Nurses please try to look a little more polished at work

[OnlybyHisgraceRN]

To the smokers I work with, please do yourselves and patients a favor by brushing your teeth after smoking. the smell of smoke makes me gag, and I feel sorry for your already nauseated patients.

To the supervisor that baths in his cologne... don't. it smells horrible.

To the nurse with the huge blond hair. it looks like a bomb was set off in your hair. did you use a whole bottle of stiff on it? and you may want to wear better fitting scrubs, I'm curvy as well, but I don't like to show my curves at work.

Yes, I do like to wear make up and manicured nails( no chipping, or fakes nails) to work everyday. not only does it make me feel good but patients notice as well. looks are first impressions, and I like to make a good one.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I think anyone needs to be clean and professional at work. Dress codes need to be adhered to. As a manager I don't care if someone is Dolly Parton reincarnated......as long as the nails are not in place. Piercings that can be seen are minimal, Tats are OK as long as there is not showing profanity. Hair, including dreads, must be clean. I have and will speak to staff about personal hygiene if offensive and have deodorant, scrubs available for inappropriate attire. I have spoken to staff about the proper under garments,as in WEAR THEM! please.

You can't come into work fresh off the walk of shame and no shower. You may not smell like the alcohol consumed last night of the bar it was consumed in. Bathing is required as are clean shoes. I don't want to be afraid of the debri on someone's shoes to cause an epidemic.

I believe in tolerance of others but you also can't scare the patients.

[DemonWings]

I dont think the OP is saying she wants everyone to have manicured nails, my take on it was manicured in the sense of trimmed, neat and clean not from the salon. Kind of like a manicured lawn? I know nails are my ick factor, when people have dirty finger nails it grosses me out.

And the make-up comment, I took that to mean if you do wear the make-up, lets wear it tastefully. That issue doesnt really bug me much, I dont wear a ton, if any but when I do I try to have it as natural looking as possible. I dont really think it is professional to have black eye shadow up to your eye brows, big huge fake lashes and loads of red lip stick.

And I don't recall the OP saying anything about wrinkles, or being old or anything like that.

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

well. since there's so many differing views of professionalism. i think i'll just go to work naked tomorrow. that should cause a stir.

omg please don't give any ideas to my co-workers my eyes couldn't bear to see some of my colleagues naked i rather wash bedpans than to witness such display:no: unless you look like the guy on your avatar then i'll sell tickets

[AOx1]

I find it humorous that one would point out another's grammatical shortcomings when they themself suffer the same affliction. I personally freely admit that my grammar is of a lesser quality.

Do you propose that there is not a link, or question the existence thereof, between appearance and professional perception? I was under the impression that this was a long held principle that was far from debate, my sociology and leadership courses have again failed me.

The professionalism, and the appearance thereof, of an individual nurse affects the entire profession. We all have the ethical duty, as outlined by the ANA code of ethics, to maintain and preserve the profession. We are not viewed as individuals by our patients, we are viewed as a professional entity.

I was under the impression that this was a nursing forum, I would think that the ranting of fellow nurses would be par for the course. She has a real grievance that she wanted to express to her fellow nurses and she did so, keeping the offender's identity non specific and anonymous. I can find no fault in her actions but I am but a humble nurse with no opinions or grievances.

The point I am trying to make, and have been trying to make all along, is that we all fall short of being the perfect professional nurse. At some point, probably all of us have bad breath, look less than lovely, misspell a word, use poor grammar, are not as compassionate to patients as we should be....

The list is endless. Yet, as several other posts have mentioned, we have one of these threads every few months where fellow nurses need to point out the faults of others. It is tiring. It accomplishes nothing. The nurses with bad breath continue to have bad breath. The sloppy nurses continue to be sloppy. The nurses using poor grammar and spelling continue to do so. The nurses who are late continue to arrive late. I have yet to see a post on this forum result in another allnurses.com member responding with "Why, now that you mention it, that's exactly my problem! I will change immediately and never do that again."

There is a productive way to accomplish many things. As I said in the post you've quoted, a productive way to create change would be for the OP to take the research that backs up her assertions to a unit-based council, as she clearly feels strongly about this issue. Others have differing opinions on what is the most important aspect of professionalism, as they have stated in their posts. I hear the same complaints at work and on these fora all the time, yet change doesn't occur. I have taken my own concerns to my unit-based council and have assisted in changing policies. Complaints accomplish nothing. Unfortunately, even proposals backed by research sometimes accomplish nothing, but I will take my chances in trying to change things in a manner that has proven effective.

I think complaint without action is undermining the nursing profession in a manner that sloppy attire can't rival.

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

So if I get flammed for wanting nurses to look professional!

