Plus size nursing students

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I hope to be attending nursing school in the fall. Those nursing students out there who are plus sized: did you have any problems getting the uniforms in the larger sizes? My biggest fear is getting there and the largest size they have would not fit me.

Thanks

Well I think its about time to hit the gym. :pumpiron:

On a serious note, this does acually make me want to work out which isent a bad thing. I was extremly nervous about this whole thing, but if I have to ... I have to. I'll just laugh and try not to think about it. =]

Just another thing to think about is observing in the OR you have to wear the hospital scrubs and my hospital only has 2x and below! Im not sure what they do when they need a bigger size but it is definetly a good thing to ask your instructor about prior to getting to the OR!

Good Luck All!

Is anyone else trying to lose before going into the program? i ate a cookie today and i sort of need people to beat the crap out of me when i do stupid weak things like that :rolleyes:

Specializes in Geriatrics.
That was also a big fear of mine (no pun intended). I start clinicals in the fall and just got the supply list. We have to order our uniforms from the school and they go all the way up to 5x.

The next problem I have to tackle: We have to practice assessments on each other and the 'patient' can only be in their bra and panties....:o

I have been working hard on my weight for more than a year and haven't lost much.

I would double check about that, we did clinicals on each other and were allowed to wear t shirts and shorts, I don't believe they can make you strip down to your bra and underwear, there is NO way i would have done that.

As far as the uniforms go, when I was in school we had to order them from a certain company and they went all the way up to a size 5X. I orderd the size I usually wear and they were HUGE so i actually had to go down 2 sizes. It all depends on the company, I think it sucks when you have to order through the mail and aren't able to try them on first. I spent over $30 in shipping charges that weren't refunded to me sending uniforms back until i got the size that fit me!!

Good luck!!

Specializes in GICU-WE GET IT ALL.
I would double check about that, we did clinicals on each other and were allowed to wear t shirts and shorts, I don't believe they can make you strip down to your bra and underwear, there is NO way i would have done that.

Good luck!!

I don't know about other schools, but we did not have a choice for our actual lab practicum whether or not to wear a bra.( if that system was chosen.) that is why our instructors insisted that is how we practice in our lab. If we did not comply we would have fialed that final, wich would have failed us for the class.

"For my assessment lab at my school we had to do most of the systems on each other. Including breasts and axilla. NO bra, and our final practicum we draw a system out of a hat and my partner drew breasts. So there I am, exposed from my waist up with three of my instructors watching and some girl I've known for 6 weeks. Talk about embarassing!:uhoh3:"

I don't know about other schools, but we did not have a choice for our actual lab practicum whether or not to wear a bra.( if that system was chosen.) that is why our instructors insisted that is how we practice in our lab. If we did not comply we would have fialed that final, wich would have failed us for the class.

"For my assessment lab at my school we had to do most of the systems on each other. Including breasts and axilla. NO bra, and our final practicum we draw a system out of a hat and my partner drew breasts. So there I am, exposed from my waist up with three of my instructors watching and some girl I've known for 6 weeks. Talk about embarassing!:uhoh3:"

...i just don't want to be a nurse that badly.

I am a plus size nursing student. I wear a 20. I had no problem finding uniforms. Every uniform store that I have been to has my size; even Walmart. When I had clinicals in the OR they had scrubs to fit my size.

Don't worry. You'll be fine. There's big people everywhere.:wink2:

Thank goodness my school doesn't require this. That is ridiculous. Its totally different seeing a patient naked and seeing one of your classmates. I would think that could become really akward. I think I would be so nervous I couldn't concentrate on what we were trying to learn. The only thing we did in relation to that this semster was when our group did BS one of our male clinical mates lifted his shirt so we could listen better. In this case the instructor ASKED his permission before doing so. They even had a rule that male students were not allowed to assess breath sounds of female students.

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

I took both undergraduate assessment and graduate assessment and also taught graduate assessment; I was never required to undress nor did I require it of students. When I taught, our learning lab had a very nice, very expensive breast model for students to learn on.

Personally, I think if an instructor requires students to undress he or she should be willing to be the "model"!

Worrying about having to undress, in my opinion, stresses the students unnecessarily and could well interfere with learning. I wanted mine to think about what they were doing and not to worry about how they looked!

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