Nursing Students General Students
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Hi Everyone,
I am a very overweight nursing student, and am feeling uncomfortable in a number of situations. Can anyone relate? While I know that the nursing profession, and the medical profession as a whole, includes people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, colors, etc, I am coming across situations almost daily that make me uncomfortable.
I have been overweight my entire life. I've lost weight several times, but it has always crept back on. I have been working with a dietician and a counselor for a while now to work on my weight issues. I'm accepting of who I am, but I'm also sensitive about weight issues.
Since starting school, I have come across the following problems: assigned uniforms did not fit properly, I do not fit well in some of the chairs that have "desks" attached to them, the blood pressure cuffs do not fit and the school did not have large adult cuffs available. We are getting to the point of using each other as patients, and this is very uncomfortable for me. We had to change into a gown recently and another student had to do a skin assessment on me, going over my entire body and documenting everything from freckles to scars to stretch marks. Had I realized that this is how labs would be, I likely would not have chosen this school. While I am okay with being a patient in a professional setting, being a patient for a classmate feels inappropriate.
Has anyone else come across similar problems?
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.