Why should hospital scrubs have the hospital's logo?

Doesn't this seem like an unimportant question?  What possible benefit could come from something so inconsequential as a small hospital logo on the chest or sleeve of a scrub top?

While we can all agree that having a logo on your chest doesn't directly do anything to make you a better caregiver, this is actually an issue being discussed at hospitals these days so we felt like it would be worthwhile to document some of what is going on and why.  The benefits to having a uniform branded with the hospital logo are manyfold and the downsides can be easily avoided.

First, the upsides...

Most obviously, branding the entire network of people wearing scrubs with the hospital mark improves the appearance of the employee. This is a benefit to both the hospital and the employee because it gives legitimacy and it visually pulls together the look of the team as a team.  This assumes, of course, that the hospital has a reputable brand and the logo is done tastefully.

Picture in your mind the hallways, rooms, and gathering areas of a hospital and how they look.  There are lots of people moving around performing what appears to be important tasks.  They are doing things that we don't understand necessarily but it's clear that they know what they are doing.  People writing are things down, interacting with computers, gathering and organizing instruments, pushing buttons on strange machines, etc.

What are most of the people we see moving around with purpose are wearing in your imagined hospital scene?  Scrubs?  Lab coats?  Do the people in your imagination have a logo on their left chest?  Probably not.  Try to imagine what it would look like if they all did have the same logo on their left chest.  Well, the top hospitals in the US have started imagining the same thing and they're making it a standard.

Another huge upside to the hospitals as well as the patients is security.  When everyone has the logo on their scrubs there is an element of security that is brought into play.  Sure, it's a perceived security, but perception is everything.  When the patients can easily recognize that the people that have the hospital logo on their uniform are supposed to be there, they feel more secure.

So, what are the downsides?

The main downside to having a logo on your hospital uniform is that you can't wear that uniform anywhere but at that hospital.  Yes, that's right, many people working at a hospital often work at multiple hospitals, and, yes, they are wearing the same scrubs from one hospital to another.

So while the limitation caused by having the hospital logo on your scrubs is a downer for the entry-level nurse or technician, it's a good thing for a hospital that is paying for some or all of their employees' uniforms.

Our conclusion...

You can expect that all hospitals giving a uniform allowance to their employees will require a logo in the near future.  It has too many benefits and, in the end, the hospitals will force it for financial reasons.