American nurses - why do they look like crap?

The BBQ Pit
121

I don’t know what the fuck is the big problem here.

I live in Colorado, not that it makes any difference but we are pretty casual here. Hell, I do get into jeans and a nice shirt to go to 7-11 but that’s me. I have been known to wear my Broncos hat, like every other day when I venture to the world. God Forbid.

When I go to the doc (since you are pushing the clinical issue here) I don’t give a shit about what my nurse is wearing, only that she knows her damn job. I usually see a nurse about five minutes, why would her attire in scrubs bother me? They don’t. All care about is that she knows how to do her job.

Granted if she came in with wholy jeans and a dog collar around her neck with a tatoo of her boyfriend’s name on her forehead I might be concerned but I would be more concerned about the doctor’s office I was in because well, frankly those are things I don’t want to see. On your own time, in the real world, great, but scrubs are fine with me.

I see this as some form of “putting a woman in her place” and as mentioned previously, there are plenty of men in the nursing profession now so things have changed, probably for the better. Women should not be required to be wearing a skirt in order for her to do her job well. I mean really, that’s what it comes down to. Her education and her ability to do her job is important to my health, not her damn clothes.

I worked selling windows and doors and then later selling tile. When I worked selling windows and doors it was highly impractical to wear a skirt (although plenty of the guys would have liked that more) when you are asked to climb a ladder or walk around a job site where a snow storm had passed and the job site was muddy and up to your ankles or you had to literally climb into a front door to inspect the progress of the installation. I wore jeans all the time. Granted I have like 23 different pairs in 20 different colors and I wore a vest over my tshirts but that was selling, not nursing.

Nursing, whether in a clinic or in an hospital situation, scrubs are fine. I don’t know why this is such a bitch for you. Sheesh. I care more about quality in their job than I do what they look like. Granted if they looked like they lived under a bridge then I would be concerned but over all the nursing profession (something I could never do as I am weak about body functions on other people) is a respectable and noble position.

Hmmm, I think you would have loved the late 1800s when corsets and high collars were what respectable wimin wear. (not a typo.) There are plenty of fashionable women that wear comfortable clothes that you probably would have to put a down payment on. Casual is good, casual, for the most part, is comfortable. I think a chick dressed up in short skirt, high heels and her hair unable to move in hurricane winds looks like a damn hooker. I think (and this is my own opinion of women) those that dress casual feel comfortable and over all look better, especially when in a high stress job like nursing. But comfortable people are also comfortable to get along with, for the most part.

For the record, I work out of my home and although very few people see me, I wear tshirts and flannel pants or shorts all the time while I work. I am much more likely to get the job done when I am comfortable. I don’t wear undies and if I am not outside of my house I am without a bra. This does not make my work any less worse than if I were to sit here in my Dockers and a nice shirt. In fact I would probably be pulling and getting ansty about my clothing rather than the job at hand.

When I worked as an IT manager a couple of years ago, I didn’t hesitate to wear jeans and most often did. When a server went down or a virus hit, being concerned about my clothes was the last thing I was concerned about. My concern was getting my job done in the manner it should be. My client never cared, there were times they would call me up when I was asleep and all they wanted was their equipment up and running. I would throw on my Broncos hat, a tshirt and my jeans, rush to my client and get the problem resolved. I was respected, I got the job done in a timely manner and got paid good money for it. They didn’t complain and if they did I would ask them if it my job would have been done quicker had I stopped to take a shower, primp, put makeup on and spritz perfume on. I think not. It’s not about looking like you stepped off a runway, it’s about how you do your job and frankly the ideals for women today are crude and annoying. I would rather be natural and on the go rather than worrying about my hair, my makeup and that I don’t have a wrinkle on my clothes. I have other problems to worry about than to worry if people are concerned about what I look like.

Hell I went through a hellacious bout with acne. My face is scarred but it was a horrible thing to go through, something I couldn’t control. The last damn thing I was concerned about was how people would think about my clothes. Having a scarred (that would be scars as I am unsure of the correct spelling) is far worse than wearing clothing that isn’t in or professional or whatever. You live with it every damn day of your life, it’s there all the time. So what a person is wearing is less important to me than what can happen if you experience a disfiguring issue like acne.

Oh and to Francis E Dec, Esq one last thought.

You seem to have this “looksism” thing going on. I would worry more that my nurse didn’t know what the fuck she was doing rather than what she looks like. Hell I would rather have a nurse that looks like she’s had a rough day than a nurse that is dumb as a stick in dog shit and didn’t know where to place the needle in my vein. Your idea of “professionalism” may be clouded by your need to look at legs or other body parts.

