with being autocratic and arrogant. They are not at all the same thing.

The hospital I worked in had a dress code for non uniformed staff. We were not allowed to wear jeans, trainers, low cut tops, short skirts and there were other rules. I don't think doctors were subject to the same rules as other staff but most hospital doctors and GPs I've seen dress smart casual which is quite appropriate for their job.

I think teachers ought to be smart for teaching teenagers otherwise the pupils are getting the wrong message and have even less idea about how to appear for job interviews.

Do you mean “professionals” with an ‘ology OP or anyone working with the public? A few years ago I had a carer from an agency come to help me shower, wearing shorts cut halfway across her buttocks and a top so low I could practically see what she’d had for lunch! I’m not generally a “prude” but I thought it inappropriate and she might finish off any elderly men she had to finish that day!
Also in shops I like assistants to look like they work they actually work there, as sometimes no uniform means I either don’t identify them or ask other shoppers if they work there. Oops. I don’t mind casual and comfy but they represent the firm (whatever it is) so should be clean, tidy and conservatively presentable imo. As for tattoos I think they should be covered or discreet although South Wales Police have just agreed that officers can show their arm tattoos instead of covering them up as they weren’t attracting new recruits. Tattoos on the face are a definite no no for me

Nurses in skirts and caps were more likely to injure themselves when moving patients, while also trying to preserve modesty and keep the cap in place.