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Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:21 am
by jmra

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:52 pm
by Bart
An employees physique should fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the job of a health care professional, including an appearance free from distraction for hospital patients, according to the policy.
Using the same standard, they could prohibit visible tattoos, visible piercing, large breasts, facial hair, etc.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:16 pm
by RottenApple
To some extent I agree with the basic idea. It's awfully hard to take seriously an obese doctor or nurse who lectures you on your own weight.

Then again, the whole height-weight chart is seriously messed up. I'm 5'11" and have a large frame and the height-weight chart says I should be about 160. Now, I've lost a lot of weight over the last 6 months (350 to 235), but 160 is plain ridiculous.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:20 pm
by 74novaman
RottenApple wrote: Now, I've lost a lot of weight over the last 6 months (350 to 235), but 160 is plain ridiculous.
Wow!! :shock: Congrats on your weight loss!!!

There are docs who smoke, overeat, drink excessively, do drugs, etc.

Like every other profession, there are certainly hypocrites in the field.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:49 pm
by matriculated
RottenApple wrote:Now, I've lost a lot of weight over the last 6 months (350 to 235), but 160 is plain ridiculous.
How in the world...? :shock: I wanna know. Spill it.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:20 pm
by Hoosier Daddy
A cardiovascular fitness standard would make more sense. There's a world of difference between someone carrying an extra 30 pounds of muscle and their twin carrying an extra 30 pounds of fat.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:44 pm
by snatchel
RottenApple wrote:To some extent I agree with the basic idea. It's awfully hard to take seriously an obese doctor or nurse who lectures you on your own weight.

Then again, the whole height-weight chart is seriously messed up. I'm 5'11" and have a large frame and the height-weight chart says I should be about 160. Now, I've lost a lot of weight over the last 6 months (350 to 235), but 160 is plain ridiculous.
LOL. I never passed the height/weight requirements in the military. I am 5'6, and around 165ish. In my heavy workout days, I weighed in around 170. At 5'6 I shouldn't be more than 140, according to the charts. Never gonna happen.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:08 pm
by mojo84
74novaman wrote:
RottenApple wrote: Now, I've lost a lot of weight over the last 6 months (350 to 235), but 160 is plain ridiculous.
Wow!! :shock: Congrats on your weight loss!!!

There are docs who smoke, overeat, drink excessively, do drugs, etc.

Like every other profession, there are certainly hypocrites in the field.

I remember meeting Dr. Denton Cooley on the elevator of St. Lukes hospital. He was carrying a McDonalds sack and a soft drink. I'd still let him be my cardiologist.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:33 pm
by SATX-Scrub
Since this is Victoria I'm really not surprised by this at all. I worked at the competition hospital down there for 15 years (DeTar), and it was one crazy rule after another. This is the same hospital that had trouble with the powers that be for their Indian doctor hiring practices. They call it the county hospital, but with a little research you'll find that it is the only county hospital in the state that makes a profit. Someone is gonna explain that to me some day.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:54 pm
by MasterOfNone
Is this like being too short to coach basketball? Or too out of shape to coach football?

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:59 pm
by C-dub
74novaman wrote: There are docs who smoke, overeat, drink excessively, do drugs, etc.

Like every other profession, there are certainly hypocrites in the field.
I thought the very same thing about doctors and nurses that smoke. They could prevent them from smoking at work, but I don't see how they can not hire someone just because they smoke. If they did, they would probably loose half their staff.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:14 pm
by matriculated
74novaman wrote:There are docs who smoke, overeat, drink excessively, do drugs, etc.

Like every other profession, there are certainly hypocrites in the field.
Point well taken. But I have to pick a bone about calling these people hypocrites. That they don't take their own advice and engage in various vices means only that they're human. It doesn't make them hypocrites unless they make moral judgments about their patients and other people who engage in such behavior. Doctors and RN's are required to dispense this advice as part of their jobs, and merely dispensing such advice while maybe engaging in such activities oneself does not a hypocrite make. They would be in dereliction of their duties if they did not dispense that advice, whatever their physical condition and habits may be. I work in healthcare and if I judged everyone around me by the standards you imply then 99% of the people surrounding me would be hypocrites in one way or another. Including me. We all just do the best we can and try to tell people the right thing without judging, regardless of our own habits.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:58 pm
by 74novaman
Mariculated: check out definition #2.
http://i.word.com/idictionary/hypocrite

It doesnt have to be a moral hypocrisy to be hypocritical behavior.

If doctors tell patients not to smoke, to exercise, to eat right because it's good for them..

It is hypocritical for them to not follow their own advice.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:08 pm
by Shasta
Bart wrote:
An employees physique should fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the job of a health care professional, including an appearance free from distraction for hospital patients, according to the policy.
Using the same standard, they could prohibit visible tattoos, visible piercing, large breasts, facial hair, etc.

many hospitals have and do limit tats and visible piercings. At one time, Memorial Hospitals (before they teamed up with Hermann, don't know what the rules are now) prohibited visible piercings body piercings, other than a single earring in each ear LOBE. They also limited the number of rings per hand to one (a wedding set counted as one) and the length of fingernails (this is actually the most reasonable, as it is an infectious disease risk)

Oh, but I came into the thread to note that Citizens is a "Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence"

Things that make you say 'hmmmmmm....'
"Well, we can't hire you right NOW, but if you let Dr. Skinnypants whittle away 60% of your stomach, you could be on the payroll by Halloween"

Anyway, not sure what the employment situation is there, but I know for sure that they're always BEGGING for qualified health care workers in El Campo, Bay City, Palacios, etc.

Re: Too fat to work at a hospital?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:19 pm
by matriculated
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