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 saw this thread and did an assessment on a nurse I work with.
Eyebrow game is strong. She needs to step up her game in all other areas though. That thigh gap should accommodate 4 fingers, but it can barely fit 1. She could add a little more makeup, but not to the point that she is murdering pillow cases. If she wants to uphold the pristine image of nurses, she had better get on her A game.
I have a medical condition called Neurofibromatosis. As a result, I have a large tumour around one eye. I am ugly. I will never be pretty. But you know what? I'm a damn good nurse. My pts get great care.
But I guess looks are more important than intelligence and empathy. Good to know. I sincerely hope I never have to set foot in your ICU if this is the standard you expect.
I saw this thread and did an assessment on a nurse I work with.
Eyebrow game is strong. She needs to step up her game in all other areas though. That thigh gap should accommodate 4 fingers, but it can barely fit 1. She could add a little more makeup, but not to the point that she is murdering pillow cases. If she wants to uphold the pristine image of nurses, she had better get on her A game.
Is huffing any worse than drinking? Or snorting? Or shooting up?.
Wow. The fact that you ask that question that way shows some serious lack of brain power. Maybe the nitrous is already wrecking havoc with your brain cells.
As to your original statement, hair down is an infection control risk. I worked today in wound care with two large patients with two huge abdominal wounds with wound vacs. Having my hair hang down would not have been a very smart idea.
Too much makeup makes no sense in a job where you are physically working hard and sweating at times. The makeup gets into your eyes and makes them sting. Again, not a smart idea.
And the docs I work with do not dress as you describe. They wear scrubs or they wear a more business-like attire for their clinics but not one woman wears a lot of makeup. One doc rounds in his jeans and t-shirt and running shoes.
I have a scar on my upper lip from my nose to my lip. I also have a slight droop to my right eye. OP, would you pay for my facial plastic surgery so that I could be more pleasing to the random people I pass in the hallway?
I wear clean, wrinkle - free scrubs. I wear light make-up to make myself happy. My hair is short but still always pulled back with either barrettes or headbands. I see little professionalism in leaving my hair in a pt's food/wound/sterile field. My surgical residents are in hospital-issued green scrubs. The attendings are in slacks and polos or dress shirts, but they rarely (if ever) perform direct patient care.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Few things:
(1) I've never done whip-its while at work. They don't last any longer than about 30 seconds either. So that isn't very germane to my professionalism. But it's fun to talk about nonetheless.
(2) I am not saying it's a hard and fast rule that every nurse should be beautiful or handsome. But at least try. I've always believed that no matter how much natural beauty anyone has, they can always be "done up" to look pretty good in a certain light.
While I feel the need for hot buttered pop corn right now I do have a confession to make. I'm not pretty! This is not to say that I am unattractive but I'm sure not going to win any beauty contests. When I am work I wear a clean functional uniform an comfortable shoes that I can run in if necessary. I am highly allergic to almost any cosmetic so I just don't wear it. I wore nails for a couple of years until I participated in an experiment at my son's school where scrapings from freshly scrubbed hands and nails were cultured. General Hospital is not a real hospital! It's called fictional mindless entertainment. I do have long hair but it is almost always neatly tied up. That being said I am a solid nurse with good skills, a team player with compassion for my patients .......At the end of the day that's what matters.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Is huffing any worse than drinking? Or snorting? Or shooting up?
You guys are being a little disrespectful and possibly violating community guidelines. Please try to keep in mind that we have a lot of nurses in recovery on this forum, who might be hurt were they to see you to dismiss other posters on the basis of their former or even current use.
"Eh, just ignore what she says. She drinks." I don't mind that sort of thing because I basically have teflon skin, but other nurses in recovery might not be as tough and you could be interfering with their recovery. For their sakes, please be mindful of what you say.
No going on a Nurse in recovery forum and justifying getting high with any substance is insulting and quite possibly damaging to a person's recovery when they are struggeling. As far as I can see from your posts here in recovery, mental health and this one - you are just trying to stir up trouble.
I am thinking of the earlier, glamour days of flight attendants.
There were strict regulations about age, weight, appearance, marital status and all kinds of other things that would be grounds for a discrimination lawsuit these days.
I was thinking ROCKETTES from the NY Radio City Music Hall.
This is one of the best threads I've read since I joined a few years ago.
kalycat, BSN, RN
1 Article; 553 Posts
I don't know, MMJ. I just know you through your posts and you're pretty damn attractive to me!