Threatened dismissal because of wrinkly clothes :0(

Nursing Students General Students

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Hey everyone, I was just trying to get some opinions of an incident that happened to me recently.

I was pulled aside by the director of my nursing program, and was told that if I wore wrinkly clothes to clinical again I would be kicked out of the program. I was wearing a polo and khakis to clinical which I did't think were wrinkly, but apparently the clinical instructor did, she didn't say anything to me about it,but she said something to the director.

Edit= Thanks for everyones advice! I took a lot of it and the next clinicals went fine, as far as my attire went.

Specializes in Med-Surg so far.
I just ironed my clothes for work this morning. I timed myself and took me 7 minutes!!!

I don't even take that long :wink2: I lay my clothes out on my bed and give them a quick once over right before I run out the door for clinicals. It's a polo and a pair of navy scrub pants that are pretty heavy, so they are not really wrinkled but I like to make it look sharp.

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Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.
Hello, my name is Mercy and I'm lazy...

Welcome Mercy! My name is Kim O'Therapy and I'm a wrinklholic! I've been starched for almost a year now and am very proud of myself now. If it weren't for my sponsor (sniff sniff) showing me how to iron (wipes tear from eye)......I......I...I'd be in the gutter or wearing polyester all the time. Thanks for letting me share.

LOL

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.
Welcome Mercy! My name is Kim O'Therapy and I'm a wrinklholic! I've been starched for almost a year now and am very proud of myself now. If it weren't for my sponsor (sniff sniff) showing me how to iron (wipes tear from eye)......I......I...I'd be in the gutter or wearing polyester all the time. Thanks for letting me share.

LOL

:lol2:

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I just tossed my uniform in the washing machine. When I get up at 1:45 a.m. to get ready for work, I put my uniform in the dryer with a dryer sheet. I shower, dry my hair, put on anti-perspirant/deodorant (ya need both), and then get my uniform out of the dryer and put it on. Wrinkle free.

I know how to iron. Sometimes I even like to iron. When my olders kids were little I would put the ironing board up in the living room and watch tv while I ironed. It was kind of theraputic. . . :monkeydance:

Seems simple to me to just toss a wet uniform in the dryer and then put it on when you are ready to leave for work. Or as others have said, hang it up after taking it from the dryer.

Funny thread . .

steph

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Welcome Mercy! My name is Kim O'Therapy and I'm a wrinklholic! I've been starched for almost a year now and am very proud of myself now. If it weren't for my sponsor (sniff sniff) showing me how to iron (wipes tear from eye)......I......I...I'd be in the gutter or wearing polyester all the time. Thanks for letting me share.

LOL

Well, uh, hmm, my name is Marie and i'm lazy.

It all started with getting 3 hours of sleep last night and then getting called into work at 2am. :uhoh21: Then i came home and slept till 10 am, only for school to call and say that class would be canceled for this evening since the professor had an out-of-town emergency. Then i surfed online for an hour and took another nap. Then i went into work for 6 hours and worked on preference sheets, and ordered more joint implants. Then i came home and made reservations, then a couple hours later met my husband (COUGH) for dinner. Then came home and changed into sweats and flannels and watched TV. Luckily my sponsor caught me before i started wearing polyester.

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Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.
Well, uh, hmm, my name is Marie and i'm lazy.

It all started with getting 3 hours of sleep last night and then getting called into work at 2am. :uhoh21: Then i came home and slept till 10 am, only for school to call and say that class would be canceled for this evening since the professor had an out-of-town emergency. Then i surfed online for an hour and took another nap. Then i went into work for 6 hours and worked on preference sheets, and ordered more joint implants. Then i came home and made reservations, then a couple hours later met my husband (COUGH) for dinner. Then came home and changed into sweats and flannels and watched TV. Luckily my sponsor caught me before i started wearing polyester.

LMAO :wink2: I feel your pain.

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Specializes in ER.

Was this a one time occurence or have you been spoken to before about wrinkles or other issues like this. You do know nurses eat their young right??? Sometimes I thinksome actually chew them up. spit them out and stomp on them for good measure! I hate wrinkles and do iron however taking stuff out of the dryer right when it is done and hanging it up works just as well. At least you don't have to wear white polyester with pin-tucking down the front and a blue striped pinafore.....yeah and oh by the way I am 40 something and it made my rather well endowed chest FLAT....want to talk about pretty ??????

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Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.

Well, I hate to say it, but I understand the instructor's point.

She feels that during your Clinicals, you are putting your best foot forward, and if you are coming to clinicals with your clothes looking incredibly wrinkled, what are your clothes going to look like when you actually start your job?

I personally, am an obsessive ironer, with spray starch. I even do my daughter's clothes. However, I never iron anything until I am ready to wear it. To me, pulling clothes out of the dryer (unless there is synthetic mixed in with the cotton), never looks good enough to wear without ironing.

If you think I'm bad, you should have tried ironing my Mom's stuff as a kid...she insisted that her uniforms be ironed INSIDE OUT only, and you had to press the seams. She would make me do them over and over again...I used to kid with her and call her "Mommy Dearest" and tell her that I promised not to hang them on wire hangers

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...............but apparently the clinical instructor did, she didn't say anything to me about it,but she said something to the director..............

Looks like the instructor and the director need to grow up and realize that it would be the instructor's place to discuss the wrinkled clothing with you. If you or the instructor wished to appeal the issue, then the director should become involved, but not beforehand.

Not saying it is OK to wear wrinkled clothing, but the concern here involves the handling of the situation. Maybe the instructor needs to grow a set and deal with issues personally, rather than punting them off to the next person in the chain of command.

Unfortunately, there are still too many "educators" who have no clue when it comes to protocol.

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I feel your pain! I had the exact same thing happen to me during clinicals. Nevermind the wrinkles in other peoples' scrubs, I was the one who got called on it. Now, it's a huge joke in our clinical group.

Since that day, I always iron & starch my scrubs. I will not give the instructors anything they can call me out on. The less you do to provoke them, the more absurd their "instruction" is.

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Specializes in 6 years of ER fun, med/surg, blah, blah.

I found that if you did the little things the nursing instructors wanted you to do, press your clothes, take that big topaz ring off your finger during clinicals, etc, you were ahead of it. It can make or break you in the nursing school game. Just DO IT!

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Specializes in ER/Geriatrics.

There is nothing wrong with neat and tidy...I like the professional approach. You look at other respected professions....they don't look like they just rolled out of bed and neither should we.

IMHO

Liz

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