Do I LOOK Like A Nurse To You?

Nurses General Nursing

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Thanks Christina Aguilara! This past week end I attended a holiday party and the discussion moved on from "what kind of car do you drive?" to "what do you do for a living?" . When I replied that I was a Registered Nurse I was met with gasps, a few snickers and some lewd comments, along with "funny, you don't look like a nurse!". Now folks, I am not some blond bombshell busting out of my scrub top, teeting on 6 inch Manolos while applying lip gloss. I present a clean appearance and a conservative outward appearance.

This leads me to ask....what the heck does a nurse look like anyway? Anyone else get a goofy reaction like mine?

Years and years ago when I was a "hottie," a guy I met once said to me "You're too pretty to be a real nurse. You look like a soap opera nurse." :rotfl:

I would have taken that as a joke, because I think that's the way he meant it!

I would have to hear the tone of voice to know how he meant it!

Specializes in ER, PED'S, NICU, CLINICAL M., ONCO..

I do not know, how I look like, but people call me "doctor", at the NICU, Rooming in or the ER. I used to ask them "have you seen any doctor making your bed or feeding your baby any time?"

But they always answer me "you look like a doctor". Really I can't say why. On the other hand we have too few size twelve nurses (male or female), even those aged ones.

Now, long time ago I posted my thread about that subject but I didn't get quorum. Probably it was too long or too confused. What I tried to express that time was the responsibility of the media around the image nurses have for public in general around the world.

"The fatty black nurse". Yea! you would show me many exceptions at the media. But we all have an ancient tradition of bad propaganda in relation to our image.

Everybody can think that this subject has no direct relation to everybody's life but that is a mistake because, "SALARY has a DIRECT Relation to STATUS. And it is not only a question of appearing hairy or fatty, but the whole implication instead.

Ok guys this too long any way!

Merry Xmas to all of you, fatty or thin I send you my love!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :p

I was shopping for gifts to donate to children's charity for Christmas recently when I came across a barbie doll dressed in scrubs holding a baby next to an isolette. I was thrilled that I had found a nurse barbie doll until I read "Doctor Barbie" on the box as well as a small description of her duties that were of course nursing, not doctor, responsibilities. :uhoh3: Guess we look a lot like doctors now! :rotfl:

Michelle

Thanks Christina Aguilara! This past week end I attended a holiday party and the discussion moved on from "what kind of car do you drive?" to "what do you do for a living?" . When I replied that I was a Registered Nurse I was met with gasps, a few snickers and some lewd comments, along with "funny, you don't look like a nurse!". Now folks, I am not some blond bombshell busting out of my scrub top, teeting on 6 inch Manolos while applying lip gloss. I present a clean appearance and a conservative outward appearance.

This leads me to ask....what the heck does a nurse look like anyway? Anyone else get a goofy reaction like mine?

Dear Haunted It is ok if people don't think you look like a nurse out of uniform but when the hospital you work for gives you a uniform that makes you look like the office staff then all your patients think you are the ward clerk.:nurse: or :uhoh3: ?
Specializes in cardiac ICU.

I once had a strange guy chat me up at a gas station who asked me, "What do you do...wait, you're a nurse, right? You have this, like, angel of mercy quality about you." I was truly creeped out.

Though her eyes have seen pain and tragedy they are still kind and accepting , there may be worry lines but there are also laugh lines.

Her facial expression is one of a very wise person who has witnessed much sadness yet displays a sense of serenity and confidence that allows her patience to trust their lives in her hands.

Her fashion sense may be somewhat in need of attention for she has become used to scrub clothes and has a tendency to forget about herself in her job and or her personal life, always putting others first.

Her arms are always ready to warmly hug another and her smile is a mile wide.

I am sure many of you nurses out there find that you are the one strangers approach in public when they need assistance, etc. It is something about how a nurse "looks" that causes others to trust them .... be proud that no matter what a nurse "looks" like, she belongs to a special bunch of people that others undeniably see as angels.