Get over it and realize that many of what’s been said here is truth. Comfort is key and in addition, my doctor is a family practice, treating everyone from little kids to the oldest people on Earth. You can’t please everyone and we don’t live in the 1950s anymore. And, when a family practice involves children and elderly patients I assume the job is more difficult than you might imagine. Walk in their shoes for a week and I bet you would change your tune a lot.

I almost forgot to add, I have seen nurses in typical doctors offices that wear Dockers and nice shirt with a name tag. I agree with what was said earlier, it does depend upon the requirements of the employer. If you are so adament about a nurse wearing scrubs, why not bring it up to your doctor and take some action rather than whining about it on a message board. That or look for a doctor’s office that meets your requirements.

122

Holy shit… that was meant to say, “This does not make my work any worse than if I were to sit here in my Dockers…”

I do websites and my proof reading skills are not quite that fast. I usually wait a day before I upload my sites for good reason. Oh, and I am not sure that sentence I just reworded makes sense but it’s the gist of what I am saying, I guess.

123

Hospital administrator?

Anyway, I think the scrubs look more professional than the starched whites and bonnets do. While I realize that they’ll all do everything they can to help me, the ones in scrubs look like their ready to jump in with both hands no matter how messy of an emergency I’m having.

Besides, the X-ray tech who dealt with me on Monday was cute as hell in her scrubs.

124

Since I forgot to in my previous post, I just wanted to add that I agree with the other posters who’ve been saying how nurses work damned hard and are generally wonderful. (I’ve dealt with a few real bitch nurses in my experience - ones the other nurses complain about too - but most of them are great.) Jobs are tough to find in the US right now, but if you check the want ads, there are a ton of positions for nurses open. My hospital is paying bonuses to the employees who recommend nurse candidates that get hired, as well as to the new nurses. It’s because nursing positions generally are underpaid, with crap hours, and you work like a dog for little recognition. A doctor I used to work for always said that nurses and other support staff were the real lifeblood of a hospital, that nothing would get done if it was just doctors and administrators, but that things would mostly run if it were the other way around. He learned as a resident to always treat nurses well - and being a genuinely nice person, he did anyway. I’m not a nurse, but I respect the hell out of them for how hard they work.

125

I’m an RN, I work in a busy ICU, and I have been wearing scrubs for many years, as have my colleagues. I’ve been doing this long enough to remember the “all whites” days, and I’m grateful for the change. Scrubs are so much more practical and comfortable, as many have stated. They can be as professional-looking as you like, or as casual as you like.

One big advantage no one has mentioned is the reduction in patient anxiety. Many patients, especially children and the elderly, react to all white with an elevation in their anxiety. “Oh, what are they going to do to me now?” I think a nurse dressed in attractive colors and pleasant patterns is less threatening in most cases.

I must acknowledge, however, that there is one downside, at least from the patient’s perspective. In the old days you always knew who the nurse was. All white, and a cap. That projected a certain image. Care giver, TLC. Today you’re not certain who is who: nurse, housekeeper, lab tech, radiology tech, respiratory tech, all wear scrubs. We depend on nametags (hanging from a clip that is easily flipped over), and on people introducing themselves and their role each time they interact with patients. So I can understand that a lot of patients wish we all still wore white. I don’t know what the solution is, unless it would be color-coded scrubs institution-wide. I hope not, because I like my collection of different patterned scrubs.

126

A) During the extended time ScottiFamily spent in the hospital…over a three year period, and we were thinking of donating a wing…(establishing credibility here)

B) We encountered MANY nurses. Some of them were angels. They wore scrubs. Some of them were NOT so nice. They wore scrubs, too. NEWS FLASH!!! SCRUBS LOOK LIKE PAJAMAS!!!

I don’t know what your problem is, although I suspect.

I would however like to make it clear that most nurses are dedicated individuals who are working their tails off to care for the ill, the infirm, the aged…most of those nurses could tell you very tragic stories about the people they care for.

In short, what the Sam Hill is YOUR problem?

127

OOPS…I was directing my post at the OP, sorry.

128

Gytha, I showed my wife that Nurstoon link last night and she stayed up way late laughing like an idiot at them. So much so that she actually looked at the clock and said “Damn, I’m not going to get enough sleep for my 7:00 shift.” :smiley: She and I both thank you profusely for the great link!

129

This thread brought up a very clear mental image of my Mum. I’ll never forget how beautiful she was in her lovely uniform, with her little cap, and tiny upside down watch on her blinding white uniform. She was tremendously smart looking, and she did define for me what a nurse looked like.

I’ve talked to her about it though, and those cute shoes hurt terribly by the end of the day, it was a pain to bend over in those little dresses, and keeping everything clean was a nightmare. She would have been much happier to forget about her clothes a bit and just deal with helping her patients and fending off psychotic matrons.

