Is a T-shirt a PROFESSIONAL EMS Uniform ?

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crotchitymedic1986

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Before anyone gets riled up, I didnt say YOU were unprofessional if you wear a t-shirt. You continually hear about how we want RESPECT for our profession, but then we dress like landscapers. I have the same gripe about "scrubs" in the hospital setting, you cant tell who is a nurse, a doctor, or a housekeeper.

Can you imagine going to your surgeon's office, and having him/her walk into your room in a t-shirt with the work "SURGEON" in 6inch block letters on the back of their t-shirt ?

SO, is a t-shirt a professional uniform in your opinion ?
 
There have been discussions of this here before. Consider searching for the keywords "uniform" "t-shirt" etc.

With that said, it depends on the type of service, the type of responder and the circumstances. For a private, high call volume paid ambulance service, no it is neither appropriate nor professional. For the low-volume volunteer Fire/EMS service, where members may be responding from home, yes it is okay. The uniform in that case serves mainly as department identification, but does so informally. Guidelines need to be in place that determine when it is appropriate to wear these uniforms off duty, and whether there is an implied duty to act in that case.
 
crotchitymedic1986 said:
I have the same gripe about "scrubs" in the hospital setting, you cant tell who is a nurse, a doctor, or a housekeeper.
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Scrubs, regardless of who wears them, have a practical purpose rather than professional status. They can withstand many washings in very hot water to kill whatever bacteria, viruses or fungi that has landed on them. We have even switched our hospital evironmental service workers to scrubs and offered them an exchange program so the clothes can be laundered in the hospital laundry which uses hotter water than available in most residential households.

The jumpsuits I wore when on ground EMS were also very durable and able to withstand serious hot water laundering by the ambulance company's contract service.
 
crotchitymedic1986 said:
Before anyone gets riled up, I didnt say YOU were unprofessional if you wear a t-shirt. You continually hear about how we want RESPECT for our profession, but then we dress like landscapers. I have the same gripe about "scrubs" in the hospital setting, you cant tell who is a nurse, a doctor, or a housekeeper.

Can you imagine going to your surgeon's office, and having him/her walk into your room in a t-shirt with the work "SURGEON" in 6inch block letters on the back of their t-shirt ?

SO, is a t-shirt a professional uniform in your opinion ?
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IMO the t-shirt on its own, no, but it should be part of the uniform. In my EMT class we have to wear the department t-shirt under our polo shirts. I believe that we should wear a button up uniform shirt or polo shirt as much as possible but have the t-shirt underneath in case we need to get into our turnouts or something like that. When I was with the fire dept we had to have our uniform shirts on at all times unless we had to put on our PPE's. Other then that if you were in public view you better have your button up uniform shirt on.
 
crotchitymedic1986 said:
I have the same gripe about "scrubs" in the hospital setting, you cant tell who is a nurse, a doctor, or a housekeeper.
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funny, i can. between reading name tags and white coats, its not rocket science.

crotchitymedic1986 said:
Can you imagine going to your surgeon's office, and having him/her walk into your room in a t-shirt with the work "SURGEON" in 6inch block letters on the back of their t-shirt
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if he's a talented surgeon, i couldnt care less if he walked into the room in motorcycle leathers and fishnets, as long as he brings his a game into the or.


emt-student said:
There have been discussions of this here before. Consider searching for the keywords "uniform" "t-shirt" etc.
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ding ding ding, we have a winner!
 
I was recently involved in the choosing of uniforms for Arizona State University Student EMS, and I chose polos with "EMS" in big block letters on the back for a few particular reasons.

First, when you're on scene with FD, a private ambo company, and two separate PDs, you need instant identification as to who you are and why you are there. "EMS" in big, contrasting letters does that trick pretty well.

I considered Class A's (or B's, or whatever they're called. You know what I'm talking about.) but decided against them for two reasons: 1) I don't want to look like a cop. Especially when I'm responding to the drunk college kid who may not be making very good choices when he sees two "cops" approaching him. 2) No other FD or EMS agency in the region wears Class A's (except for formal events, and even then it's only FD). If we are going to be gaining their respect and building a professional working relationship with them, I don't think it will help to be dressier than them. Knowing a lot of Type-A firefighters, they might automatically see that as a statement that we are better than them, which of course is not the case. Either that, or they will see it as "funny" since it's so different than they way every other agency in the region operates.

In the end, however, I would not have made the decision I made if I thought it was in any way at all unprofessional.
 
KEVD18 said:
funny, i can. between reading name tags and white coats, its not rocket science.
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I took a rocket science class and they said reading name tags wasn't brain surgery. B)
 
I am not a big fan of t-shirts and totally believe in professional attire, however; I much rather see a properly fitted t-shirt than the crack of some medics arse in a high rising uniform shirt.

I remember when nurses wore "whites" it was ridiculous. Betadine stains, females having to wear idiotic "caps" and white hoses, all because of tradition and so called professionalism. The reason scrubs is for practicality. Their cheap, comfortable, and suited for the job.

I can understand the misunderstanding of confusion. This can be easily modified by having color code for departments such as housekeeping green, etc.

R/r 911
 
My company has white button down shirts. They show stretcher grease stains, footprints (From the patients who wont or cant bend their legs up but are too tall for the stretcher so you get a chest full of shoe loading them into the truck) blood and ickyness stains. I think that's even less professional then t-shirts but it's really hard to keep them clean and unlike t-shirts, it's not practical to get a new one everytime you get a stain, they're too expensive!

