At a recent conference I attended, I went out to dinner one night with a group of nurse educators. Two of them were faculty from a school of nursing, and had plenty to say about the new class of nurses that they had just graduated.
“They wanted to wear red shoes to their pinning ceremony,” said one of them. “Red, high-heeled shoes. Can you believe it?”
“Not just one of them,” her colleague said. “All of them. The entire class wanted to make a statement and wear red shoes.” She shook her head disapprovingly.
“And what was the statement they were hoping to make?” I asked. I expected them to tell me that the red shoes were intended to represent heart health or AIDS awareness or some other noble cause that the students had embraced during their training.
“A fashion statement,” said one of the instructors. “They just want to do their own thing.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” A clinical nurse asked from across the dinner table.
“It’s a professional ceremony,” said one of the nursing instructors. “They’re being inducted into their profession, not going to a nightclub. Red high heels just aren’t appropriate in that situation.”
““They’re a new generation with their own sense of style,” said the other nurse with a shrug. “We older nurses can only fight that for so long. As long as they can take care of me when I get sick, I don’t care what they’re wearing.”
And so the conversation ping-ponged back and forth across the table for a long, long while.
I’m curious. What do you think about red shoes at a pinning ceremony? Is it fashionable, or inappropriate? Is it disrespectful toward the profession, or does it whisper of inevitable changes to come as a new generation of nurses bring their values and personality into the workforce?
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I agree with Kim – you need more information to decide if it is inappropriate, but I do not think it is disrespectful. When I graduated many many moons ago, we had to fight to be allowed to wear white uniforms rather than dress clothes (at the time I think we were just tired of wearing pink – our red pin stripped uniforms looked pink). The faculty at that time thought dress clothes were more appropriate then uniforms. Although being professional is not showing up sloppy and unkempt, I think we spend way too much time obsessing over dress codes when there are other more pressing issues to discuss!
How can red shoes make any difference to the proffesional nurse when we wear mulit coloured scrubs all day , long hair hanging over pts, dangling earings and bright coloured long false nails address these issuse first, then worry what they wear at the pinning ceremony
I don’t feel red high heels would be disrespectful to the profession…perhaps a bit inappropriate, depending on what else they are required to wear. Is it a formal white dress, hose type of ceremony? What about the guys? Will they be required to wear red heels? Or white dresses and white hose? Is the issue about the shoes at all or how one represents oneself in a professional manner? I believe your professionalism comes more from within you than from what you wear. it is demonstrated in how you conduct yourself and care for your patients.
Red Shoes…black shoes…long hair…We need to get with the trends and focus on training these new nurses to care for patients the right way, the Nightingale way minus the dress code. I wear heels, I dress really well everyday for work, I am 30, and I believe I am a good nurse regardless of what some people may think i look. Let the young ones enjoy being who they are while applying what their profession dictates!
I agree with Kim's comment that professionalism comes from within, rather than what you wear on the outside. Well said!
Up until the year I graduated nursing school, the class photo was taken with all the nursing students wearing white uniforms. Our class was made to wear the cap and gown just like any other major and we were all very upset about this, but couldn't talk the "powers to be" to change their mind. I think that it should be left up to the students to a certain point as long as it looks professional.
I say ” go for it”. Strut your stuff and if it brings attention to the graduates good for them. I don’t think it is a sign of disrespect at all but one of a new breed of individuals who want to be recognized for what they have done. I hope there are not too many guys in the class, I really don’t handle men in high heels very well.
Male nurses in red heels – now that is quite a mental image! Thanks Julie for the laugh, and thanks everyone else for sharing your thoughts!
This is something over which we have had ongoing debates at my institution, as well. Our program director is quite traditional, wearing white dress, hose, lace-ups, and labcoat to clinical. She believes graduates should come to pinning in traditionally appropriate attire, and would require students to wear their clinical garb if she could get away with it. I believe she has a point to a certain extent, as I think back to our last pinning ceremony in which I couldn't find an appropriate place to stick the darn pin in one of my student's lacy, strapless party dress. I remember exchanging looks with other faculty as each graduate was announced and walked to the podium to receive her pin…their shoes would rival any episode Sex and the City! Then there was the pinning ceremony a few years back where half the students wanted to be capped and the other half refused…that was a fiasco! Especially when one of the male graduates insisted on being capped, as well…So where is the fine line between upholding the integrity of the profession and allowing new nurses to move into the new millenium with regard to their attitude and dress? I don't have the answer, but I'm sure glad others are seeing the need to address it, as well!!