Abstract:
Introduction: Wearing uniform is a form of communication about what that
individual’s responsibility is. Such communication takes place among the wearer, the
organization and the public in general. However there were no studies so far in
Ethiopia which assessed attitude and practice of wearing Nurse Uniform.
Objectives: To assess the attitude and practice of nurses on wearing nurse uniform
and associated factors in hospitals of North West Ethiopia.
Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April,
2014 in five hospitals located in Northwest Ethiopia. A total 459 nurses participated
in the study. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Bi-variate
and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess the association of different
variables with attitude and practice on wearing nurse uniform.
Results: Out of 459 nurses, 226 (49.2%) wear nurse uniform. The most important
reason for not wearing nurse uniform was “there is no specific uniform for nurses
which is recommended by the hospital management (35.2%). About 74% had
favorable attitude on wearing nurse uniform. Sex [AOR=2.96, 95%CI (1.78, 4.92)],
type of hospital, Felegehiwot [AOR=5.68, 95%CI (1.49, 21.67)], Metema and Debark
hospitals [AOR=6.15, 95%CI (1.55, 24.45)] and study nursing by preference
AOR=4.27, 95%CI (2.56, 7.14)], showed significant association with attitude on
wearing nurse uniform. Similarly, sex, [AOR=1.58, 95% CI, (1.02, 2.44)] type of
hospital, [AOR=0.37, 95%CI (0.14, 0.93)].Studied nursing by preference [AOR
=3.16, 95% CI (2.03, 4.92)], and attitude [AOR=3.43 95% CI (1.96, 5.98)] showed
significant association with nurse uniform wearing practice.
Conclusion and recommendation: More than half of the nurses were not wearing
nurse uniform, the main reason being ‘there is no specific uniform for nurses which
is recommended by the hospital management’. More than one-fourth of the nurses
have unfavorable attitude on wearing nurse uniform. Sex, type of hospital, and
studying nursing by preference were the most important factors associated with
attitude and practice of wearing nurse uniform. Attitude towards wearing nurse
uniform also had effect on practice of wearing nurse uniform. Developing uniform
wearing policy and guideline; favoring the females to study and practice nursing;
reaching consensus with nurses on the type of uniform to be worn by the nurses are
among the recommendations to solve the problem.
