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Tailoring a dress code: How to write the rules

Everybody knows what they're supposed to wear to the office, right? Well, no. That's why experts recommend that physicians write down what is permissible. But there's a lot to consider.

By Larry Stevens, amednews correspondent. Dec. 19, 2005.

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Many, if not most, small- and medium-sized physician offices do not have an official dress code. After all, it's clear that employees are expected to appear neat and presentable. So why spell it out?

Experts say one reason to have a code is that, without one, a sartorial problem can evolve so gradually that you don't notice it until you get complaints from patients. And by then, your group already might have taken a serious hit to its image -- one that can take a long time to repair.

"It's like a paint job. You're there every day and you don't notice that the walls have been getting dingier," says Maureen Mahoney, corporate manager for service excellence at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Children's is one of a handful of hospitals that are developing or beefing up dress codes.

And while hospital dress codes affect only employees, the efforts could be filtering out to independent medical groups in their areas. "When I look at doctors coming to the hospital to see their patients, I'm seeing a lot more ties and jackets," says Claire Young, chief nursing officer at The Cleveland Clinic. The organization recently changed its dress code to require nurses to wear whites, nursing assistants to wear hunter green uniforms, and doctors who are not in scrubs to wear a white lab coat (as well as a tie for men) with distinctive lettering identifying their departments.

While many smaller groups may be reluctant to institute a written dress code for fear of alienating staff, experts say that can backfire.