There is an article in this months American Journal for Nursing about nurses showing more encouragement & compassion for obese/smoking patients instead of making the patients feel judged or guilty. I am a pre-nursing student and attempting to formulate a response to this article.
My first instinct when I read this was that it was really sweet, it certainly gave me the warm-and-fuzzies, but it is simply not practical. The United States' obesity epidemic is becoming worse and worse. Researchers now even believe that the avg life expectancy is on the decline for this very reason. I just don't understand why medical professionals are expected to sugar coat their medical advice. Sure, I wouldn't expect a nurse to say, "Holy cow, you're so FAT! Lose some weight!" but I don't see why it would be offensive for a nurse to say, "You need to lose 100 lbs or your diabetes will cost you your legs." In the article it suggested a nurse say something like, "Let's focus on the aspect of your weight issue that's within your control." Does this statement really reflect the severity of the situation? I believe that guilt can be a very powerful motivator in these cases. I don't see guilt being a bad thing when it comes to issues as important as health.
If you would like to just provide a general opinion, that would be great. If you don't mind your opinion potentially being used in my paper, please let me know and I'll send you a message to get more info. Thank you!
So compassion, respect, and kindness is only reserved for ICU patients? Or ICU patients aren't awake enough to feel embarrassed when it takes four people to move them up in bed? I assure you I've seen plenty of obese patients in ICU who were not on the vent and awake and aware enough to see that a whole crew has been called in to move them up six inches in bed.
Look, its obvious you have personal bias against obese patients. That was crystal clear when you used the word "chowing" for the fourth time to describe how obese people eat. I really hope for their sake that you are able to disguise your absolute revulsion and disdain for them.
LOL on chowing. I chow my food too. And no, I won't be too PC:)
But that's beside the point and no I DO not have a bias againt obese patients. Do not try to project on me. Being PC is good, great even, but it's getting to the point, that we are so PC, that it is becoming damaging.
Sometimes we need to call it like we see it and since this is nursing, (in a calm, compassionate way). I hear most ER nurses and doctors lose patience with the "frequent fliers". Why is it okay to do that and not with weight issues?
They are both, afterall, addictions. But no, one carries with it more stigma than the other and one would be considered biased for bringing it up. For your information, everyone has a tendency to get fat, most people realise that and try to fight it off, in whatever way we can.
LOL on chowing. I chow my food too. And no, I won't be too PC:)
But that's beside the point and no I DO not have a bias againt obese patients. Do not try to project on me. Being PC is good, great even, but it's getting to the point, that we are so PC, that it is becoming damaging.
Sometimes we need to call it like we see it and since this is nursing, (in a calm, compassionate way). I hear most ER nurses and doctors lose patience with the "frequent fliers". Why is it okay to do that and not with weight issues?
They are both, afterall, addictions. But no, one carries with it more stigma than the other and one would be considered biased for bringing it up. For your information, everyone has a tendency to get fat, most people realise that and try to fight it off, in whatever way we can.
Anti-PC extremes are equally damaging. You don't have to be destructive to be effective.
well the "chart" states that i should weigh 150 at 5' 11". i would look like a cracked out giraffe so my very hot 175 will suit me juuust fine. in hindsight i honestly did have some serious emotional/mental issues at the root of my years as a fattie. i never would have admitted it back then though so... i was a fattie so yes i can call it that if i like. obese just sounds like something that needs radiation treatments.
cracked out giraffe, what a funny image. god, i would love to be 5'11". a friend's daughter hit that height at about 15 and she was really upset. i thought she was crazy-her daughter is stunning.
In light of some of the negative posts I have read here, I have to wonder how some of you would effectively disguise your contempt for overweight or obese persons. Certainly, they should take measures to live a healthier lifestyle. However, food is an addiction. They require compassion, and encouragement from nurses, not contempt. It is very easy for all of us to speculate and criticize, but remember, we are all different, and respond to stress differently.
