Carers Uniforms

[robinknight]

Afternoon All,

This is perhaps an odd question, but I thought this might be an appropriate place to raise it!

Recently i've been having discussions with various people trying to understand if it is beneficial for staff who are caring for those with dementia in a care home setting to wear uniform. Or if it might be more beneficial for staff to wear their own 'casual' clothing whilst providing care.

I would just like to see if anyone has any thoughts, opinions or experiences that are relevant to this.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

regards

Robin

 

[danny]

Hi Robin, this discussion came up on here last year sometime.

My view is that a uniform creates a barrier.The carer can hide behind their uniform. A uniform also portrays I am in charge of you.

My carers do not wear uniform. They attend to personal care needs wearing disposable aprons/ gloves if needed. They adhere to strict hand hygiene.

The people we care for have mild memory problems to severe cognitive impairement,strangely they know the staff despite us not wearing uniforms.

We are saying,whilst you are here,this is your home,why then do we need to wear a uniform.

We are all here together to share our day, no them and us.

And yes,it certainly works extremely well.Even the staff need their own identity too

Best wishes, Angela.

 

[jenniferpa]

I think uniforms are probably best for a number of reasons
1) Many many family carers report that their family member is much more likely to accept help from a "professional" in a uniform than from even some one they know.

2) It allows family members confidence that the person handling their loved one is actually a staff member!

3) I actually think a uniform can raise standards as it makes the person wearing them feel more professional.

4) (Very personal as someone who has a family member working in a service industry) - why on earth should carers be expected to pay for casual clothing that will potentially be piddled on, thrown up over or worse? Most regular casual clothing won't stand up to the washing that a care workers clothing needs.

In the final analysis, when the person being cared for may feel threatened because they don't know where they are, why they are there, why they feel the way they do, and who this person is trying to give them personal care, why would anyone choose to do something (i.e. take the carer out of uniform) that would make the person being cared for feel less secure?

 

[jenniferpa]

(cross posted with Angela) and as you can see - 2 diametrically opposed views.

 

[chucky]

Hi, i would say definately uniforms. My reason for this, is because one day as i went to visit my dad in his CH i walked in on an argument between my dad and a man i didnt know. There had been workmen in the home and i assumed this man was a workman. The stranger was shouting at my dad for moving a picture off the wall and i thought his behaviour was a bit extreme so i went over and told the man exactly what i thought of him, what i would do if i saw him doing it again and he'd be lucky if i just reported him rather than belt him myself. I was HORRIFIED to find out later that day the man was actually a resident. I have since spoken to this man (not about the incident) in an every day way and i am still stunned that he is suffering with dementia. I would never have been able to tell in a million years, he was very articulate in his manner, he spoke about things with accuracy and he told me a bit about his life. I was mortified that i spoken to him the way i did, and i spoke with the CH manager, who was very understanding and said not to worry about it as he was neither up nor down after my explosion. If all staff were wearing uniforms i would never have made this dreadful mistake. So i would say e definate yes to uniforms.

 

[Jess26]

my first thought when reading the initial post was...........

carers need to be easily identified if an emergency of any kind occured. Although slightly different chucky's view would seem to echo this.

Also jenniferpa comment about body fluids is very relevant

 

[danny]

Uniforms also say to the person with dementia you are ill and different from me.

The thing we need to do is look at this from the perspective of the person with dementia not our view.

Good comments though from everyone and this debate will continue for many years to come no doubt.

 

[Canadian Joanne]

Uniforms also say to the person with dementia you are ill and different from me.

The thing we need to do is look at this from the perspective of the person with dementia not our view.

Uniforms can also make a person with dementia feel more secure. It's like asking a policeman. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

My mother didn't seem to notice either way. Yet another point of view. But sometimes when she was unhappy about something, she would say she would speak to the nurse. So there was an awareness, to a certain extent.

 

[jenniferpa]

See I can see Danny's point, but I have been wondering: does the size of the facility make a difference? I don't know the answer, but I think the "no uniform" thing might work better in a smaller facility.

 

[Contrary Mary]

I think that as we all know that if you have seen one dementia sufferer then you have seen one dementia sufferer - some may react to uniforms, some may not. Certainly, Mum isn't aware of anything of this kind. Mum having had carers for nearly 6 years, we have seen many different ones, mostly not good, the latest ones by far the best and, yes, they wear a uniform. (Just coincidence, I think!)

 

[danny]

Jennifer we are a small place so I guess that it does make a difference.

I would like to add that the carers who work in the community supporting people with and without dementia do wear uniforms.