Here it's easy to tell the difference in 90% of our hospitals. Doctors are the ones with the labcoats, the charge nurse is the one who looks really flustered, the nurses are the ones with the cute scrubs (you know, Dora the explorer, polkadots, different colors) techs are the ones with solid colors (In most hospitals we go to they're light blue) and house keeping in most are dark green scrubs!
 
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Sasha said:
Here it's easy to tell the difference in 90% of our hospitals. Doctors are the ones with the labcoats,
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We prefer our doctors did not wear a lab coat unless it, too, is with the exchange program for washing everyday. That is what lab and other healthcare providers such as RT have arranged in many hospitals. Ties are definitely discouraged regardless of how professional they look. This is to reduce the chances of infection within the hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital can not control what the EMS providers do. Some may wear the same outer jacket for weeks while coming in contact with many patients.

I believe T-Shirts, neat, apprpriotately sized and tucked in are okay for some warmer climates, special duties and training.
 
VentMedic said:
I believe T-Shirts, neat, apprpriotately sized and tucked in are okay for some warmer climates, special duties and training.
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I'm right there with you. Also, I'd rather see a good t-shirt than a wrinkled uniform shirt on an overnight crew.

KEVD18 said:
if he's a talented surgeon, i couldn't care less if he walked into the room in motorcycle leathers and fishnets, as long as he brings his a game into the or.
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You should see the one anesthesiologist at a local hospital. Guy comes in wearing ripped up jeans and heavy-metal T-shirts, looking more appropriate for a hard rock roadie than an anesthesiologist. Once he puts on scrubs... he blends in.
 
We specifically want doctors and nurses to wear lab coats when they are out of the OR, specifically when they in offices and down at the entrance of the hospital. Im glad so many people are required to wear scrubs, if they weren't some of the things they would come in wearing would send them home. The only problem then with the scrubs, you see people walking around outside in the dirty street with scrubs, gowns and non-sense on to get lunch.

A nicely tucked t-shirt is also appropriate in some places, like night time shifts where people are relaxing. Its hard enough for me not to wrinkle t-shirts, now imagine a polo or dress shirt.
 
silver said:
We specifically want doctors and nurses to wear lab coats when they are out of the OR, specifically when they in offices and down at the entrance of the hospital.
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Wearing a lab coat as a cover from the OR is very different than wearing it to do direct care on 70 patients. That is our exception to lab coats also but some do make their way to the patient care areas.

silver said:
The only problem then with the scrubs, you see people walking around outside in the dirty street with scrubs, gowns and non-sense on to get lunch.
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You see EMT(P)s in the restaurants and food markets with the same clothes they wore after touching a dozen patients. The hands can also be an issue for those that believe gloves are an adequate protection against germs and skip the handwashing.

In almost 30 years, I have yet to wear any uniform or scrubs home. The same goes for my work shoes. I just don't believe in taking my work home with me in more ways than one. Besides the infection control issues, it is a good destressing ritual.

The habit started with my first EMT job in the late 1970s when the ambulance service laundered our uniforms. Later when I started working in the hospital, a scrub exchange was enforced. This was especially true if you worked in any surgical department, CVICU, PICU or NICU. The hospital wanted control over how the scrubs were washed to minimize risks of infection. In some hospitals and EMS stations, showers are available to the employees for more reasons than to just look and smell acceptable in public.
 
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I wear my t-shirt beneath my uniform shirt for those times when we pick up a 100 year-old who's wearing 28 sweaters and is "cold." On our last geriatric call, the patient made me turn up the heat to 90. I was sitting there writing my PCR in the moving ambulance, and the combination of absurd heat and motion sickness almost got to me - the uniform shirt had to come off.
 
Damn Crotch, didn't you get enough flack on the other site with this same post?

t shirts look sloppy, polos are better, class a shirts smoke pole because of the metallic emblems and other junk that gets lost on scene.

Nuff Said

Duke
Out
 
The only flak I see being tossed around is from people who saw these threads at the other forum...

I've got one thing to say about that....


WE ARE NOT THE OTHER FORUM!
 
Our service has members who use jumpsuits, job shirts, tshirts as well as class a's with polo shirts coming in shortly. I use the tradtional class a's dark navy shirt with cargo pants with reflective striping. I have been told I look like a policeman. Thats interesting since the police force that covers us is the RCMP and they use tan shirt navy blue pants with a yellow stripe. When the polo shirts come in I will probably be using them more since I do not want to be mistaken for a cop.
 
I think T-shirts are appropriate in certain circumstances... like midnight-8am on a 24 hour crew, assuming they are crisp and not ratty.

That being said, I'm 24 hours and don't get to wear teeshirts. I end up sleeping in my polyester uniform shirt that is terribly uncomfortable because I dont have the time to tuck in in the middle of the night.

I can't stand to see an EMS crew in teeshirts and uniform pants during the day.
 
ErinCooley said:
...because I dont have the time to tuck in in the middle of the night...
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if the call you're going to is going to be dependant on the 20 seconds it takes you to put on and tuck in a shirt, its unlikely that a critical care chopper with md would make much of a difference, much less an ambulance.

ive worked hundreds of overnights and always stripped off my unifrom shirt and sweater to crawl into bed. during the summer i usually replace my underwear with a pair of really thin board shorts. i bunker my unifrom pants down like turnouts and step right into them as i get out of bed. i can still make my 2 min chute time with room to spare.

honestly, it takes me more time to clear my head of the dream i was having and awaken to the point of even realizing i have a call than it does to dress out. and still hit the truck in <2 min.
 
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