How you can tell a nurse...

1. Cracked, dry hands from the constant handwashing with soap that's one step short of being used for battery acid.

2. Frown lines from having to deal with the new residents, belligerent patients, and offhand comments from Dr. Phil.

3. They are the ones who are talking about necrotizing something-or-other at the dinner table. All the others at the table are green, unless they are nurses as well.

4. Dark circles under their eyes (usually on the night-shift nurses).

5. They lament that they have never had a hot meal while on the clock.

6. Strong arms and shoulders from all that lifting!

7. They have a dozen alcohol wipes in their pocket at any given time.

8. Calves that would make a runner proud.

I'm sure there are others...anyone know what they are? :)

I am an accountant in my mid-life crisis career change. I have just completed my second semester of nursing school, after a 20 year career in collections, credit counseling, and tax accounting.

When co-workers or co-students hear this... they laugh (then ask me to do their taxes!!!). "Funny... I can't picture you as an accountant!".

I am almost 40 years old, 5'3" and about 160 lb's... so truly, I don't look like the skinny minnie nurse... though in my nursing school uniform, I thought I looked pretty "nursy".

At least I thought so until our Christmas shopping trip to Target a couple of weeks ago. There I was in my pressed nursing whites with the red student stripe around the left shoulder, and my nursing school red and white patch above it. I'm always so proud to be dressed in this uniform... the school I attend is top notch in my state, and the uniform is widely recognized in our community.

Well, there I was in Target for not more than 15 minutes trying to find the DVD my daughter wants for Christmas, when not 1...not 2...not 3...but in fact FIVE people asked me questions about locating things in the store!!!! :rotfl: Apparently my look is very much "retail clerk" in my uniform!!!!!

At first, I was a bit offended... then I did a reality check. By the fifth person, my husband and I were laughing so hard I had trouble containing myself. The next thing I should've done was stand outside the front of the store with a red bucket ringing a bell!!!!! I'd have made enough to pay for nursing school!!!!!

So... the fact that I carry 12 drug company pens in my purse, and that I'm never without at least the minimum of first aid supplies (actually - I always had the killer first aid kit in my circle of friends... and they would come to me first for advice and supplies... maybe they knew my calling before I did!), and that I walk quickly and with purpose (with no patience for dawdling people) yet I slow down and assess situations quickly and get what needs to be done DONE... maybe I'm beginning to look like a nurse after all.

Good - these qualities go well with the lovely bags under my eyes from severe sleep deprivation because I'm working on a medsurg unit as a CNA while I go to school.

And NO... I don't do taxes any more!!!!!

May God bless you all. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Deanna

Thanks Christina Aguilara! This past week end I attended a holiday party and the discussion moved on from "what kind of car do you drive?" to "what do you do for a living?" . When I replied that I was a Registered Nurse I was met with gasps, a few snickers and some lewd comments, along with "funny, you don't look like a nurse!". Now folks, I am not some blond bombshell busting out of my scrub top, teeting on 6 inch Manolos while applying lip gloss. I present a clean appearance and a conservative outward appearance.

This leads me to ask....what the heck does a nurse look like anyway? Anyone else get a goofy reaction like mine?

We had a similar discussion in a staff meeting when dress code issues were raised. All of us have our preferences, and being in the community, we wear street clothes. Yet the comment was made that "some patients and families don't think we look like nurses", and the ensuing discussion touched on the former starched white uniforms w/ white shoes to scrubs and athletic footwear. Wearing khakis and a nice shirt to do the home care (hospice/palliative care) works well for me, but I asked the same question about just what the standard is supposed to be. Funny,... patients don't look like and aren't "patients" anymore, but are now customers, thanks to the consumer model that healthcare has had to adopt. If we "don't look like nurses", we can thank a changing society and profession. This issue- humorous as it is- has some thorny questions that are raised by the fact that everything looks vastly different than when I became a nurse 23 years ago.(That's a whole other discussion too...) One's competance is not grounded in one's clothing; professionalism and function may be communicated, and there are plenty of ways to mess that up in this day and age. But a neat appearance (jeans and sneakers even!) with a caring and knowledgable nurse who's willing to do what's necessary to meet the need is better than all the professional outfits and cute scrubs that are out there to dress us up.

