Guides

Some of the guidelines that you'll need to follow when you do go to your observation hours: We do require professional attire. So this is no jeans, no shorts, no capris, no tennis shoes. You certainly don't need to go out and get a new suit or anything like that - a pair of khakis or dress slags will be fine. Make sure that you wear comfortable shoes. This is not the time to go get a nice pair of strappy heels. You will be on your feet for those 4 hours. Make sure you do wear comfortable shoes.

You will want to avoid wearing any kind of perfume or cologne. You're going into a health setting, where people are sick, and if they're already nauseated, and they get a whiff of something that just doesn't agree with them, it might not end nicely for you or your clothes.

In the past, we've also had students ask if they can wear scrubs. We prefer that you not wear scrubs in the hospital. Affiliates also prefer that you not wear scrubs. We had an instance a couple of years ago, where one of the observation students wore scrubs to observation and there was an emergency, they called a code, and they thought she worked there, so somebody started barking orders at her to go get a crash cart, go call this number, and she just stood there and said, "I'm just observing." So there was kind of a little bit of an issue with wearing scrubs that other healthcare people think that person was employed there. We do not recommend you wear scrubs.