I’m all for nice clothes, I wear skirts and heels to my tech position here, and I do just fine with hucking servers about and so forth. However, when I know that there’s going to be a lot of crawling about under things and climbing server racks, I wear pants of course. I hardly think that it would be very professional of me to have to show my undies at every opportunity, and I would think that nurses don’t want to show theirs either. I would much prefer to see nurses with scrubs on who are comfortable and can focus on care giving, than some poor sod trying to help a patient with one hand and wrench his or her pantyhose back into place with the other(if the female nurses have to wear skirts and hose, the males should have to as well…since it’s so comfy and practical).

Although I would like to see everyone dress elegantly at all times, perhaps something could be done about those pesky fire fighters and their choice of attire. Surely they could slip on something more formal under those unsightly rubberized coats and air tanks? I can just picture the dashing entrance they would make in tie and tails, that would be guaranteed to increase the general public’s respect for their heroic work.

130

Yes, I admit, this used to be me, but things have changed…now I have fantasies about nurses in SCRUBS! wooyeah!

131

No offense Guin, but…

I disagree with what she’s said on this thread, but I don’t agree with bringing other unrelated threads into it. She’s entitled to have her opinion, without having people bring up something off topic to try to burn her.

Btw, I would wear scrubs every day of my life if I could. I’m not a nurse, but if my company would let us, that’s what I’d do. Scrub pants and a snug t-shirt is one of the sexiest things ever–at least that’s what the bf thinks.

132

I hope I didn’t miss a point here, but one other factor that may have escaped the attention of Asswipe, Esq. (referring, of course, to his extensive experience with attending to patient bodily functions) is the significantly increased workload many nurses have. My godmother is recently retired from pregnancy/neonatal ICU in a large West Coast city. Her patients were all high-risk pregnancies and births - diabetic, multiple births, you name it. When she started in the early 80s, the standard was 4 patients per nurse, because these patients require so damn much help. By the time she retired - partly out of exhaustion - it was up to 8. And that’s rippled throughout the system.

Part of the problem, of course, is that back in the 1930s that you seem to miss so much, hospitals didn’t have to pay nurses much because it and teacher were the only two truly respectable women’s professions. Now that, god forbid, women have more choices, there’s a terrible “nursing shortage” as (primarily male) hospital administrators discover that women are no longer willing to undertaking backbreaking labor for low wages.

133

Well, maybe so, Indygrrl, but don’t you find it a tad bit hypocritical of her to say wearing scrubs is unprofessional, when she’s carrying on like that?

I certainly do!

134

The OP probably wouldn’t approve of my mam’s nursing attire (she’s works for Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, for…ten years? Damn, I don’t remember!). She used to be a float nurse, and is now head nurse of the Hemato-something department. I don’t remember what it’s called, and hell if I can find it.

She’s been known to wear scrubs when she was a float nurse. She’s been known, more often, to wear whites, though. But…let me explain, in detail, her attire.

No cap. She looks silly in them, even if she won’t agree.
Hair neatly trimmed into a pixie style cut, but she’s got straight hair so it’s fine, damn her.
Minimal make up.
No perfume (some people are allergic to what’s in them).
Watch.
No rings.
No necklaces.
No earrings (no pierced ears).
White shirt that is not a T-shirt but is not a polo shirt.
White slacks OR white knee length shorts.
If shorts, white tights (not hose).
If slacks, white socks.
White shoes.

I do not believe I ever saw her in a skirt.

Her attire made her no less efficient in her job, but since she was also a Japanese translator, she wore white for their benefit, not hers.

Of course, if I may say so myself, she looks good in white.

Though I may aspire to be like my mother, I never shall be close…I love my mam. :stuck_out_tongue:

135

Excellent point. When my husband was coming out of general anasthesia, he barfed all over a nurse. He felt terrible about it. She told him not to worry about it, that it wasn’t his fault and that she’s used to it. Then she reappeared in fresh scrubs. That all made him feel better about vomiting on her.

I can only imagine how he would have felt if he had barfed all over a white dress. Not only is a white dress obviously harder to clean and he would have felt worse about giving her a harder cleaning job, but the nurse may have been annoyed that her fancy dress got ruined, and that annoyance may have come through.

I’m sure the nurse wasn’t exactly thrilled that my husband vomited all over her, but the convenience of the scrubs made it easy for my husband not to feel embarrassed about it.

136

Australian nurses are very unlikely to be in scrubs outside operating theatres. Most hospitals have a corporate uniform of their own design but this gives a rough idea of the styles in play.

137

Heck, I should have used that – the hospital I work at uses every one of those uniforms. :slight_smile: