GREENVILLE HOSPITAL SYSTEM MANUAL OF POLICY DIRECTIVES

Transcription

1 GREENVILLE HOSPITAL SYSTEM MANUAL OF POLICY DIRECTIVES POLICY: TITLE: DATE: and Uniform Policy March 1, 2009 (Revised) I. Policy The primary objective of Greenville Hospital System is the care of our patients. The personal appearance of every employee is an important component of establishing a safe and professional environment for optimal patient care and respect for one another. II. Non-uniformed Dress Non-uniformed employees are expected to conform to neatness and good taste in their dress. Departure from conventional dress and socially acceptable attire suitable for business operation is not acceptable. Department or area Leadership Team may develop more specific guidelines. In the absence of specific prohibitions, a member of management has the authority to exercise reasonable judgment in matters relating to the appropriateness of an employee s dress based upon the following factors: the nature of work performed by employees the degree of exposure to the public, patients, physicians and other customers. III. All Employees Employees are expected to dress in an appropriate manner while working at GHS. Personal appearance shall support patient care, create a healthy and safe environment, and not offend patients, visitors, or other employees. The following minimum standards apply throughout GHS and shall be enforced. Members of the Leadership Team may make additions to these standards of dress. A. Employees shall maintain a neat, clean, and well-groomed appearance. B. Shoes shall be worn; women may wear open toed shoes in non-patient care areas. Patient care areas include nursing stations, but not admitting and registration areas. T-shirts, sweatshirts, and sweatpants are not considered appropriate unless specifically authorized.

2 C. Clothes that inappropriately expose body parts or underclothing are not permitted. D. Hats, scarves, hair curlers or other headwear may not be worn, unless required for infection control purposes, part of an authorized uniform, or otherwise authorized by a member of the Leadership Team. E. No clothing or jewelry shall be permitted that displays profanity, suggestive phrases, alcohol, tobacco, drug advertisements or other inappropriate phrases or symbols. F. Jeans and other denim are not considered professional attire and may only be worn for projects and other limited exceptions authorized by a member of the Leadership Team. Belts should be worn with slacks and skirts that have belt loops. G. Skirts should not be shorter than two inches above the top of the knee. H. For safety, excessively baggy trousers and other clothing are not permitted; clothing may not drag on the floor. To help prevent injuries from patients, patient care personnel may not wear dangling necklaces or earrings, or loose hair (if shoulder length or longer). I. For infection control, excessively long fingernails (artificial or real) shall not be permitted. Patient care personnel may not wear artificial fingernails nor more than two rings per hand, unless part of a wedding set. J. Hair should be clean, neat, and trimmed. Hair color and contact lenses must be consistent with colors occurring naturally in humans. Nail coloring, lipstick, and other make up must be consistent with the expected appearance of a healthcare professional. K. Extraneous articles hanging from clothing, such as chains or other articles are considered inappropriate, and shall not be permitted. Tool belts and keys (for those required to carry keys at work) shall be permitted to be worn outside clothing. L. Only appropriate and professional jewelry may be worn. Facial jewelry may only be worn on the ears unless for bona fide religious reasons. No more than three earrings per ear will be considered appropriate. Tongue and dental jewelry is not permitted. M. Perfumes, after shave lotions and colognes may cause allergic reactions in some individuals and are not to be worn. 2

3 N. Tattoos which may reasonably be perceived as offensive (examples include, but are not limited to tattoos depicting nudity, foul language, or other insensitive content) are not permitted to be visible. While on duty, employees must conceal any offensive content with clothing or make-up in a manner that is compliant with Infection Control policy. Bandages can be disconcerting to patients, but, as a last resort, an employee may use a bandage in a manner that is compliant with Infection Control policy, however employees may not wear more than two visible bandages for such purposes. If a manager determines an employee s tattoo could reasonably be perceived as offensive, the manager may counsel the employee directly or consult with the Director of Diversity or the Diversity Coordinator. If the employee disagrees with the manager s concern, he or she may consult with the Director of Diversity or the Diversity Coordinator. In the event the manager and employee cannot agree on whether the tattoo should be concealed, the Director of Diversity shall make the determination as to whether the tattoo may reasonably be perceived as offensive, and thus subject to the concealment rules stated above. O. The use of chewing gum is not acceptable in the presence of patients, visitors and physicians. IV. Uniformed Dress All uniforms worn in the Greenville Hospital System shall be practical, useful and functional for the performance of the respective duties required of each employee. A. Employees in designated departments shall be required to wear the appropriate uniform prescribed by the department where they are employed. Department Managers who wish to establish or discontinue the requirement for wearing uniforms within their respective departments shall obtain approval for such action from their Campus President and the GHS Uniform Committee. B. Departments that require the wearing of a uniform shall prepare a written description of the prescribed uniform sufficient in detail to acquaint employees with the uniform requirements. This written description shall be provided to all appropriate employees at the time of their employment. C. Sleeve patches denoting the employees' professional affiliation may be worn on the uniform subject to their Leadership Team s approval. 3