More proof that the "Mockery of Nursing" thread quite clearly did NOT "run it's course." This would have been handled quite nicely over there.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

One, if you're going to have a screen name that promotes your Christianity, you're setting yourself up as an example of Christianity. Thus, when you judge, you're opening yourself up to having "Though shallt not judge" comments. It's why I don't put a Jesus fish on my car, I know that while driving, I'm not going to always be a good example of my faith.

Two, if you can't spell, work on the 2x4 in your own eye making YOU look unprofessional before you go complaining about another's splinter making them look unprofessional.

Yes, we all get to vent. Even Christians. But if YOU are going to make an obvious display of your Christianity, you can't be surprised when someone points out that particular vent is counter to one of the tenets of your faith.

[MinnieMomRN]

Life is too short to worry about appearances. This thread reminded me of an e-mail I saw some time ago. I found it again. This is for the ladies:

Stages of a Woman’s Life

Age 3: She looks at herself and sees a Queen

Age 8: She looks at herself and sees Cinderella

Age 15: She looks at herself and sees an "ugly duckling" ("Mom I can't go to school looking like this today!")

Age 20: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" but decides she's going out anyway.

Age 30: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" but decides she doesn't have time to fix it so she's going out anyway.

Age 40: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too think, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" but says, "At least I am clean", and goes out anyway.

Age 50: She looks at herself and sees "I am what I am" and goes wherever she wants to go.

Age 60: she looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore. Goes out and conquers the world.

Age 70: She looks at herself and see wisdom, laughter, and ability and goes out and enjoys life.

Age 80: Doesn't bother to look, just puts on a purple hat and goes out to have fun with the world!

Moral: Maybe we should all grab that purple hat a little earlier.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Even XS scrubs are too long for me, and I'm certainly not spending my days off hemming them. They don't drag the floor but if they sag (no belt loops, no matter how tight I pull the them they sometimes sag) sometimes the edges drag under my shoes and on the ground. Until you have been a person who can't find scrubs short enough, shut it. =D

Ok, I'M a person who's had this problem (before I found petite pants that really ARE petite).

I went to a seamstress, who tailored them to fit me beautifully, with about fifteen minutes' time taken out of my life to put them on so she could pin them and try them on when she was done.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Yeah, LOL, taking about "impaired". For those who cannot punch their way out of a paper bag (eg posters who can't fix own pants):

Just go get some fusible bonding web or tape (Stitch Witchery). Cut your pant legs extra fabric off, with an inch or so to spare. Fold that inch up to make a hem and then iron that hem nice and sharp. Let the fabric cool. Then place a strip of the fusible inside the cuff you just ironed nice. Then follow package directions and iron-fuse your permanent seam. It's washable folks.

And most importantly, you can be an idiot and do this!!!

[OCNRN63, RN]

yeah, lol, taking about "impaired". for those who cannot punch their way out of a paper bag (eg posters who can't fix own pants):

just go get some fusible bonding web or tape (stitch witchery). cut your pant legs extra fabric off, with an inch or so to spare. fold that inch up to make a hem and then iron that hem nice and sharp. let the fabric cool. then place a strip of the fusible inside the cuff you just ironed nice. then follow package directions and iron-fuse your permanent seam. it's washable folks.

and most importantly, you can be an idiot and do this!!!

​or you could try ocn's "guide to being a seamstress": try krazyglue. if that doesn't work, try staples. if staples don't work, proceed to garbage can.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

​or you could try ocn's "guide to being a seamstress": try krazyglue. if that doesn't work, try staples. if staples don't work, proceed to garbage can.

i'm so glad my mom and grandma taught me to sew. unfortunately, they didn't teach me to have the patience to do it all that often. :)

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

Wow, so many responses... I didn't read them all but looks like a great debate. I wanted to address some of the posts I did read.

Purple scrubs and OCRN( sorry if I screwed up your name) I'm so sorry both of you are going through some personal/health issues. This thread was not targeted to any caregivers or those suffering from illness. I'm simply talking about co-workers who I worked with in the past who deliberately came to work smelling like smoke, cologne, and just clearly had a problem with hygiene.

To the posters that are concerned with my username. If you most know, I chose that name for a completly different reason than you may think. OnlybyHisgrace does not mean I'm mother theresa by long shot, I've never claimed to be a part of a religion. A user name should not determine a persons religion. Murderers and theives can wear crosses and have the fish symbol on their car. It should be taken with a grain of salt IMO. My username is significant to me. That is all.

I should have chosen better words, but I didn't... but then again this is why this thread has become some popular.

I think it's simple. Come to work with good hygiene, try not to wear perfumes that are overwhelming to the patients, wear clothes that fit.... Why is that so freakin hard to conceive?