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,

Those are not hypothetical quotes. I have heard everyone one of those comments from nurses on the hospital units. Think of other career choices that have uniforms. How do they look? I had a nurse mentor in one hospital who was so good at her job, but she wore bright red g-string underwear under a white uniform (TRUE!!). She got away with it for 2 reasons. The hospital allowed it. She was EXCELLENT and already had proven herself as a skilled provider. As a student, you follow the rules. The email is actually calm compared to some I have read. Let it go and be a team player who encourages your classmates to look good. It shows you care about yourself and others.

Not unprofessional. S/he sounds a bit young, but other than that, I'd take it as constructive critcism and carry on.

I didn't see anything wrong with this email, either.

I personally have tattoos (one rather large), had 5 earrings, purple hair and a nose piercing when I started school and though I WISH the world was more tolerant of these things, the truth is that you are entering a field where you need to put yourself to the side and do things for the good of your patients. Unfortunately, some of those people are judgmental and intolerant. Your job is still to come in and foster confidence in your abilities from their perspective--not enforce any agendas or social commentary. Your personality and professionalism should shine through in the care and interaction you have with them, not your personal "art work". Some workplaces are more lax and I love that--but you DO represent the place you work (or go to school) and if they want to be represented a certain way, then that is their prerogative. And really, does it matter so much? Be a fashion diva or whatever on your own time.

My school was far more strict than it seems this one is. I was a little appalled that its been happening and apparently on some large scale. We had to wear all white and if anyone could see another color underwear or bra strap--unacceptable. Tattoos had to be covered-no exceptions. We were threatened with inspection in the very beginning of the program and had few detractors. What I DID not agree with was one instructor who told us they used to make people stand in a line and bend over to see if their underwear could be seen through the fabric! THAT I would have been p*ssed about. Change the color or fabric then!

I don't think even the tone of this email is bad. The writer gave these quotes to illustrate that people were indeed making negative judgements and it would affect the perception of you rather than give an arbitrary statement with no seeming real world application (in contrast to just making rules because "its always been that way" or to be a hard-ass). I think you guys should get over it. You knew this going in. And if its so pervasive that people are going to fail a semester--they need to rethink what their priorities are and what they want out of this. Time to grow up.

I believe that a person has the right to do what they please with their body. Pierce, tattoo, smoke, drink, be overweight, workout, live on veggies and water WHATEVER. What I have noticed with the popularity of body piercings is that I have NEVER met someone in 10 years with a lip/tongue piercing who does not "play with it" with their teeth and tongue. Pulling it around, resting it on their front teeth etc... I believe that it is subconscious but that does not make it any less gross and distracting when I am trying to talk to you about a patient. They have been banned at my 2 facilities and I am glad. People always claim that their personal choices should be respected but they would be if you kept them personal.

I see nothing wrong with this. What I did find wrong is that students are showing up dressed improperly. Were you one of the improperly dressed ones?

Specializes in SCI and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Your professor could have gone on to explain to you that there are reasons for the dress code beyond just "optics". But you might have considered that too elementary, if not insulting. But remember, long nails of any kind can scratch a patient...or does an R.N. never slip a bedpan under a patient without gloves on? Does she always call someone "less skilled" to do this? As you should know by now, broken skin is an invitation to infection. And how well is the skin cleaned under those nails with a perfunctory hand washing?

Long dangling earrings will lose some of their fashion appeal the first time a patient grabs them, accidentally or not. More broken skin. Yours this time. Or perhaps a patient simply finds it unpleasant when said earrings rake accross his face and O2 apparatus as his nurse leans over him to cancel his IV alarm.

Hair, which is also loaded with hair spray/gel and bacteria is not something patients like falling in their face. However, some agitated patients have been known to grab hold of any thing handy, whether or not it is attached to a nurse.

A clean uniform coveys the idea that the nurse is also clean. When I was in nursing, some areas of the hospitals provided hospital laundered scrubs for those contacting patients directly. No thought was given as to whether these garments were "cute" or not! Patients still, many of them hold the antiquated idea that a hospital is a "clean" and "safe" place to be. This is true whether or not they have ever heard of "nosocomial" infections. Tattoos, though they never seem really clean to some folks, should not detract any more than possible from this image. Facial piercings are similar and are often distracting to patients, Hopefully this hardware can be removed before entering the hospital (but never having had any I really wouldn't know).

Now you will probably think, I have gone "way over the line" in making this point. But remember, a professional nurse is not on the job to "express her individuality" (which no one else cares about) but to help patients be as healthy and comfortable as possible.

I'm not going to that other one where people dress and act like they couldn't be bothered to wake up for work.

I am willing to bet that some of the folks who advocate most strenuously for the "right to express their specialness" in dress, jewelry, hair, and nail art are the same ones who complain that nobody takes them seriously when they come to work dressed as if they were going to a middle-school sleepover.

There's a reason for student dress codes. It's because the faculty hopes to prepare them for professional roles in more ways than one.

Do you ever see doctors wearing wrinkled or stained lab coats? I've personally never seen that. They've worked hard for that uniform and wear it well. Why shouldn't this line of thinking be carried over to nursing? We work hard to even get into a program; we give up our lives to finish the program and pass NCLEX and find our first jobs. Students and nurses have earned those scrubs and those name badges. Show a little pride. The instructor who sent that email, in all honesty, had every right to send non-compliant students home to change. The fact that he/she sent an email (a rather gentle one IMO) shows that she's really not out to get you. The fact that she sent it to everyone simply means that she's briefing all of you on her expectations for each of you. It's a friendly reminder to everyone. I would consider it a good thing to be fully aware of an instructors expectation's.

Yes and it was like a purple unicorn had walked up to the nurses station and asked for an enema. Excellent point.

Overall as a professor or nursing instructor their job is to instill confidence and encouragement on students' choice to become a nurse.

Absolutely wrong. The primary "job" of nursing faculty is not to make students feel good about themselves and their choices to become nurses. Read this very carefully: It is to prepare people who know nothing about being nurses to become educated and competent professionals who will be ready to take their places in healthcare upon graduation.

Specializes in geriatrics.

I would say that this instructor is very correct, and did a good job at not pinpointing anyone in particular and shaming them. In both my LPN and my ADN program, if we showed up out of dress code, they had the ability to send us home immediately, and it counted as an absence. Most of them were nicer and just warned us the first time, but second time was an immediate send home, and that included when we were in lab, and not on the floor. Your instructor did a good job all the way around of giving examples of why you should stick to dress code, and what people will say about you if you don't (and be assured, the WILL say those types of things) and the consequences for not taking her warming to heart. Take it in the good spirit she meant it, and let it go.

who is that sloppy about her appearance is probably sloppy in her practice.

Yeah, like this guy. I bet he's totally incompetent. Just look at the wrinkles in his pants and that hair! haha... what you're saying is true in most instances, but remember, there are exceptions to every rule.

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I don't see any thing wrong with the comment I suppose you we're aware of the dress code prior to entering the college. Dress code is dress code. And when we find it difficult to adhere to rules and regu lation of institutions the we become misfits ant that can determine what kind of role model we become to those junior to us.

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