The sloppy image of nurses today

Nurses Professionalism

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Imagine a hospital in which all nurses and doctors exhibit professionalism, beauty, splendor, and awe among colleagues and patients. A place where the people taking care of you appear greater than human, larger than life, infallible figures, portraying an image that captures total trust and total confidence from those nearby. What a wonderful place that would be. But alas, we have work ahead of us.

This thread is designed to discuss the importance of impressions in nursing. While many nurses take pride in appearing beautiful or handsome, many walk in to work with a case of the feck-its when it comes to appearance. Unfortunately I feel that nurses are much worse than doctors in this arena. Where I work the majority of female doctors wear their hair down, liberally apply makeup, wear form fitting clothing, and hard soled shoes. They try to appear as beautiful as they can. Likewise, the male doctors come in with tailored clothing that had been ironed, they have well-oiled hair, nice watches, and other things reminiscent of the show "General Hospital."

Meanwhile, in the ICU I've worked in, we've got a female nurse with a buzz cut, one woman wearing a pirate-like black eye patch, nurses with baggy wrinkled scrubs, nurses wearing those ugly skechers shapeups, everyone wearing their hair up or back in a plain boring pony tail instead of letting it flow, men or even women with untrimmed or unneatly trimmed facial hair and people exhibiting other drab or and in my humble opinion, embarrassing features. I feel like no other college educated profession dresses down as much as nurses do and it bothers me.

What do you think of nurses and the images they portray in the professional setting? Use this thread to talk about what you like or dislike, what you think should change and what shouldn't.

I ought to add, I do not want it thought that my previous post

was being negative in referring to my former colleague.

She had been to a fancy private school & 'finishing school',

& had turned down an acting scholarship - to be a nurse.

Thinking a bit about her, - if you've ever seen Raquel Welch,

you'll get the picture.

A magnetic presence, ( inc' her personality,she was so assured)

she drew admiration & mean-spirited envy - both in full measure..

Ah well.. ( & I still dream about her, from time to time).

Specializes in Internal and Family Medicine.

I know this is an old post, but after reading it, I laughed so hard thinking of how you must have been torn quite a new something or other after posting this. Honestly, I can't tell if this is real, or a flame bait posted by a net troll. If this is a real post by an actual nurse, you are in need of a really, really dirty day, where your patient throw up a surprise vomit on your pretty shoes and your long shiny hair gets stuck in an infected wound while you are turning a patient who, woops..is that diarrhea under there? Damn. I have to change these scrubs again! You must be young. I hope you are pretty. You are definitely confused about what we do, and your role as a nurse. If you work in an area where you can keep it sexy and fresh all day, great! But I worked in surgery, and I was there for many reasons, none of which was to exhibit a fashion statement or entice people to look dreamily into my smokey, made up eyes. I wish. Save all that gorgeous you want to display for your nights off, and hit the town. When I'm a patient, I want my nurses to be smart, work hard, and put my needs and safety first. Clean is a must. Keep your flowing hair extensions and fake nails out of my wounds and away from my meds please princess. Tell me you are not a nurse. Please. Regardless, I enjoyed your post, and I hope it all works out for you.

Specializes in Internal and Family Medicine.

That story made me really happy for some reason.

Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Are you kidding me? Where do you work....Stepford General? Why is it any of your business if a nurse chooses to have a buzz cut? I've been in nursing a long time and I've never see a slovenly nurse. As long as dress policy is adhered to...not a problem. Not everyone is the same or has the same fashion ideals as you. I guess everyone is far too busy working to worry about what they look like. I'd absolutely hate to be at work and know you were looking me up and down with a sneer on your face. Wow.

Best line in the thread!! That got me to chuckle out loud.

I work with lots of foreign born families.

The first thing this father from Brazil said to me is that the nurses in the Usa do not look professional.

I wonder if scrubs make us look professional?

Maybe we should go back to uniform pantsuits?

I guess it depends on culture to an extent.

I would just really like to see a selfie of this guy in uniform to see if he "stands up to" his own qualifications. A hospital is not a fashion show. The nurses first job is the care of their patients. That means being hygenic and being attentive to their work, not coming in all gussied up so that you can look at pretty faces. Makeup is impractical on long shifts and do you have any idea how anoying and unsanitary long loose hair in your face and hanging in the way is? The woman with the buzz cut is probably the cleanest one there.

As a nurse, we represent the hospital/organization we work for. I believe it's important to be sensitive to our work environment by dressing/styling appropriately for the job. I like to look my best, because it makes me feel good and reflects in my attitude towards patients. However, dressing the part must also accompany a good work ethic and moral judgement. I'm training in a new job right now and learn so much about my different trainers' work ethics. Some tell me its okay to not do this or that, however I don't want to short change the next shift or the patient. It's important to remember we are autonomous and that we are responsble for our choices/actions.

Well... as the doctors don't crawl on the ground, physically move patients, handle body fluids, transfer human bodies, reach over people, change diapers, climb on step stools, have the luxury to use the bathroom when they please, connect lines, or push beds; they have the luxury of appearing more polished as their appearance doesn't change throughout the day.

When I started working day shift I thought I should wear my hair down and put on a little makeup, by 1100 the first day I had gotten an unidentified substance in my hair courtesy of a saturated dressing and all my makeup was melted down my face. I never did that again.

I suppose nurses who work in less demanding areas such as yourself have the time to be concerned with such issues, you'll notice the doctors who's jobs do require similar work to nurses also look more like us (OR docs and Anesthesiologists don't waist time primping before they scrub in for a 6 hour sweaty labor-intensive case)

Specializes in ICU.

I have waist-length hair, and many of my female co-workers do, as well. We are required to put our hair up, or in a ponytail, if your hair is below shoulder length. I can't stand to see a nurse or CNA with hair hanging down anyway, so it doesn't bother me to put mine up. Believe me, patients do not want to see your hair hanging over them!

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