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.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Right.

So you better have a tight butt and 6-pack abs.

Remember: you gotta look hot-t-t-t-t!

ACTUALLY.

Yum, yum.

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

i had to have a heart to heart conversation with one nurse who had really offensive bo, and she told me that her boyfriend loves the way her natural smell radiates from her...so i had to let her know that her pt's didn't share the same sentiments, and that she should shower during the work week so we all didn't have to deal with the 'radiation'.

the best thing that you can do to encourage your co-workers to look professional is to look professional yourself. don't judge them, don't admonish them, but continue to set an example. be aware of your facial expressions and your body language. be positive with the nurses that you encounter who don't seem to look professional. negativity will only make them defensive.

unquestionably, i agree with you 100% + on the issue on hand. i can rely on passed experiences when i was a head-nurse and had to addressed the issue with not one but several nurses under my staff male/females. needless to say it's never an easy subject to bring up to anyone, because their first instinct is to acquire that defensive attitude and find excuses for their personal hygiene or lack of. furthermore, one incident that comes to mind was a nurse that worked the night-shift and had a bee-hive style hair-do blue black, with its own zip-code, and she had the habit on placing her pencil or pen and who knows what else up on her hair-do. moreover, this nurse also use to wear blue eye shadow and hot red lipstick and a beauty-mark at least that's what she called it, plus her scrubs seem to be from the time that she graduated, and to make it worse as she raised her arms one could see that she didn't shave her arm-pits... now that's a pretty picture. on this level, after we had our talk i offered to send her to a full make-over which for my surprise she gladly agreed. granted, when she came in after her make-over no one recognized her, there hidden underneath all of that facade was an elegant sexy professional woman. lastly, i been told that she has kept her new look and has incorporated her own classic style among the other nurses.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

We all have things that bother us. Poor spelling and grammatical errors are also unprofessional.

I wrote this super fast. I don't write like this at work or I clearly would not have a job. lol. So I apologize to all the grammar police.

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

actually.

yum, yum.

stop it you're making my stomach hurt from lmao :rotfl:

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

To the OP... you know, I get what you are saying, I really do, and I actually respect it. I do feel like we as nurses want to be thought of as professionals, we fight for it every day, and when someone shows up to work wearing dirty, wrinkled scrubs, hair looking like an absolute rat's nest.. smelling bad... it does in a way undermine our efforts to make people respect our profession as a whole.

One does of course, have to remember what a grueling, physical job Nursing can be, so if our scrubs are dirty, our hair is a mess, and we smell bad at the END of the day, or heck, even by the middle of the day... who can fault us?

I think the things in your post that bother other people in this thread, are, I'm guessing.. the part that insinuates that nurses must wear at least a little makeup, and then I think your post has an overall air of "looks are THE most important thing!", especially towards the end.

I think some of you guys read waaaaaaaaaaaay too much into my post. I stated that my PERSONAL preference is for ME to wear light make up and light polish. However, nurses should at the bare minimal smell and look clean. Why come to work dirty?

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

So...if you are only byhis grace you are proclaiming yourself a Christian. Yet here you are bashing other people. That is not very Christian. I'm glad you're so perfect and everyone else isnt. Careful lest ye fall...you know pride goeth before one and all.

I don't see where I bashed anyone. My screen name has nothing to do with my religion or my observation of nurses looking unprofessional. I was venting. I think jews, muslims, christians, and other religions vent everyone once in a while. I never met anyone in any religion that was perfect. Not sure what you meant by this post.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

you know, when i was working and going through chemo, there were plenty of days i went in to work wearing no makeup. heck, i didn't even take the time to draw on my eyebrows. sometimes my scrubs were a little wrinkled; clean, but wrinkled. so, maybe i didn't look my best, but i did give my patients my best.

we may not know our co-worker's personal circumstances. really, that doesn't even matter. what matters is that they are competent and do their job well. if a co-worker isn't wearing makeup, even though you think she'd look better with a touch of lip gloss and blush, who cares? is she good at what she does? does she have your back? make sure you know what's really important about your colleagues.

you are reading too deep into my post. it is really not that serious. i'm talking about a co-worker who has an illness or some kind bad circumstance, i'm talking about people who simply don't have a professional look. i'm sure you didn't have an odor coming to work or wore perfume. these things not only look unprofessional but most importantly can cause infection.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

i believe makeup is a personal choice, and have worked with many (MANY) nurses who don't wear it.

that should not be considered in the totality of a "polished" appearance.

but yeah...

an elemental self-respect and your basic hygiene, should suffice.

i also believe nurses should wear their (longer) hair tied back, vs just hanging down.

if that makes me judgemental, i'm ok with it.

and while i agree with the premise that we should only care about one's competency, unfortunately appearances do matter and do form impressions on most.

we (nurses) need to be the total package in terms of professionalism and credibility.

we need to be talking and walking that long, arduous walk.

leslie

Agreed. I feel bad that people took my OP as that every nurse should wear makeup. I didn't mean that at all. I need to wear make up, when I don't, I look scary.

[Asystole RN]

I don't see where I bashed anyone. My screen name has nothing to do with my religion or my observation of nurses looking unprofessional. I was venting. I think jews, muslims, christians, and other religions vent everyone once in a while. I never met anyone in any religion that was perfect. Not sure what you meant by this post.

Pay no attention to them, they were using a fallacy of logic, non sequitur, in an attempt to discredit you by attacking your perceived religious orientation.

Personally I find this type of attack rather absurd and ignorant. There are plenty of ways of discrediting without attacking an entire religion.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

Darn it, ! I have to say goodnight guys, my honey is patiently waiting for some cuddle time. I'll be back tomorrow after work to join in on the fun.

OAN: I hope I didn't offend anyone. If I did, I'm sorry. I didn't know this thread will cause such a debate. The main point I was attempting to make was to come to work looking professional. This goes for nurses, aides, housekeeping, whoever.

Nighty, night.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Heh, no... but I invested in boob coolers. They are great :)

Pair of Cool58™ Bra Coolers

OK, I've gotta have a pair of those.......the area below the breasts is one of THE worst places to sweat, but with triple-D's there's no way around it in the summertime. Can't wait to try 'em. Thanks for the link!

[AOx1]

A more productive approach might be to bring your concerns to your unit-based council (or agency equivalent), and present research to support your assertions.