At certain periods in my life, I used to binge eat, and then exercise it off. I was never overweight, but, of course, that behaviour was extremely unhealthy. Did I know this when I was bingeing? Yeah. Did I care? No, because it filled a void during a time of loss. Same thing with people who are overweight. I'm sure they beat themselves up enough. We don't need to add to that.
Cracked out giraffe, what a funny image. God, I would love to be 5'11". A friend's daughter hit that height at about 15 and she was really upset. I thought she was crazy-her daughter is stunning.
The height was NOT fun in High School. Being taller than half the boys in school until junior year damages your dating pool
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I take my health very seriously, and prioritize going to the gym (even when I'm dead tired and would much prefer the couch) and eating healthy. It is a choice, and it is as simple as that. Would I like to eat pizza and cookies for every meal and lay on the couch all day? ABSOLUTELY. I'm not one of those people who loves working out and will go crazy if I miss a day in the gym...every single workout is a pain in the butt for me and I would really rather not go. But I make myself. For this reason, I have a difficult time being compassionate towards those who do not prioritize their health and are okay with being morbidly obese. I know many of you will respond to this that nobody is "okay" withe being morbidly obese...but if that's the case, what is stopping them from changing? And I just don't buy it when people say they have tried every diet and they don't work...here is the solution to losing weight: consume fewer calories and burn more calories. It will work, I promise.
Luckily I don't have to deal with a whole lot of obese patients...most of our surgeons will not perform necessary surgeries until patients lose weight because they know the outcomes will be poor on an obese patient. Of course, they don't have this luxury if it is an emergent procedure...but I have had countless patients tell me they have lost 50+ lbs so that they could have their surgery. It's great: they kick-start a new healthy lifestyle and also get the surgery they needed. I love it.
You've got a lot of living to do yet honey. Get about 40 more years on you and see what you say then.
Okay..ya'll. This thread involves our nurses' personal emotional feelings. This is really a doozy. I posted long ago about how I deal with my obese and at risk patients. I will forgoe all that at this point. I want to direct my post here to the perhaps obese nurses....not the ones with the BMI's of the amazon or the superman...the BMI's that are misperceived as obese because they are muscular gods....( ahhhh, my husband)....
I would like to make a sound propostition from me, a 5'2" woman with a body weight of 113 lbs, and a BMI of 19, age 48.
To all the nurses who are actually, unadultarated FAT. The way to loose weight while still getting to eat all the relishes of lovely food...is this..............
1. start a daily aerobic program...get up at 4:00 am...I don't care what else is going on. Drink 32 oz. of H20 only, and a big hit of coffee, preferably black or green tea (4 teabags...in 12 oz's of h20)
2. Get on the eliptical at the gym. Listen to your music that makes your soul get wired with happiness while you do it. Smile and enjoy your body. Go as fast and as hard as you can for at least...30 minutes....45-60 if you can.
3. Go home, get ready for work. If you have a baby, and no daddy, put the baby on your back in a pack...or at your breast in a snugglie while on the treadmill. Babies don't care where they are as long as they are next to YOU. If you have a husband...REQUIRE that he feed baby from the bottle of breast milk or formula if he is at home to do it!!! REQUIRE THIS.
4. Go home , get presentable for work.
5. Wear rockers to work. I mean it. They work.
6. Eat a handful of high protein food every TWO HOURS at work. Don't tell me you don't have time to eat a handful of almonds.
7. Make sure you drink a gallon of water in your 12 hours. I don't care how many people make fun of you. At lunch break...if you get one...eat protein, and about 20gr of carb...whole grain only. TAke your vitamins and try DHEA, 50 mgs.
8. Do not eat when you get off work. Have a shot of whiskey with non-fat milk if you need to quiet down.
9. Get to bed by 2100. (if you work tommorow).
10. Repeat, see the weight come off....repeat EVERY DAY even when you don't work.
But sleep in as much as possible on days off.
