Do nurses talk about their patients when the leave

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Okay, this is a very personal issue for me. I have some stretch marks on my arms that I am very self conscious about. Once I went to the dr. for a check up (i had to for employment) and I outright refused to let the nurse take my blood pressure. I have a complex about them and think people notice them and I always wear long sleeves. The nurse had to get someone to come in the room and encourage me to let them take my blood pressure, after some serious coaching I let them do it. I refused another time and the nurse had to take my blood pressure over my clothing.

Whenever I reveal my arms I just feel like the nurse is looking at the stretch marks in disgust and will go tell the other employees in the clinic about them and laugh. I am hoping that nurses are more professional than that. Are stretch marks the least offensive thing RNs/LPNs encounter on their patients?

Specializes in NeuroICU/SICU/MICU.

Are the stretch marks just on your upper arms, or your lower arms as well? You could ask that the medical assistant or nurse take your BP on your forearm/wrist if it's that big of a concern to you. But as the other posters have said, those in the medical profession have seen everything, and they've always seen worse :loveya: No one is thinking or speaking negatively about your skin..and frankly, if someone did, more than likely their coworkers would be offended (I know I would be, since I have stretch marks on my arms too) Hugs to you, I hope you can work this out :redbeathe

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Specializes in LTC, wound care.

My stomach looks like Freddy Krueger tore it up, too. But, you know something? It feels so much better now than when it looked pretty. Know what I learned from that experience? That it's much more important how the person (or patient) feels than exactly what they look like.

Sorry that you feel self conscious about the arms. I should tell you that the nursing thing I like to talk about outside of class and work is who got to do what new procedure, and how did it go, much rather than talking about this or that particular patient.

Jane

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, ICU, LTC, DRUG & ETOH.

I agree with the other posts; its hard not to be self concious at times and most of us are.I don't think any nurse worth her/ his salt would say anything derogative about a pt's body. But , just to play Devil's advocate...as a psych/ ETOH, , drug and rehab nurse.. we are trained to be alert to pts who present and appear fearful or uncomfortable doing such a basic task. It throws up alarms such as are you being abused, or using IV drugs, etc.You can always wear a thin shirt, or make a off hand comment such as "I've lost a lot of weight and darn if the stretch marks haven't found me".Alittle humor goes a long way, try being gentle :loveya:with yourself! hugs to you!!!

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I got some on my upper arms when I had a massive growth spurt and a bit of weight gain when I was 14. I was embarrassed about them as anything and used to hide them too.

The good news: they do fade quite well and you just stop caring. I made friends with a girl in nursing school who didn't even notice them until a year after she met me.

They can happen to anybody, one of my ex boyfriends had some horizontally across his back from growing in height too quickly.

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Specializes in Maternity.

from my experience they do! my daughter was in the hospital for a staph infection for 3 days. once one nurse saw that i was studying microbiology, and asked me what i was studying for, it only took a day for all the other nurses to start conversations by saying, "so your studying to be a nurse huh?..." lol.

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1) Its never as bad as you think it is and 2) most people aren't nearly as observant as you think they are.

You are probably more likely to get commented on for refusing to raise your sleeve than having stretch marks. We all have them somewhere, we have all seen them everywhere...Frankly, if I walked out to my coworkers and said "hey, you see that lady over there? She has stretch marks on her arms!" They would all look at me like I was an idiot and say (in unison probably because they are like that) "So?"

and then continue with their work...the end topic of discussion would be my "strangeness" not your stretchmarks. Guaranteed.

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I deal with hatred on daily bases at school,work-like today this one girl was hating on me which I dont understand I'm always very nice to her...sounds like she competes with me for some reason and wants to be better ,people have been talking behind my back,next to me and some to my face,yes it hurts but I finally figure it out;the reason they talk is because they feel insecure about them selves so I'm learning to isolate my self from all these negative people.

Everyone has different complexes about them...and often we make more of it then what it is....but I understand how you feel because I have my own and when I tell it to the people I trust they brush it off and say it is nothing,and that hurts even more so to all of the people who tell you get over it it is not so easy.

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Stretch marks aren't anything to worry about. My abdomen looks like freddy kruger tore it up. I know it's not going to help, but don't worry so much about them.

You are not acknowleding her feelings remember what they thought you in the nursing school?When your patient will have her breast removed are you going to say "It is nothing to worry about" Let her acknowlege her feelings so she can take it from there,thanks.

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We've seen stretch marks. We don't care.

Is there a counselor whom you could talk to? Your reaction sounds way over the top and I think you would benefit from some intervention.

I dont think her reactions sounds way over the top.My own mother had stretchmarks since she gave birth (since she was 18).She could never wear two piece swim suit and had low-self esteem because of it,so tell her that this is not a big deal is simply ignoring her need to vent,thanks..

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Specializes in LTC.
from my experience they do! my daughter was in the hospital for a staph infection for 3 days. once one nurse saw that i was studying microbiology, and asked me what i was studying for, it only took a day for all the other nurses to start conversations by saying, "so your studying to be a nurse huh?..." lol.

speaking of that......i had an emergency c-section. my family was waiting in the waiting room. a surgeon came out and said it'd gotten crazy in there. then did a double take and said your her family huh? to my family. they said yeah. he then said i mean they said we needed to rock and roll and we rocked and we rolled. also the lab tech came in to draw blood after the c-section. he apologized for taking so long and said they had a near death c-section. they didn't want me to know my daughter was close to death but i knew, i mean come on don't they think the ventilator and them shipping her 4 hours away would clue me in. anyways i said that was me (i was drugged on pain meds and was saying whatever would pop in my head). well then he got real quiet and apologized. so yes people talk. but i don't think they'll be talking about your stretche marks.

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Specializes in LTC, Acute Care.
I dont think her reactions sounds way over the top.My own mother had stretchmarks since she gave birth (since she was 18).She could never wear two piece swim suit and had low-self esteem because of it,so tell her that this is not a big deal is simply ignoring her need to vent,thanks..

Chill--the OP was asking if the staff did talk behind a patient's back about things such as her stretch marks. I didn't read any vent by the OP. Certainly, if she wants to vent about stretch marks, she is in excellent company here, I'm betting! (I'm showered with the buggers.)

BTW, I really hope the stretch marks your mother received weren't the impetus for low self-esteem. If she had low self-esteem, wouldn't there be something else behind it?

Anyway, I suspect these stretch marks the OP speaks of are probably not a garden-variety stretch mark for them to cause so much worry.

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Thank you so much for all the support.

I got my stretch marks on my arms from a growth spurt, they appeared when I was around 10/11. They have faded somewhat over the years but for the most part they're still visible. I used to work in customer service, and one day I was wearing short sleeves, a customer made a remark and said "for you to be so thin I can't believe you have stretch marks". I did not know how to take that. I just let out a nervous laugh. So since then I have covered them up no matter what the weather is because people do notice even though they're so common

I have other expeirences back when they were much more visible but it's so painful that I don't want to talk about it. I try to put up this front, because when people see me they would never suspect I would have them. I know once I had a friend make a really smart alecky remark out of nowhere, she asked me what do I wear in the summer since I have lines on my arms. It was a really hurtful question, and she knew exactly what she was doing, she was old enough to know better. My mother used to always say they're no big deal, no one is paying attention, but she doesn't have them on areas that are often exposed. People DO notice them and they DO comment.

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