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Nurse uniforms

Selby and York Primary Care Trust, Bootham Park Hospital, Bootham, York YO30 7BY

Sir: Like Professor Kohen and her colleagues in Lancashire (Psychiatric Bulletin, April 2002, 26, 156), we felt that there may be much to be gained by nursing staff going back to wearing uniforms in our community units for the elderly, where most in-patients have severe dementia. We undertook a study in three units looking at levels of behaviour disturbance before and after the introduction of uniforms in two of the units, with the third unit as a control. The study involved small numbers and is yet to be published, but we too found a decrease in behaviour disturbance in our patient group. This was particularly apparent when patients were receiving assistance with personal care, a time when disturbed behaviour can be a frequent occurrence. The uniforms were universally liked and staff issued with them for the trial all still insist on wearing them, even though the study period ended some time ago.

Unlike our colleagues in Lancashire, however, we have not yet been able to reintroduce uniforms across the service, as we would like. We now have to begin the process of persuading the management of the merits of funding uniforms for all the elderly in-patient areas. Any other recent contributions to the evidence base, which would aid our cause, would be most welcome.

This Article Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mackenzie, S. Articles by Clarke, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Mackenzie, S. Articles by Clarke, J.