11. After 4 days of 900-1100 kcals a day, and excercising.....eat anythin in the entire world you want....anythin, anytime, anyplace!!!!!! For 2 days. DO NOT FEEL GUILTY!!!!!But keep doing the eliptical.....60 min. a day
12. Try to eat berries, avacado, or almonds....5 berries, 2 slices avo, 4 almonds with whatever you eat all the time.
13. When you start loosing enough to not be huffing and puffing...LEARN TO WEIGHT TRAIN....add it......do it at least 4 times a week, when you weight train, warm up with 15 min on eliptical. Weight days, don't do the big cardio.
14. At 0430, after you get to the gym.....warm up for 12 min. cardio....weight train for 40-45min...go home, drink the protein shake...eat a piece of toast......and continue to eat a handfull of food every two hours all day....
15. LATHER RINSE REPEAT ....for the rest of your life.
You fool your metabolism. If you never gorge on your favorite foods for two days, your metabolism will go into starve mode and you will be fat forever no matter how little you eat.
You have to weight train to make your muscles burn calories at rest.
You can't weight train until you loose enough weight to be safe to do so.
You won't be happy unless you can eat all your favorite foods sometimes.
When you get fit you need to remember to stay that way.
AND.....learn how to do HATHA YOGA. THROUGH ALL THIS.
I was 150 lbs and 4"3 in 2nd grade. I was the fattest kid in school.
I had to figure this out on my own.
When you start weight training you need to supplement with a whey protein.
Your diet should always be (except when you are legally binging 2 days a week)....something like, 65-70% protein, 20% carbs, and 10% fats////as you progress you will know what is right for you.
Never eat white flour stuff. Except on your gorge days.
And that will start you off.
I was a single mother for many years. I went to college as a widow with a 6 year old child. I lived on a dirt road 10 miles from the highway into town. I went to college, raised my son, had no electricity or running water and lived in a mud hogan. If I had to, I got up at 0300 to do yoga next to my wood stove.
Life found me and my 17 year old son (now) many more fortunes. Because I cared for myself first.
I am nearly 50 and 25 year old men at the gym want to biblicly know me.
And whether or not I sound like I am bragging, I don't care, cause I've earned it all, with a lot of prayer and discipline.
And my son has straight A's and is working his dreams in music and jewelry making, apprenticing with a famous jewler.
Once you get addicted to loving yourself there is no turning back.
That is how you can love the world and be an optimum nurse....who is not fat.
So there you go.
I shall step off my soap box now. I love you all...fat or slim, anorexic or obese....we are all together in this world. My hope is for all to be their highest potential...Blessings and wellness.
How they ever let these young discriminatory shallow fools into nursing, Ill never know. If they're all so perfect, why aren't they hanging with the Kardashins or Paris Hilton. Why pick nursing?
I have to say nightengalegoddess, if maintaining your weight/losing weight was as simple as your list, everyone would be thin. Also, as I'm sure many of you already know, the older you get, the more your body holds on to the calories, even WITH exercise. When I was 25, losing weight was easy. Now at 38, not so easy. Regardless of our personal feelings, at least professionally, we have to try to suspend judgment and meet people where they're at. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work.
god, i would love to be 5'11". a friend's daughter hit that height at about 15 and she was really upset. i thought she was crazy-her daughter is stunning.
:lol2:
:yeah:I love this remark. It tickled my funnybone. THANX!!!!
You sound like a person with a great sense of humor.
Katie5
1,459 Posts
LOL on chowing. I chow my food too. And no, I won't be too PC:)
But that's beside the point and no I DO not have a bias againt obese patients. Do not try to project on me. Being PC is good, great even, but it's getting to the point, that we are so PC, that it is becoming damaging.
Sometimes we need to call it like we see it and since this is nursing, (in a calm, compassionate way). I hear most ER nurses and doctors lose patience with the "frequent fliers". Why is it okay to do that and not with weight issues?
They are both, afterall, addictions. But no, one carries with it more stigma than the other and one would be considered biased for bringing it up. For your information, everyone has a tendency to get fat, most people realise that and try to fight it off, in whatever way we can.