Penn Medicine enforces a structured clinical dress code policy designed to prevent pathogen transmission and eliminate visual confusion for patients. Visual identification by role improves bedside safety across high-volume wards.
The nurse uniform requirements dictate solid navy blue scrubs for all inpatient Registered Nurses across HUP, Penn Presbyterian, Pennsylvania Hospital, Chester County Hospital, and Lancaster General Health. Undergarments or undershirts must be solid white, black, or navy, with no hanging sleeves that drag across sterile fields. Footwear must feature closed toes and non-porous uppers to guard against sharps punctures and fluid exposure.
Physicians, fellows, and medical residents retain broader scrub color latitude depending on their rotation. Surgical teams and critical care units operate in hospital-laundered ceil blue scrubs dispensed through scrub-vending machines, which cannot be worn home. In outpatient settings, attending physicians alternate between business-professional attire paired with hospital embroidered lab coats or private-label clinical scrubs in royal blue, pewter, or hunter green.
