Exploring How Nursing Student Uniform Influence Professional Image

Uniforms play a key role in the description of occupational margins and the formation of professional identity in healthcare. The aim of this research study is to explore student nurses' perceptions of their uniform on their professional image at the College of Health Sciences. The goal is to investigate the findings of this study to recommend a revision of the dress code policy that would intensively support students' professional identity, promote safety, and offer satisfaction. This is a qualitative interpretive research study, which data collection is done through semi-structured qualitative interviews. Three interviews were conducted with the student nurses registered at the College of Health Sciences in the UAE. Thematic analysis was followed to analyze the collected data. The main finding of the study is that uniforms have positive influence on the student nurses' appearance as health care professionals. Interviews raised issues in the area of cultural perspectives. Since this study shows the importance of uniform to students, uniforms need to reflect the professional image and culture as presented in the recommendation section.