This is just one more thing making me wonder how long I want to do this....

I would have taken that as a joke, because I think that's the way he meant it!

Sweety, you truly look like a NICU nurse to me!!! Your picture shows a kindness in your eyes and, come on folks, if you were a preemie wouldn't you want this nurse to be the one cuddling you and taking acre of you? You have a lovely, nurturing look to me and your posts reflect a lot of compassion and patience.

And to all the other posters, let's not forget that lovely fluorescent light skin glow and the nerf ball red eyes.

Really? I can't imagine any rhyme or reason to what a nurse looks like. I know just the nurses on my unit run the gamut from liposuctioned-barbie-doll-wanna-be's to great-grand mothers. Tall & short, heavy & thin, men & women, young & old (and just about everything in between) - all in my one little unit. What is the certain look that nurses have? - now that my curiosity is piqued I MUST know!! :icon_lol:

PM me if you don't want to post it here :Santa5:

I am loving these holiday smilies - just in case anyone could not tell

:Present1:

I have met nurses who I would never have thought was a nurse if I had met them in civilian clothes! LOL. Yes, we all look alike! LOL. NOT! We don't know from looks what a person does, unless he is a coalminer and let me tell you , they can get the look across! I have family in WVA and I have no trouble identifying a CoalMiner! LOL. but nurses are all shapes, sizes, hair styles, etc.:)

:rotfl:

I am an accountant in my mid-life crisis career change. I have just completed my second semester of nursing school, after a 20 year career in collections, credit counseling, and tax accounting.

When co-workers or co-students hear this... they laugh (then ask me to do their taxes!!!). "Funny... I can't picture you as an accountant!".

I am almost 40 years old, 5'3" and about 160 lb's... so truly, I don't look like the skinny minnie nurse... though in my nursing school uniform, I thought I looked pretty "nursy".

At least I thought so until our Christmas shopping trip to Target a couple of weeks ago. There I was in my pressed nursing whites with the red student stripe around the left shoulder, and my nursing school red and white patch above it. I'm always so proud to be dressed in this uniform... the school I attend is top notch in my state, and the uniform is widely recognized in our community.

Well, there I was in Target for not more than 15 minutes trying to find the DVD my daughter wants for Christmas, when not 1...not 2...not 3...but in fact FIVE people asked me questions about locating things in the store!!!! :rotfl: Apparently my look is very much "retail clerk" in my uniform!!!!!

At first, I was a bit offended... then I did a reality check. By the fifth person, my husband and I were laughing so hard I had trouble containing myself. The next thing I should've done was stand outside the front of the store with a red bucket ringing a bell!!!!! I'd have made enough to pay for nursing school!!!!!

So... the fact that I carry 12 drug company pens in my purse, and that I'm never without at least the minimum of first aid supplies (actually - I always had the killer first aid kit in my circle of friends... and they would come to me first for advice and supplies... maybe they knew my calling before I did!), and that I walk quickly and with purpose (with no patience for dawdling people) yet I slow down and assess situations quickly and get what needs to be done DONE... maybe I'm beginning to look like a nurse after all.

Good - these qualities go well with the lovely bags under my eyes from severe sleep deprivation because I'm working on a medsurg unit as a CNA while I go to school.

And NO... I don't do taxes any more!!!!!

May God bless you all. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Deanna

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Deanna, what a great nurse you will be! That sense of humor is just what the doctor ordered! It would be fun working with a funny nurse! Not to mention the happiness of some patients (not the stuffy ones) who love a good laugh! God bless you girl! You will do just fine!

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