In the past 2 years we have had three nurses come to work at our facility that, quite frankly, look like unmade beds. It is obvious that combing their hair was not a priority before coming to work, complete with matted hair in the back and sometimes even sticking up with fuzz in it. Their clothes are wrinkled like they slept in them.....good grief!!! It is not surprising that these nurses are the ones that call off all the time and have very poor ratings among our residents. I was in a room, speaking with a resident one eveing and one particular nurse brought her meds in, handed them to her and walked out without saying a word. I'll admit, I just stood there for a second, in shock. I could not believe this person. This nurse had already been pulled off of one hall because of the way she treated the residents and the multiple complaints about her. I confronted her and told her that she needed to work on her people skills, that these residents pay a lot of money and they deserve better treatment than her actions today showed me she gives them. She was quite offended. Stated she wasn't there to be popular, just to do a job. Yes we're there to do a job, but we are supposed to give a darn too. The other day my supervisor was taking a potential new hire nurse around the building, showing her the units. No decision was made and later that day she asked my "first impression". Perhaps this was not the correct thing to do, but I told her the truth. This girl looked horrible. Hair was a mess, clothes were dirty and wrinkled. She did not leave a positive impression with me and I told my supervisor this. I told her she could be "that other nurse's" sister, by the way she dressed and looked. Needless to say, she won't be hired. Is this a growing problem everywhere or are we just the lucky ones to find so many folks that think grooming is an option??? We, as professionals should present ourselves as such, not look like Salvation Army rejects. What's wrong with these people??? Is it me, do I expect too much? I just feel that if a person shows no pride in their appearance, then how much detail would they give to their job? Maybe I'm being too critical but this issue really bugs me. Maybe this nurse that isn't getting hired now would have done a good job, but from what we have seen, she may have also been lazy and uncaring. I feel bad in a way, because my supervisor decided not to hire her, based partly on what I said, as she had been thinking the same things and when I said them too, she felt her first impression was correct. Do you think a person's appearance reflects the way they do their job? Was I too critical?
