Pantie Rant!!!

it's bad enough that the uniforms our school requires are so gross. button on apron & zip up top. because of the way the top are designed we all look like bells. all white with green trim. enough about that & if it stopped there i would be okay. but i was just going through the student handbook & it states that only white under pants are permitted and no thongs!!! give me a break. how can they tell us what undies to wear??? everybody knows that white under garments worn underneath white uniforms are gonna show. however bras were not mentioned. i think i'll find some bright red ones to wear. anybody else running into this???? i think if they were gonna tell us what to wear it should have been beige 'cause that dosen't show through. sorry this is so long.

Get some white ones with like, little hearts printed all over them! Any mention of if they have to be "solid" white? Just a thought! ~insert devil-ish grin here~

they have to be plain white, but i like the way you think!

I think if you wear beige panites, no one is going to give you a hard time. I think the rule was intended to prevent show-through of colors and/or patterns.

Sorry about your uniforms!

[southernatheart]

These rules are written because in EVERY clinical group there's THAT PERSON. You know him/her....ours showed up in his whites with RED POLKADOT BOXERS. For everyone to see. And yes, he got sent home.

it's bad enough that the uniforms our school requires are so gross. button on apron & zip up top. because of the way the top are designed we all look like bells. all white with green trim. enough about that & if it stopped there i would be okay. but i was just going through the student handbook & it states that only white under pants are permitted and no thongs!!! give me a break. how can they tell us what undies to wear??? everybody knows that white under garments worn underneath white uniforms are gonna show. however bras were not mentioned. i think i'll find some bright red ones to wear. anybody else running into this???? i think if they were gonna tell us what to wear it should have been beige 'cause that dosen't show through. sorry this is so long.

this is a popular topic. i agree with you in theory. if they do not like your choice of underwear, then they should not require see-through clothes. however, my feelings as a patient are:

1. if you want to wear see-through clothing in another setting, that's fine with me, but when you are required to wear it, it makes me feel like i am violating your privacy by seeing you like that.

2. as has been pointed out before, the trouble with skin-tone underwear is that it looks like you are not wearing anything underneath, causing me to stare at you even more as i try to figure this out.

3. your opinion of me matters to me. i do not want you to think that i think of you as a sex object, rather than a professional. clothes that are not distracting reduce the chances of this misunderstanding occurring.

4. i am fortunate that my work and school allow me to dress the same way i have always dressed (i am not a healthcare worker). however, my advice would be to follow the dress code and not make waves over a relatively minor issue. the object is to pass nursing school.

I think that the green trim sounds silly. I also think that if they put requirements on underwear it should be nude color panties in any style except thongs. My next question is how do they know? Are you going to be changing in front of the instructor. Like you said everyone knows white under white shows, and I would wear nude regardless. I might ask the instructor. I agree no thongs, but I think you should wear the seamless panties so you don't get those panty lines.

I've seen a few thongs of bending over classmates....tacky!!!

[IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

We have a white underwear no thing rule...bras included for color.

Almost every white pant out there is thin and it's tacky to wear a thing in a professional setting like that. So no thong.

When it comes to color they are stating common sense for the person who shows up with zebra striped underwear on not knowing it was a bad idea...now he/she knows.

But blame that on the pants not fitting right, not the thong. It shouldn't matter what kind of underwear you want to wear as long as you can't see it.

I've seen a few thongs of bending over classmates....tacky!!!

[jill48, ASN, RN]

You think that's bad? When I went to LPN school 12 years ago we had to wear pantyhose - with our pants/scrubs. They said the reason for this is skin sloughing. Like we were going to leave a trail of dead skin cells everywhere we walked. To this day I can't put on a pair of pantyhose without wanting to lose my mind.

But blame that on the pants not fitting right, not the thong. It shouldn't matter what kind of underwear you want to wear as long as you can't see it.

True. True. But, somehow, it's worse when it's a thong.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

If this is the biggest problem that you face in nursing school, count yourself lucky.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

You'll have bigger issues than what you wear...but the day I work black boxers unintentionally, got there and realized it...I called up and wound up 20 mins late for preconf to go back home and change.....

Then, one poor girl in my group wore a bright orange...think halloween color....bra and it was evident throughout the entire day...but no one told her until 13 weeks later when we were all a lot more comfortable with each other....

if this is the biggest problem that you face in nursing school, count yourself lucky.

i couldn't agree more.

give me a break. how can they tell us what undies to wear???

they can tell you what undies to wear because if they don't, there will be all kinds of inappropriate choices. some folks don't have a clue how strange/bad they look. some don't get it that what is acceptable among same-age friends in a social venue can be highly offensive to other people who have different standards. some don't understand that patients are a captive audience and can't avoid looking at something they could walk away from in another setting. some do not understand the concept of professional dress. and some don't realize that "making a personal statement" is best reserved for those times when you are not representing the school or the facility you answer to.

bras were not mentioned. i think i'll find some bright red ones to wear.

i could be wrong, but this kind of response sounds kind of childish to me.

if being asked to wear unobtrusive underwear for clinicals offends you this much you could be facing a rocky road ahead. choose your battles wisely, or i predict you'll be butting heads over all kinds of things in nursing school.

i wish you well.

I hate the white undies rule; beige is better if you are a white person, brown or black better if you are darker skinned. Otherwise you might as well wear bright green, the white is like a beacon anyhow.

There are newer "whites" that are advertised as "no see through." I haven't tried them, I don't wear whites, but look at the Jasco website to see if you can find them there.

I agree, it rankled me to have my clothing rules spelled out so precisely--hello, we are all adults! However, it was totally true that there is someone in every class who is completely clueless and will totally screw it up for the rest of you.

[puggymae]

The reason everything is spelled out so precisely is that even though "adults" go to nursing school - some of them do not know what is approriate to wear out in public or to work. (Watch "What Not to Wear).

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

It's very easy to "see" when someone is wearing a thong---even if you can't see it peeking (and don't I use that term with a grain of salt?) out of the top of your pants. Those of you who think otherwise are maybe wishful thinking.

And the subliminal message there, even without an actual visualization, is not appropriate in a professional setting. JMHO, of course.

[prinsessa]

I'm just wondering how people can tell someone is wearing a thong. I can't tell unless I see it when they bend over. Just curious....

[LPN0608]

can we get this requirement at our school? No problem at clinicals cause our uniforms are dark but during class or lab, I see more of this one lady's ill-fitting thong than I see of her face. She bends over(even slightly) and there it is. It's like a train wreck, ya just can't help but look. and she folds her pants down so the straps show. I think it's trashy.