To celebrate Nurses Week last year, Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, North Carolina, purchased white scrub tops for the nursing staff. RN and LPN insignias were emblazoned in bright red letters on the tops-an idea spurred by an editorial in the April 2004 issue of AJN, which argued that nursing outfits are often indistinguishable from those of other health care workers. The editorial encouraged the use of an RN patch designed by artists Mark Dion and J. Morgan Puett.

According to Cassaundra Hefner, BSN, RN, nursing director of the rehabilitation center restorative care unit, the scrub tops were so well received that "White Out Wednesdays" have been held weekly and employees will wear them for the entire Nurses' Week (May 6-12). As for patients and families, "They just love it," Hefner says. "I've had families tell me it's so nice to be able to see who the nurses are." Patches may be ordered in bulk from Valley Products Company, (800) 451-8874 or [email protected].

FIGURE. Sherry Waters (rear), Jock Stetz, RN, Melanie Bumgarner, BSN, RN, Tamara Moses, Cassaundra Hefner, BSN, RN, (from left to right) and Willie Cowan, BSN, RN (seated) sport the RN patches and white uniforms.

FIGURE. Gail Franklin, RN, shows her enthusiasm on the hospital's nephrology-oncology unit.