12,000 SingHealth nurses will be donning new uniforms designed to create a cohesive identity across the eleven institutions.
12,000 SingHealth nurses will be donning new uniforms designed to create a cohesive identity across the eleven institutions.
Unveiled at the SingHealth Nurses' Day celebrations on 25 July 2017, the new uniforms will be rolled out in phases from 2018.
The unified all-white look creates a cohesive identity across SingHealth and help patients and their caregivers identify SingHealth nurses who are caring for them, as they move across different care settings.
Dr Tracy Carol Ayre, Group Chief Nurse, SingHealth, said, "As our nurses adapt to new models of care and take on expanded roles such as Advance Practice Nurses and Patient navigators, which require them to work cross-institution and in multi-disciplinary teams, these new uniforms will help patients and their caregivers identify them easily and give the assurance of high standard of nursing care."
"We received feedback from patients that it can be confusing when they see nurses in different uniforms caring for them, and that they intuitively associate the colour white with the nursing profession."
The new uniforms will replace the current ones that come in varying colours to reflect each institution's identity and different designs to indicate rank. For example, a nurse manager in Singapore General Hospital wears a green uniform whereas a nurse manager in National Cancer Centre Singapore wears a dark cream coloured one, and a staff nurse in either institute wears an off-white uniform with their respective institution colours.
In terms of practicality, nurses shared that the new scrub suits would be more comfortable to work in, compared to the current dress uniforms.
4,800 patients, staff and members of the public were surveyed for their feedback on the nurses' uniform design.
THE NEW UNIFORMS
Working (scrub) suits Formal uniforms
The new standardised uniforms will be worn by nurses in all 11 SingHealth institutions.
The uniforms will be all white, with colour trimmings at the collar to differentiate ranks:
- Maroon for Enrolled Nurses
- Blue for Staff Nurses
- Blue with Orange for Nurse Clinicians and Senior Nurse Managers
- Orange for Assistant Directors and above
Name badges worn by the nurses will indicate their respective healthcare institution.
Female nurses can opt to don the more practical scrub suits for work instead of dress uniforms.
The uniforms were designed to meet existing infection prevention guidelines and retain a professional nursing image.
"As our nurses adapt to new models of care and take on expanded roles … which require them to work cross-institution and in multi-disciplinary teams, these new uniforms will help patients and their caregivers identify them easily and give the assurance of high standard of nursing care."
- Dr Tracy Carol Ayre, Group Chief Nurse, SingHealth
