I received this email from a professor. I was a little shocked. Opinon?

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Greetings. I just received this email from a professor. I was blown away by the content. I found it unprofessional. I wanted to see what other nursings students had to say. Have you received similar emails before?

Hi NUR 150 Students!

First of all, I would like to thank the majority of students who took to heart the need to dress professionally at clinical this week. The faculty of NUR 150 appreciates your dedication to learning and professional behavior.

This email is aimed at the small number of students who were not in uniform at clinical this week. I wanted all students to read this email, because the unprofessional dress and lack of professional behavior reflects badly on all NUR 150 students. I do not want your clinical group referred to as: the nursing students with the one student whose uniform was so wrinkled it looked like they just rolled out of bed”; the nursing students with the one student with tons of earrings in their ear, it sure was not like that when I went to school”; did you see the fake nails, do they not teach infection control at that college, I am not sure about that clinical group doing anything on my patients”; or lastly WOW, what is with the tattoos that student had, I sure do not want them to be a RN on our floor, my patients would be shocked!”

Your first impression is often what you will be judged by for the whole clinical rotation and nursing school career. Being in a clinical group with students who do not follow the dress code and professional policy, does reflect back on you. Every day you wear your uniform you are on a job interview. You represent every nursing student at the college. Your dismissal of the uniform policy and/or professional behavior standards is a direct reflection on every student, faculty member, and alumni of the college.

I know that the uniform policy has been taught and enforced previously. I know students are sometimes counseled in their weekly feedback about how to properly follow the professional standards. I am also very disappointed about the dismissal of the policy, since this was discussed in the NUR 150 course and clinical orientation on Monday. I stated the faculty knows that you are able to effectively follow the professional standards and uniform dress code, since you have completed NUR 121. I clearly stated that student who are not in uniform will be sent home for being unprepared. I fully believed that this would be a non-issue, since you are all adult learners.

Next clinical day at the beginning of your clinical day, you will line up and your professor will inspect your appearance to ensure that you are fully following the dress code. Students who are not in their proper uniform in accordance with the policy will be sent home. This will count as a clinical absence. No exceptions or excuses will be entertained by the faculty. Dress code policy from the ADN program handbook has been added to the end of this email for your convenience.

Again, I would like to apologize the large number of students who were following the uniform policy this week. The college faculty thanks you and is proud of you.

Thank you,

welp, i think the answer to your question has been answered in more than one way. firstly, most people in the profession agree with your professor/find this email to be not only OK, but apparently brilliant! secondly, i think this member hits it on the head:

This is typical. Are those statements very biased and close minded? Yes but you've just got to play the game respect the rules and then you can choose any employer with any perspective you want

The egos in nursing are unbelievable. Nursing school is like the military?! Please don't say that to a vet.

I've been a nurse for 2 years now, and if I'm still doing it after 5, I'll be surprised. For me, it's a lot of things, not the least of which is the attitudes of the nurse-cissists I encounter (allnurses probably being the worst breeding ground).

Hang in there OP because you'll come across way worse than this. I think the email is just self-righteous and childish at points. What you really need to look out for are your "fellow" nurses.

If this email "shocked" the OP and little things shake the OP up (can't recall how the OP worded it) then nursing school is going to extra long and the real world of nursing is going to be a short lived career for the OP.

So....it seems OP didn't find the warm fuzzies she was looking for and has abandoned her thread?

Oh calm down and suck it up buttercup.

We are often held to higher standards for all of this since we are "on someone else's turf". As others have said, uniform/appearance (which was discussed well in advance) is a really basic thing. If the site has grounds to complain about appearance (which these higher standards are intended to prevent), they may never get to the larger issue which is can this person follow other rules of the agency and can they be expected to adhere to other appropriate actions in their practice as a student who later hopes to be a nurse.

In our area the number of sending schools compared to the number of sites that accept students necessitates sending in people who don't create unnecessary problems such as the deviation from agency dress standards that would no doubt occur if school standards were not upheld.

Like it or not, in that uniform your appearance represents the larger group, not just individuals.

I agree. I was hired at the facility I interned with and so was over half my class. I know that one student was not chosen because they had tattoos showing on a clinical day (against hospital policy) and was told if they couldn't even show up appropriate before they were hired, then they certainly wouldn't do it when they were hired.

In a market that is flooded at the moment...I was crossing my t's and dotting my i's. No need to take unnecessary chances.