4 D. Shoes and hosiery are considered a part of the uniform. Individual departments may designate special requirements for footwear as part of the prescribed uniform. E. Under normal circumstances, new employees are expected to be in uniform at the time of employment. Exceptions to this request may be approved by the respective Department Manager up to 90 working days. F. All employees are required to keep uniforms in a satisfactory condition of cleanliness and appearance at all times. G. Employees may not wear Greenville Hospital System uniforms or Identification Badges while working for another employer. H. Employees who wear uniforms and/or street clothes that become contaminated with blood and body fluids (the clothing is moistened completely through to the undergarment) shall follow the procedure for contamination in the Infection Control Manual for exchange to scrubs. V. Special Clothing. When working conditions are of such nature that employees may require special items of clothing, e.g., scrub suits, coveralls, hard hats, gloves, aprons, coats, shoes, for reasons of protection of uniform or dress, safety, contamination, or other purposes, these items of special clothing will be provided by the Hospital System. Such items are the property of the Hospital System and shall be treated accordingly. They are not to be worn off the premises of the Hospital System. When such items are washable, they shall be washed in the GHS Laundry. The determination of the need for special clothing will be the responsibility of, and subject to the approval of, the Department Manager. VI. VII. Contamination. Contamination of personal clothing with blood and body fluids occurs when the clothing is moistened completely through the uniform and/or street clothes and undergarments. Employees who work in an area that provides scrubs when contamination occurs will change to clean scrubs. Employees who wear their own scrubs, uniforms or personal clothing shall change to the scrubs that are designated for exchange according to procedure found in the Infection Control Manual. Scrub Attire. Scrub attire is approved for GHS personnel employed in areas where the wearing of such attire is required for Infection Control or other clinical purposes; such staff need not change out of scrub attire when leaving the area. A. Scrub attire addressed in this section is defined as scrub pants and shirts. Warm-up jackets are provided for personnel working in these areas. 4

5 B. Staff, including Medical Staff and House Staff, must wear scrub attire in the following approved areas: Operating Rooms Labor and Delivery Rooms Central Sterile Processing Hyperbaric Laboratory Pacing Lab/CCU Special Procedures Lab Cardiac Cath Labs Radiology (Special Procedures), GMH Pathology Assistance (Autopsy) Exception: Jade green scrub attire is the recognized uniform of some medical staff and house staff. C. The Hospital System will provide and launder scrub attire and warm-up jackets for personnel who work within these areas (Section VI. B above). Any employee wishing to purchase his/her own scrub attire and/or warm-up jacket may do so provided the items meet hospital color and quality standards. Departmental color(s) for personally owned scrub attire will be established by the system and approved by their Leadership Team. The hospital does not launder individual property (unless contaminated as described above). Personally owned scrubs must be transported and maintained by the employee. Personally owned scrubs must be laundered, dried in a dryer and may be pressed. D. The scrub attire color for hospital purchased scrubs is jade green. The wearing of jade green scrub attire in any other area/departments under any circumstances is prohibited, except pursuant to Infection Control policy following contamination of clothing with blood or body fluids. EXCEPTION: The scrub attire color for hospital purchased, all cotton scrubs in the Hyperbaric Laboratory is gray. E. All requests by departments for scrub attire based on infection control needs must be justified and approved by the GHS Infection Control Committee and the GHS Materials Laundry and Linen Utilization Committee. All requests by departments for scrub attire based on other clinical reasons must be justified and approved by the department director and the GHS Materials Laundry and Linen Utilization Committee. F. Scrub attire provided by the System is hospital property. Any employee, Medical or House Staff member observed leaving the hospital with hospital scrub attire may be asked to change before leaving hospital grounds. Any 5

6 employee cutting, defacing, or stealing scrub attire will be subject to the appropriate disciplinary action. 6

7 VII. Assignment of Responsibility If a member of management determines that an employee is not dressed appropriately in conformance with this policy directive, the member of management shall promptly address this situation by counseling the employee. A member of management may ask an employee to go home and return to work dressed in an appropriate manner and may also take any additional disciplinary action as necessary. Members of the Management Staff will advise all employees of the provisions of this policy and of any special department requirements established due to the nature and conditions of work within the department. Specific questions as to the interpretation and application of this policy may be addressed to the Vice President of Human Resources.. 7