How do you like your 'professionals' to dress?

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

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.

"Short"

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.

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!

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

"When I SAW it was a frumpy.."

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Tweedle the old style nurses outfits became sexualised which caused problems for many. Scrubs or Tunics are quite neutral in that way. Perverts will still be perverts but it gives them one less way to harass health care staff.

Also with Long days taking over from earlies and lates, scrubs or a tunic can quickly be changed mid shift it needed.

The problem is that tunic colours vary from hospital to hospital. If universal colour codes were adopted it would be easier to tell who is who.

But other than that I do think the more androgenous work-wear style is the right way to go with uniformed healthcare workers.

I like the American style where doctors dont wear civvies and everyone wears scrubs but they are clearly colour coded and badges make it clear who is who. I think (and I have been in an American hospital) it makes the staff look very clinical and clean and also ready to get on with it and work hard.

This thread has made it to FB

One of my GP's also looks about 12 although she has two young children and wears Doc Martins. She is an excellent doctor though.
My two consultants are very good looking young women and wear up to the minute clothes.
I suppose the doctor in the urgent care centre doesn't feel she has to dress up on a Sunday. I don't have a lot of faith in these doctors, however, as they told my husband he had a bad cold when in fact he had Legionnaires disease!

a 'geography teacher' look alike, cord jacket with elbow patches

That made me laugh cherrytree. It reminded me of one of the DC’s teachers who sported the cord jacket, but underneath it a sage-green, hand-knitted v-necked jumper complete with dinner medals, every single day.
I think it’s the professional’s attitude which counts, as well as their skills and knowledge.
But it’s far harder to convey to the patient that you’re knowledgeable and skilful and think in an organised way, if your clothes and general appearance are casual or sloppy. And it goes without saying that in a clinical environment you should both be, and look, clean. Impressions do matter.

Jeans and a t-shirt can look neat and tidy.
A crumpled business suit can look awful.

The consultant neurologist I see for my MS wears the tattiest looking jeans and leather flip flops . He looks like he should have a surf board under his arm. He’s lovely and he has my absolute trust .

Hospital doctors cannot wear ties any longer - think how many germs they carry! - and short sleeves or rolled up sleeves also keep fabrics away from patients. It is an enforced casualness. If they are wearing scrubs, it may be because a patient has covered them in something unpleasant! My son has had his shoes ruined before now!

I think how someone dresses is a real clue to their personality if a doctor can’t be arsed to wear some clean and tidy clothing and look fresh and professional I imagine that’s how their mind works, slovenly I don’t expect suit and ties but not trainers

Or you could see it the other way? A doc in stuffy starchy inflexible wear is less likely to want to "get their hands dirty".

Also a female doc is more at risk in a blouse (or other button front tops) than in a teeshirt. Especially in a GP room where she is alone with the public behind a closed door.

Loose comfortable informal clothes are surely the more approriate for doing exams and tests whilst etc and for doing long hours

Sodapop I could not agree more with you about not being sad to see the back of starched aprons etc. I was also delighted when the option for trousers came in. Nurses have to get into some very odd positions while working and it was often difficult not to reveal more than planned!
However, I have to say that, unless working in theatres and possibly A&E, I do not think that scrubs are either necessary nor desirable. My uniform always went on clean every day so that is not a reason to wear scrubs. Patients do like to know who is treating them.
As for doctors, the ones at my surgery are usually neatly dressed.