Your post illustrates perfectly why all those "stupid" rules are there for students to follow. I'm thinking the student who was not hired is probably blaming everything and anything for that, not the ACTUAL reason, which was that he/she was being unofficially 'interviewed' during clinical assignments.....and found lacking.

To all the students out there who dislike what the professor wrote, and/or how he/she wrote it.....what does your opinion on this REALLY matter? I'm honestly not being snarky, I'm saying that what ANYONE thinks of this (including those of us who readily agree with the email) doesn't matter. What matters is that the students TO WHICH IT APPLIES heeds the directives contained within it. And if it DOESN'T APPLY to someone.....move on, forget about it, there's far too much to get your knickers in a twist over than whether you preferred this wording or that.

And ultimately, that professor that some of you think was so horrible in sending this email...? You can bet he/she has plenty of input as to whether you get an interview, let alone a job, at the facilities in your area! And THAT, folks, is what matters in the end, not whether you liked the choice of wording in an email or the scope of recipients.

When my mother graduated from LPN school the Director of Nursing for the hospital came to her and told her she had her pick of the unit and shift she didn't do that because my mother was a complete stranger she did it because of the way my mother carried herself during clinical. She was the only LPN hired in labor and delivery. It matters.

Another thing that occurs to me as I read it is the blanket e-mail for everyone to see serves the purpose of warning those who were in uniform, who by noticing the others who were not may have concluded it wasn't a big deal and they really don't need to follow the standards- further increasing the number of people who aren't.

In some ways, this is a way to try and "close the barn door after the horse already got out". At my school we would be sent home since that was predicted to us before we started. If people are allowed to stay after they were told they'd be sent home, it could erroneously send the message that it doesn't matter. The blanket e-mail that reinforces the behaviors of those who complied could possibly save them many more individual conversations with people later.

Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

I agree....guess what..part of college is learning to be professional. And getting chewed out (and I would not even call that email getting chewed out) is a part of life. So...deal with the email..it is ok...wipe away those hurt feeling tears and carry on.

Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Profs being long-winded is kind of the hallmark of a nursing program. ;) There really was nothing wrong with the email. I'm still unsure, outside of the quotes, what was unprofessional? Besides, you never know, she probably has heard those things from floor staff before or even while you guys were there. It's all true and none of it should be a shock. Sometimes there is a lapse in students following policy and WE ALL get to hear about it. If it didn't have anything to do with you, just move on, nothing really to see here.

The quotes thing was unprofessional. I would go so far as to say that it intimates that this particular professor probably has a prejudice against people with excessive piercings and tattoos. The tone was a bit snippy and she was definitely passive aggressive, making up imaginary people to say what SHE in fact was thinking.

I also think it was crappy to email the entire class instead of just those who were not following the rules, again very passive aggressive. Also, pretty manipulative, trying to get students to do what she wants by means of humiliation, but in an indirect way where she doesn't feel uncomfortable. Seriously, gutless.

However, outside of the aforementioned, I feel that the email was fine. The topic of dress code adherence is relevant and important, but her tone and means of communicating her message were, in my humble opinion, severely lacking.

The email should have never been sent out. The students that were out of uniform should have been sent home, point made. The next clinical, everyone will be in uniform. In school we could miss one clinical (being sent home was considered a missed clinical). I think the instructor was being way to lenient on the students that they had issues with by sending a warning letter.

AMEN. That would have accomplished what needed to be accomplished. But again, I'm thinking this wasn't done because the professor appears to have some hella passive aggressive tendencies.

I am a nursing instructor, my problem with this email is that it avoided directly dealing with the individuals who were not in compliance with the dress code. Unfortunately, many instructors, and floor nurses, are not comfortable in resolving issues. You hear things such as "I don't like confrontation/conflict"; that is like saying you don't like doing your job when you are in a position of authority. Speak directly with those who are the problem. Provide the a written counseling, or student improvement plan. Do your job.

AMEN...

One more thing... the OP NEVER asked ANY of you for career advice. It is extremely rude and irresponsible that many of you chose to use your responses to make judgements on her suitability for a career in nursing. You don't know her. Words are powerful, think before you type. You come across as a bunch of sanctimonious bullies. Seriously.

I don't know if this has been said because I'm not going to read through all 150 something responses but I think you may want to be careful about posting a word for word email from an instructor on this site and then saying it was "idiotically written". Your instructor may very well have read this post or another instructor may have seen it. I'd be careful.

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