Does This Cap Make Me Look Fat?

I'm confused.

This ad to the left is okay? Three hunky men drop their scrub pants to the floor and look like they meant to do it. No outcry? (Except maybe whoa baby!) These could be nurses, you know! Or the ER doctor standing next to you. Or the OR doc in surgery.

I may never look at a ER doc the same way again (hey, I said I was confused, not stupid....).

The ad does not hint at the occupation, they just assume everyone will think they're doctors. They could be RNs, OR techs, ER techs.....

It didn't even make a ripple on the waters of opinion.

But this ad gets everyone all freaked and offended and gets pulled off the magazine pages as fast as you can say STAT.

Why?

I admit that I was instinctively offended at the Maidenform ad but demurely stated, "Oh my!" at the Jockey ad. Okay, okay, I said "Whoo Hoo!" but not so loud that my husband could hear me.

At least the ad depicts the Maidenform woman as a doctor and doesn't assume she's a nurse, whereas the Jockey ad leaves the occupation (and not much else) to the reader's interpretation.

You know, I don't think I would want to know who wears what underwear at work. Especially if it's a thong...who on earth would walk around with a permanent wedgie? Then again for some of us, any underwear becomes a thong during the course of a shift.....

Sometimes you can have too much information about your co-workers (and your bloggers).

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I want my "uniform" back.

I want my cap.

I know it sounds old-fashioned and stupid and archaic and pretentious and (fill in your own adjective here), but I want people to know I'm a nurse on sight.

It isn't enough to have a name tag with an official-sized font on it. Half the time it's backwards anyway.

Three times this week I had patients ask me, even after my initial introduction as "their" nurse, if I was an RN. After I said "yes" the next question was, "How long have you been doing this?"

Huh?

Almost thirty fargin' years, bub.

I said it nicer than that.

But I am going to make some changes. My blogging colleague over at Third Degree Nurse got me thinking more about looking professional and about scrubs and how we present ourselves to patients.

So, I'm switching to solid color scrubs. No Peanuts, Spongebob Squarepants, American Flags, strawberries - yes that is what graces my ample self. No wonder the adults have to ask if I am an RN. I look like a creature from "Adult Swim" on the Cartoon Network.

There is a local hospital that color-codes their employees and the nurses are obligated to wear white. At first I thought that to be a stupid decision by administration, but now I am not so sure. I'm not sure if I can really go back to all-white, but it really isn't a bad idea.

And the cap. I've worn it before. The patient's respectful behavior quadruples. The ribbing that I take from my colleagues is unbelievable. But every person who sees me knows I'm an RN. I may wear it again, it works with any solid color scrub. I graduated from Ohlone College so my cap has a thick green and thinner gold stripe across the top, which was the sign of a graduate waaaaay back when "What's Happenin'" was what was happenin'.

It's time for a professional makeover. And I don't need Trinny and Susannah from "What Not to Wear" to help me.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

By the way, I passed my ACLS/BLS recertification with flying colors and got 100% on the test.
I worried needlessly, it was a great class.

I took hold of my new cards and gleefully walked out the door of the facility, only to trip on the doorstop and fall on my butt.

So much for looking like a professional....