News Strict clothing regulations vex nurses

A 27-year-old nurse working at a university hospital in Tokyo quickly learned the answer. "What colour are your socks?" her supervisor asked her at the nurses' station. "Why are they black?" Only a sliver of her black ankle socks could be seen beneath her trousers, but it was enough to earn a scolding for breaking the "white-socks-only" rule for nurses there. "I ran out of spare white ones," the nurse told her boss, explaining that she was so exhausted from work that she had no time to do her laundry. In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, the nurse railed against the sock regulation and other "absurd" hospital rules, which have been criticized by other healthcare workers around Japan. "I don't understand why only nurses have to follow these rules," she said, noting that doctors can wear whatever colour socks they like. She also said nurses could not wear cardigans over their short-sleeved uniforms when they are around patients, even on frigid winter days. The nurse says she feels so cold on night shifts.

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