I also remember discussing last time the care home where the night staff wear dressing gowns and slippers to remind their residents it is bed time

 

[sue38]

Going slightly off tack, in my dad's CH the staff had to pay for their own uniforms, which I (and they) thought totally unacceptable. They wore tunics with stripes, and my understanding is that stripes are not dementia friendly.

 

[JPG1]

..... this is your home,why then do we need to wear a uniform.

I go along with that point of view 100 per cent.

This is your home, and we should go the extra mile to ensure that here, where you are now, and where you are living now, resembles your home, as far as possible. It may be your present and future home, but it's still your home. And the more comfortable we can make you, the better for you.

Yes, every dementia sufferer is different, as is every dementia sufferer's family. There's always been the 'white coat syndrome' at work in the UK, and it really could do no harm but to challenge the white coat brigade.

I'm on the side of the no-uniform-brigade.

Followed by a personal anecdote: support worker arrived; came and did whatever support worker was supposed to do, hopefully, and then went; phone calls followed asking why 'these ambulance men in uniform are just walking into my home and diving into my fridge/kitchen/bathroom' wherever on the day. Panic followed. It turned out that these 'ambulance men in uniform' were one and the same female support worker, who happened to wear the same clothes (a black trouser suit) every single day and also .... a hat.

Panic over. But message received!

Just the point of view that came via my own dementia sufferer.

 

[Countryboy]

Hi I have dementia myself and its difficult enough getting information with being
put into an even more difficult situation trying to decide who the official person is
if everyone is wearing casual cloths for instance your at an airport seeking information about your flight, or in a store looking for an item and need and help, or in a bank need the police can be endless.
I would be interested to know how a person without dementia identifies them or know which person to ask if they are all wearing casual cloths, and remember not all joe public wants to help a person with dementia sorry if I need help I want to be able to indentify the person who may give me that assistance Iwant a uniform or large identity badge.

I go to a local memory café and all the volunteers wear identity badges and dementia suffers all wear name badges I should have thought its was the best way go

tony

 

[danny]

Hi Tony. You are very right in what you are saying.Uniforms play an important part in larger care organisations ie in our hospitals.

Hope you are keeping well

 

[Grannie G]

Our first home visits from a CPN and OT were a disaster. To my husband, they could have been anyone, forgotten friends, unknown neighbours, Josie Bloggs.
He gave them their marching orders.

When the Consultant visited, with his case and his stethoscope, he was accepted , although not welcomed.

When our sitters came, different people wore the same tunic tops, easily identifiiable. The SS sitter in her own clothes, unidentifiable.

On admittance to the home, the staff who wear light or dark blue tunics are easily identified as someone who can be asked for help.
They do not live there. It is not their home. They are staff.
Some staff don't always wear uniform. If I know them, it's easy for me. My memory is intact. If I don't know, I can ask. For my husband, it's more difficult, he doesn't remember them.

My husband is at home in what I have presented to him as a convalescent home. I refer to the staff as nurses. He needs to know who will help him. He needs to know who he can ask for help. He still recognises and respects a uniform. He is that generation.

Not only am I in favour of a uniform, I prefer it.

 

[Countryboy]

Hi Danny “Angela” I’m fine thanks still annoying everyone, I agree with you sometime in small groups we possibly know each other, but its out in unfamiliar territory we find a uniform or badge a god sent, on a personal note last Wednesday I was with Keith and his wife can’t remember her name put that down to dementia we were at the memory café in Red ----

hope your keeping well

cheers Tony xx

 

[sistermillicent]

My mum seems to view the uniformed people as servants, so the power balance is the other way around from what has been suggested here. She is quite happy with this.

As a nurse I prefer to wear a uniform because in the act of putting on the uniform I leave behind my outside life and problems and become focussed on what I am supposed to be doing and giving to my work.

Pippa

 

[danny]

One last thing. I am in favour of no uniforms in care homes where people with dementia live. These homes are their homes,they are not institutions,there is absolute no need whatsoever for a uniform.

Everyone is equal, everyone is respected .There is no them and us.

There are no staff toilets,there are no staff rooms,dining rooms.

People with dementia thrive in small/family units, with no uniforms!!!!!


If the carers didn`t wear uniforms they are also more likely to multi task and become activity providers when they have got everyone up


Also,this is not my personal view entirely. I have been to many lectures/read books/undertook training sessions on person centred care.


In some of the best dementia care homes in the country the staff do not wear uniforms.

As a footnote I am also a trained nurse and loved my hospital uniform especially my hat!!!! Three years ago I hated the thought of no uniforms,have seen the other side and am converted.

The people with dementia are who matter most,they recognise warmth,empathy,compassion,they recognise feelings not uniforms.

 

[JPG1]

Spot on, Angel. And that is the way many care homes are now working well and enabling their residents to live well, with or without dementia.