Does size really matter?

Jo Dirt · Feb 1, 2005

I'm petite and small too, just fat. I don't think it makes a dimes worth of difference if you are large or small. I've been a nurse more than four years, hasn't affected me any.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2005

Yikes 85 pounds! My butt weighs more than you. LOL

No, I don't think size matters because we come in all shapes and sizes. I work with a couple of Filipino nurses who are about that size (but hopefully more than 85 lbs.)

You can rest assured that unless you get into peds 99.9% of your patients will weigh more than you, so keep in shape!

begalli · Feb 1, 2005

Maybe you're confusing nurses with flight attendants. Flight attendants do have height and weight requirements.

And just an aside FYI - way back in the day flight attendants (know as stewardess' back then) were required to also be nurses. I read that somewhere, but I can't remember where.

BabyNurse513 · Feb 1, 2005

I am only 5' and barely 100lbs. I work in the NICU so none of my patients are bigger then me, it works out really well!

Jamesdotter · Feb 2, 2005

The shortest nurse I ever knew was 4'8" She was a colleague of my late mother's, and in those days (I think she went to school in the 1940s) had to apply to a number of schools before she found one that would accept her. She was a great nurse. In those days, before hi-lo beds, she would carry her stepstool from room to room so that she could reach the patients comfortably.

I've worked with several nurses who were about your size. I think you'll do fine. :)

danu3 · Feb 2, 2005

Hello everyone,
Is it true that nurses have to be a certain height and weight? I heard people say that sometimes if employers see you are too small then they think that you're not capable of handling a nursing job because nursing do requires some physical work (like helping the patients who are much bigger than you). I'm quiet small (~5 feet 85 pounds) so is this something that I should be concern about when going into nursing? Or am I just worried too much? .

As for helping or moving patients who are bigger than you, it is all technique. I still remember when my mom was really sick, I had one nurse-aid who is really big with lots of muscle and she move my mom basically brute force. Then I have another nurse-aid who is all skin and bones and she moved my mom as if my mom is a feather (my mom is overweight). The first time I saw this skinny nurse moved my mom as if nothing, I told her flat out I don't believe she really is a nurse-aid. She chuckled and told me she is really a nurse from Germany and she came here in this country tempoary with her husband who has a temp assignment here.

The way I move my mom - it was sort of in between... part brute force and part technique (learn from both I guess).

-Dan

Randall · Feb 2, 2005

Hi,

Just for the record, Flight Attendants no longer have a height/weight requirement per se. They still have to be able to reach the overhead bins. Also certain parameters for safety such as being able to fit through the exit window exits, etc. This was a major breakthrough for those of us in the industry promoting the major safety functions of flight attendants.

Nurses should have the same parameters---competence and safety in caring for the patients(passengers).

Randall RN BSN 2 years; Flight Attendant 10 years

PS-size no issue for me--5'10" 135

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2005

Doesnt matter a bit. I agree its all in technique and teamwork.

hello_nurse · Feb 3, 2005

Thanks everyone! :) I hope by the time I reach to my clinical practice, I will find a some technique to makes it easier. Now that I think about it, I'm a smallest girl in my Hankido class yet I can throw a guy who's 170 pounds+ :chuckle , so there gotta be way to help patients who weight more than me. Also I'm talking a class now at my school called "Images of Nurses" and we discuss some stereotype or stigma that ppl. have about the nursing career. This one will be a good stereotype to bring up in discussion and I hope you guys allow me to share what you share with me.

Thanks again, :rolleyes:

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 3, 2005

Met an RN at one of our homecare branches who's 4'10" and been licensed since 1973...yep it's doable.

Full steam ahead for you!!

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Feb 3, 2005

Tweety, you made me laugh!

No, size does not matter.