How many obese and overweight nurses do you see everyday?  You know, when you go to a big hotel and you see a convention of large women poorly dressed-- it is a Nurses convention.  Everytime you can pick them out.   Why do we do this to ourselves?  Can we start a National Movement to get nurses eating right, moving and fit?  This will translate to fewer sickdays, fewer back injuries, less diabeties, and an enhanced public image of our profession.  Can we stop wearing cutesy ill-fitting scrub tops?  OK ,Peds you can be cutsey but everyone else let's get a professinal looking uniform designed.  Colors that are professional, shoes that are CLEAN.  Nothing worse than a nurse coming to take care of you with dirty shoes, lowcut scrub top, obese and smelling bad.  Yes I have experienced this. Not just once either. When will we wake up and start taking ourselves seriously.  Start a National Movement for Nurse fitness and professionalism.!

Well, I do think you are generalizing just a bit. I for one am not obese and smelly. Nor do I wear dirty shoes. I work in an ER and do some agency, and actually can't recall (save a scant few) seeing nurses that you have described in this post. Yes, some were overweight, but just as many were in normal weight range and appeared professional.

Are you a male nurse? I'm just curious, b/c I used to work with a male NP who had a very similar opinion of nurses. He used to say nurses were small minded, tended to be overweight, and only cared about "free stuff" whenever there was a convention of nurses. I often wondered what made him have this seemingly superior attitude. After all, nursing was where he got his start.

Wow, smelly, fat and our fat lady outfits not fitting well!    It does sound like something a guy would say, honestly.     I dont wear scrubs that have scooby or micky and minnie on them.   We havent had cartoons on our scrubs in quite a long time  <I never worked peds>.    I do think positive reinforcment is better than insults, though. Oh............and who has the time to eat that often while on the clock?   We never do.  We hopefully get 10 minutes to inhale whatever we stuck in the microwave.

We're people, just like everyone else, with one of the most stressful jobs out there.  We have the reputation of eating our young; are we now going to embroider the letter O on the uniforms of obese nurses.  Try being supporting, instead of smug.

ckruszka says:

Well, I do think you are generalizing just a bit. I for one am not obese and smelly. Nor do I wear dirty shoes. I work in an ER and do some agency, and actually can't recall (save a scant few) seeing nurses that you have described in this post. Yes, some were overweight, but just as many were in normal weight range and appeared professional.

Are you a male nurse? I'm just curious, b/c I used to work with a male NP who had a very similar opinion of nurses. He used to say nurses were small minded, tended to be overweight, and only cared about "free stuff" whenever there was a convention of nurses. I often wondered what made him have this seemingly superior attitude. After all, nursing was where he got his start.

angienwgeorgia says:

Wow, smelly, fat and our fat lady outfits not fitting well!    It does sound like something a guy would say, honestly.

In the time that I have been on here, I have not reacted to the many posts that I've read and disagreed with.  I believe people are entitled to their opinions and the right to express them.  I have no intention of over-reacting to this post either, I merely want to say how offended I am by the sexist remarks that were made against men in this thread.

ckruszka's opening statement mentioned that the author was generalizing by saying that there was a multitude of unfit representatives as nurses.  I agreed.  I thought it was in poor taste to write those remarks in a public forum.  I just wanted to draw attention to the parallel between that generalization and the one ckruszka made about her experience with a sexist male NP and all other men.

There is one thing I am confident about; I would be run out of here on a rail (and rightfully so) if I made such sexist remarks on this site.  I have met many wonderful people on here, and 95% of them are women.  I have the utmost respect for everyone, even those that I disagree with. Can't we all just be civil?

Where do you work, where nurses have time to eat?  I work the floor for 12 hours, and I am lucky to get 2- 15 minute breaks.  I do wear scrubs that have flowers or like on them, and I don't feel guilty about it at all.  It's the only bit of personal expression that I get on the job.   I have one scrub top with doves on them.  I get many many pt's that say, that they took it as a sign from God, to wake up after surgery and have a nurse with a dove on it, that everything is going to be OK.  I'm glad it gives them a positive spirit, because that is often a big hurdle for many pts with serious injuries.   I've never had a co-worker, doctor, or pt complain that my free spirit scrubs in any  way diminished nurses.   BTW, after five kids, my girlish figure is gone.  I need a tummy tuck.    and liposuction. 

I don't look like Betty Boop in my scrubs but that does not make me unprofessional.  The same could be said about the ones with low cut tops to show the boobs off, skin tight pants, fake nails and with perfect hair and makeup that are afraid to get dirty.  I mean it goes both ways.  But the size or shape of a nurse should not matter.  What matters is if they are a good nurse.  And yes I have printed scrub tops because I have worked around kids.  I have worked in the ER and most of my patients wouldn't care if I had on blue jeans and a tee shirt as long as I take care of them.  And if my shoes are dirty (they didn't start out that way) it's because I work 3rd shift and I'm running 100mph and I've had every thing from pee to poop to blood drop on my feet.  And I don't remember the last time I ate any thing at work.  Who has the time? 

Ok................I apologize saying that it sounded like a guy would say that.................   I worked with a few male nurses who use to say mean things about overweight nurses we worked with.   Thing is..........the one he had refered to at that time was the coolest most efficient ER nurse in our facility..........if there was a call from the EMS that they were bringing in multi trauma's from a bad mva, this was the woman you would want on your team.  We get a code blue from any point in the hospital, she was the first person assessing the victem.........despite the incident if it was on the 4th floor.   So.........for male nurses, not that any our the male nurses on NL do this..........for future reference, checkout the nurse's skills and if she worlks like the one I worked with.............then you'd be blessed to have her.

SEAG says ...

As I posted, I didn't want to over-react and blow this out of proportion.  Not that anyone owed me anything, but I really respect and appreciate the explanations and apologies from both angienwgeorgia and ckruszka.  That speaks volumes about your character.  If I jumped to conclusions because I misinterpreted something in either/both posts, I apologize too.  As everyone knows, I am not the post police, and nobody answers to me.  My only intention is to have fun and learn as much as I can as I navigate my journey into the world of nursing.  Thanks to everyone that contributes to my education.

Thanks, I'm glad you pointed it out to me, as I was not intending to insult males in general. I actually enjoy working with male nurses.I have unfrotunately come across some like that NP that was always stating that nurses were stupid and petty. When I saw this post,it just brought back memories of that NP saying that. He was a smug jerk who had absolutely no respect for women.

I know nurses all vary in their beliefs, opinions, and yes appearances, but I like to think deep down we  respect each other rather than pointing out flaws such as sloppiness and weight problems. I mean if we don't do that, than how can we expect others to do the same?