Design a distinct uniform to identify professional EMS

[Chief1C]

I'm kind of fond of the retro milk-man look for ambulance personnel.

[Dustdevil]

I agree. I see no need for a Class A uniform. The mayor doesn't wear one. The city attorney doesn't wear one. The director of health doesn't wear one. If they don't need one, why would I need one? I'm just not into self-aggrandisement, even at funerals.

If I am not working on a scene, then there is no immediate need for special identification.

[Novisen]

Uniforms european style!

http://www.newshunter.se/filmer.htm

[medicmole]

BCAS wears green jackets similar to the colour worn by british police. They definitely make us stand out in a crowd.

Actually, their uniforms are about the only thing I like about BCAS, lol!

Dustdevil

Now you have gone and hurt my feelings.

[zippyRN]

I believe in Sicko there were some either UK or France medics seen in the back of one of the shots and they appeared to be wearing a green version of what you describe. It sure would give us a distinctive look and I still think that it has a professional appearance.

most Uk Ems personnel NHS, private and volunteer wear green either trousers and shirts which are simialr to BDUs in cut and construction those not a camo pattern

'tellytubby suits' had their day aobut 10 -15 years ago ( my spare SJA greens are a telly tubby suit) it's really just helimed that wear them now for aviation type reasons rather than anything else

One other thing of importance I think should be visibility (whether it come from colour, reflective, or both). At least in Ontario, most services have the construction worker style reflective vests to be worn on car accident scenes. I'm sure we all know how often this actually happens in most services. Of course the solution to this problem could be to just wear the damn vest, but I think a more practical solution would be to integrate something for visibility into the uniform.

retroreflective bands, beading even embrodiery / screen printing is entirely possible

however to meet the visibilty and reflectiveness standards you tend to need a garment specifically designed to do the job - the European standard is EN471 which is simialr to the old BS6629

[firespec35]

I guess I don't see the point to reinvent the wheel. I reallllllllly don't want to be stuck wearing scrubs on a scene. If anything I'm a big fan of polo shirts embriodered with the service or dept name with a good sized star of life or screenprinted front and back. But some management thinks that doesn't look professional enough. I don't know if it is thier real uniform or not but the other option is the tv show "Third Watch" style uniform with a uniform style shirt but with the screenprinting on the back of it.

I definately don't like white shirts as an option just because they get dirty easy and I hate white t shirts for undershirts. I will take my blue tshirts anyday.

You wanna put me in a green uniform sure why not. Not my first choice but OK (Det EMS used to wear green uniforms and they looked like park rangers)

As far as getting the world to see us as healthcare providers. No change in uniform is going to do that. In fact I don't think it will happen in the next 20 years. We are still fending off the old 1950's funeral home sling the pt in the back and go like hell to the hospital image. Those who have needed us know, and their immediate family know. We will never be considered along the same lines as nurses and docs and I understand this and accept it truly what does it matter as long as we all go home at the end of the shift and we did our best to treat our patients.

[medicmole]

I definately don't like white shirts as an option just because they get dirty easy

I have been wearing a white shirt for just over 20 years and have not had a problem with it looking dirty. If it gets dirty I wash it. I would rather have a clean shirt than hide the dirt with a dark coloured shirt.

[Dustdevil]

I have been wearing a white shirt for just over 20 years and have not had a problem with it looking dirty. If it gets dirty I wash it. I would rather have a clean shirt than hide the dirt with a dark coloured shirt.

Exactly! Frankly, I am repulsed by the thought of so many people that would actually continue to wear a nasty arse shirt just because nobody else knows it's dirty. I know it's dirty, and that's enough for me to change it.

If we're ever going to progress from a blue collar job to a white collar profession, we're going to have to take that first step of ditching the blue collars. It's a no-brainer.

[Timmy]

As some of you may be aware Australia is very into bright reflective yellow safety vests. Paramedics have to wear them at say an MVA or major incident. But us little old first aiders have to wear them very time were on duty over the top of our white shirts. Apart from looking like a complete tool there impossible to keep clean. Even a minuet speak of dust shows up as a massive brown splotch. You can’t wash them a lot because it sends the reflective tape a discussing strange blacky grey colour so I resort to dabbing away with wet wipes. As for our bright yellow jackets, not only are they uncomfortable but even if you do wash it the dirt still doesn’t come out. You could only imagine the hard work we have to put into clearing our uniforms after a day in the rain at motocross. We cant get them dry cleaned either because there made out of some crap material that cant be dry cleaned.

[NickD]

Like a lot of things the answer may be found in the past. Nobody mistook the ambulance attendant of the early 20th Century with anyone else. The white shirt and pants topped off with a jaunty cap just said it all. But our own insecurity would prevent us from going there.

But ask yourself - what is the real purpose of a uniform? For those working the street, at least historically, it's strictly self preservation. A medic moving down a dark inner city alleyway is less likely to be smoked by a jittery police officer if he's in uniform. So in that sense uniforms merely divide the good guys from the bad guys.

For younger folks "Emergency" defined the role of medics, but for me it was "Doc" from the older "Combat" TV series. What separated Doc from the rest of his squad was the big Red Cross on his helmet. Unfortunately, that big Red Cross could also facilitate separating ole' Doc's head from the rest of his body.

And medics aren't the only ones in this miss-uniformed boat. In the phlebotomy clinicals I'm doing right now we wear white coats. The joke in the lab is people become phlebotomists because they look good in a lab coat, but didn't have time for all that medical school. And as I'm older (and somewhat wiser looking) I'm continually called "Doc" by casual passers by.

So street medics are stuck somewhere between something practical, something that says it's us, and something everyone can get behind. And all that will probably never happen. So I think the answer is we wear "street scrubs" together with a large and very noticeable Red Cross. It's just too much of a universal symbol to ignore and nothing says "medic" like it does. And by all means, the jaunty cap too . . .

NickD

EMT-B