Hospital Won't Hire Obese Workers

Nurses General Nursing

Published

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-health-resources/health-reform-and-texas/victoria-hospital-wont-hire-very-obese-workers/

I'm not sure this link will take you to the article, but I read it this morning and couldn't believe my eyes! Seems a few lawsuits will be coming their way along with the race discrimination one in place already. What do you all think about it?

I'm not saying that its specifically discriminatory to not hire new grads, I'm saying it's lazy to use a blanket policy.

You might have a new nursing grad with 10+ years of experience in fields that contribute to being a good nurse, and references that prove them to be reliable, flexible, competent, a fast learner, etc. Then you might have someone who's been a nurse for 15 years, and maybe they are lazy and incompetent, but the hiring manager can't bother to actually weed through candidates, so they just generalize and lump everyone together.

So this is similar to the not hiring anyone with a BMI over 35, because essentially that is just a lazy rule based on an assumption that a thinner candidate will be able to to a better job (often based on claims of higher health insurance costs and/or more missed days) without actually considering the individual's work history and reputation.

So I'm not saying they are both discriminatory in a legal sense, I am saying they are both examples of incompetent hiring policies. As a hiring manager for a small marketing company for five years before i went to nursing school, I used to just laugh to myself when the owner would tell me who he thinks should be hired based on his bizarre biases about people. He was always pleased and surprised when the candidates I picked turned out to be good, because he had what i considered to be very shallow reasons for thinking someone might be a good employee (I guess that's why he needed a hiring manager hahaha)

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If I had to work with an obese nurse I am sure he/ she would have tons of excuse for not being able to do this or that and other nurses would pick up the slack. The big nurses tend to have desk jobs anyways... At least from what I've noticed in Texas. It seems most admins are a bit overweight in texas.

Patently false.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Honestly I'm tired of everything being about new grads and their plight around here and bringing in that comparison is a stretch. They don't hire new grads because they cost money to train that an experience nurse will not. It's that simple. It's not a generalization is no experience = no experience. It's not the same as NOT hiring someone because they are subjectively not aesthetically pleasing or their BMI is over an arbitrary #. By the time they are at that stage of the hiring process they have semi proved their suitability to the job. If a fat person costs more it's from indirect costs not direct costs like training.

So a new grad WILL cost more and a fat experienced nurse may or may not. Bringing the tired new grad argument into it cheapens the plight of the fat. Economy good or economy bad it's going to be the same old thing and I'm tired of it and the only thing I can think of to do is lose all the weight which of course I can't.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

How about if we don't hire nurses who don't know the difference between your, you're, and yore. Or too, to, and two. And those who use words they have no idea how to spell....well coff'd for well coifed.....the list could go on and someone can always find a reason to discriminate.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.
How about if we don't hire nurses who don't know the difference between your, you're, and yore. Or too, to, and two. And those who use words they have no idea how to spell....well coff'd for well coifed.....the list could go on and someone can always find a reason to discriminate.

I've often wondered. When I post even on my phone I have inline spell check. Is this not standard now?

I guess you could argue bad spelling reflects an underlying deficit in education that could maybe lead to medication errors but if someone can please tell me what Fat TTP is not doing that makes me incapable to do my job let me know.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

You will be wrong if you rely on spell check since the word might be spelled correctly but be the wrong word for the meaning of the sentence.But that's a topic for another thread.

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How about if we don't hire nurses who don't know the difference between your, you're, and yore. Or too, to, and two. And those who use words they have no idea how to spell....well coff'd for well coifed.....the list could go on and someone can always find a reason to discriminate.

Ha ha. True. If bad spelling/grammar could eliminate a candidate from contention, we wouldn't have many nurses in our hospitals, would we? How many times have you seen "patient's" instead of "patients" used on AN?

1 sick person is a patient. Two sick people are patients. A room assigned to a sick person is the "patient's." Not happening these days. People love their apostrophes. ;)

I'm sure obese people are discriminated against in hiring quite often. But that will usually not be disclosed. This particular hospital is just being blatant and open about something which is done frequently.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Yes of course spell check is not the be all and end all but I DO find that it makes me more careful overall. It shows me I made a mistake here so I'll check everything. Most of the time. I have been taking an online history class and some of the discussion replies are far worse than anything I've ever seen on AN. My favorite. "The president wanted to keep it cool like that with the other countries."

Patients, patient's or patience?

By having a policy they are forcing hiring managers to discriminate. If they don't then they will be accused of being unfair if exceptions are made.

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As a recent graduate, I definitely don't have any experience or authority to speak from a nurse's perspective however there is something to be said about the concept of a role model. After completing an externship on a Cardiac Stepdown unit in NYC, I found myself wondering how information regarding diet and exercise would be received by a patient when an overweight nurse or doctor was relaying it them post major heart surgery. It can appear very confusing when a cardiac surgeon tells a patient they need to follow the DASH diet and exercise daily when they themselves don't follow their advice. That's not to say that just because someone is skinny they are necessarily fit; thus it should be more about the overall lifestyle of a health professional. We serve as role models to our patients; when they are at their worst they need to look at us and believe it is possible to turn things around whether it's diet or exercise. If we aren't taking care of ourselves, how can we even fathom that our patients would be able to? Nurses have a huge responsibility in teaching our patients how to life a healthy life and that is an honor to be armed with such knowledge. We should be proud and want to take care of ourselves so we can be strong and healthy for our patients. This law can definitely be interpreted as discriminatory but it does bring to light a problem that America is facing, and not just in healthcare. For those who don't know, Mayor Bloomberg in NYC seeks to implement a law that would prohibit people from buying oversized sugary drinks.

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.

as a recent graduate, i definitely don't have any experience or authority to speak from a nurse's perspective however there is something to be said about the concept of a role model. after completing an externship on a cardiac stepdown unit in nyc, i found myself wondering how information regarding diet and exercise would be received by a patient when an overweight nurse or doctor was relaying it them post major heart surgery.

now that you have tooted your horn, let everyone know where you have externed and that you are inexperienced and have no authority behind the opinion given, patients and lay people will take it the same way in the 21st century as they have the last two. it is the “do as i say and not as i do” model.

that entry just came off a bit haughty and arrogant to me, maybe it is the extra shift work and lack of sleep but i'm not sure. it left a nasty after taste.

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Totally valid and my apologies. In no way do I mean to offend. The reality is that I used to be overweight and decided to make a change so this topic is something I can relate to. Also I come from a family of nurses and docs so we always talk about these sorts of things as they come up. It wasnt meant to offend its more that obesity is a problem and experience or no experience one can observe that.

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.

feelthebuRxN, I am sorry as well. I do not usually over react. Obesity is a problem, one I have now that I am near 60 and never had when I started nursing so I guess I am oversensitive. It is true that doctors smoke and are overweight and have been preaching for years about do as I say not as I do. My mom smoked and her doctor didn't but he had a great deal of farm land and grew tobacco. (Go figure).

He got onto my mother about smoking and she told him she would quit smoking it when he quit growing it and getting rich. LOL. I can still see his face.

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