Chewing Gum

Nurses Professionalism

Published

Do any of your hospitals ban staff from chewing gum?

I have been places where they look like they should be in the Grease movies or are auditioning to be a cow.

Looks very unprofessional, IMO.

Specializes in Heart.

As I sit in the ER tonight with my own relative and watch two of the nurses chewing their gum with mouths open and licking their lips, I cringe. Extremely unprofessional and rude. Most of the nurses at their stations are doing the same—wow. The hospital I work at bans chewing gum and for good reason! Anyone here who disagrees is classless, rude and doesn’t care about the patients and their families. Mature up! I will be calling the administrator in the morning to voice my disgust.

On 11/4/2010 at 10:26 PM, kidnurse98 said:

geees louise! thrown out of a nursing program for chewing gum??? wth is this profession coming to??

i have one manager who said it is against policy...but it seems she just likes to make those policies up as she goes along-so no one listens to her.

anyhow...i would much rather see/hear gum than smell nasty butt-breath!

:eek:seriously people, gum chewing and the word "unproessional" do not belong together.:eek:

i am just curious how many [color=lime]years those who feel gum chewing on the job is unprofessional [color=lime]actually have on the job??

just curious!

Have you not heard of breath mints and toothpaste?? Wow, just wow the lack of concern for patients and their families.

1 Votes
Specializes in Heart.
On 10/31/2010 at 10:19 AM, pinksugar said:

It is completely possible to chew gum without being rude about it. I chew gum and offer it to my patients (if they can chew it) and their visitors. I am often taken up on my offer. :D

The problem is that not everybody has the manners to keep their mouth shut when they chew; therefore, all should not.

0 Votes
2 hours ago, SaraS said:

Anyone here who disagrees is classless, rude and doesn’t care about the patients and their families.

2 hours ago, SaraS said:

Have you not heard of breath mints and toothpaste?? Wow, just wow the lack of concern for patients and their families.

2 hours ago, SaraS said:

The problem is that not everybody has the manners to keep their mouth shut when they chew; therefore, all should not.

There are a lot of ways to be rude and display terrible manners.

2 Votes

I wish I could like this ^ more! ?

1 Votes
Specializes in Heart.
11 hours ago, JKL33 said:

There are a lot of ways to be rude and display terrible manners.

That is so true, and chomping and snapping gum around other people is one of them. Sad, though, that “professionals” don’t understand that.

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

A hospital I once worked at gave out Florence awards during Nurses' Week, in a variety of categories. One year one of my coworkers won a Florence for "Most Professional Appearance". Yes, she was neatly attired and everything. But I never saw her NOT chewing a big wad of (usually green) gum with her mouth wide open and making smacking noises. Go figure.

1 Votes
Specializes in Heart.
48 minutes ago, TriciaJ said:

A hospital I once worked at gave out Florence awards during Nurses' Week, in a variety of categories. One year one of my coworkers won a Florence for "Most Professional Appearance". Yes, she was neatly attired and everything. But I never saw her NOT chewing a big wad of (usually green) gum with her mouth wide open and making smacking noises. Go figure.

Let me guess, the awarder was a male doctor or administrator? ? What I also notice in the hospital I work at and in the hospital I was at with my relative the other night, is/was male doctors who have a thing for the young cuties (that chomp and snap like cows) and can't keep their hands off. Why would they rock that lil boat by requiring that they get the wads out of their mouths? By the way, while I'm not young, I'm not old or unattractive either. I just have manners that were instilled in my from my childhood by mannered parents.

0 Votes
Specializes in Heart.
On 3/5/2014 at 8:39 PM, JustBeachyNurse said:

You do realize you just reanimated a nearly 4 year old thread, right?

Reviving this thread periodically is a needed reminder about the unprofessionalism of chewing gum while working, especially when working in a healthcare profession. Fellow nurses, toothpaste and breath mints! We aren't children anymore.

3 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
54 minutes ago, SaraS said:

Let me guess, the awarder was a male doctor or administrator? ? What I also notice in the hospital I work at and in the hospital I was at with my relative the other night, is/was male doctors who have a thing for the young cuties (that chomp and snap like cows) and can't keep their hands off. Why would they rock that lil boat by requiring that they get the wads out of their mouths? By the way, while I'm not young, I'm not old or unattractive either. I just have manners that were instilled in my from my childhood by mannered parents.

No, not particularly young or cute. She had to have first been nominated by coworkers. Most things I can at least come up with a hypothesis. This one stumped me.

0 Votes
Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
21 hours ago, SaraS said:

As I sit in the ER tonight with my own relative and watch two of the nurses chewing their gum with mouths open and licking their lips, I cringe. Extremely unprofessional and rude. Most of the nurses at their stations are doing the same—WOW!. The hospital I work at bans chewing gum and for good reason! Anyone here who disagrees is classless, rude and doesn’t care about the patients and their families. Mature up! I will be calling the administrator in the morning to voice my disgust.

Have you not heard of breath mints and toothpaste?? WOW!, just WOW! the lack of concern for patients and their families.

If the biggest complaint you have about the ER is people chewing gum than I'd say your trip to the ER went pretty well, instead of complaining about GUM maybe you should thank your lucky stars that you're privileged enough to complain about such minutia.

With all the problems in nursing and the world, chewing gum certainly isn't on my list of priorities as a "burning issue". Maybe I should be like you and state that anyone that disagrees with me is xyz, ironically such blanket statements show your immaturity.

1 Votes
Specializes in Heart.
4 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

If the biggest complaint you have about the ER is people chewing gum than I'd say your trip to the ER went pretty well, instead of complaining about GUM maybe you should thank your lucky stars that you're privileged enough to complain about such minutia.

With all the problems in nursing and the world, chewing gum certainly isn't on my list of priorities as a "burning issue". Maybe I should be like you and state that anyone that disagrees with me is xyz, ironically such blanket statements show your immaturity.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and deduce that you're one of the chompers, which is what we're talking about in this thread. Well, since there's obviously no convincing you to refrain, hopefully you've now been influenced to at least keep your mouth shut while doing so. ?

0 Votes

I personally enjoy making a tiny little pop with each turn. I like to see how long I can go without missing. So satisfying.

1 Votes
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