overweight doctors?

[trixie123]

AIBU to think the junior dr on BBC3's fly on the wall programme would be more effective, especially on his placement as an emergency dr if he could move around at speed without huffing and puffing and dripping sweat everywhere? And no I don't know if he has a condition which causes him to be overweight but as a general point, should they perhaps be "modelling" good health a little more?

not seen it .... but i have to say every nurse / midwife i've ever met / known smokes - so go figure

i work amongst many many nurses. lots of them smoke and a few are hugely overweight... i doubt the patient's whose lives they occasionally save are any less grateful because of it.

YANBU.

I work in a hospital and regularly am at how many seriously overweight people work as frontline healthcare workers. Not just overweight people actually, but people who are overweight and still putting on weight.

Last week I covered a ward that I'd not been on for several months and was to see that the sister (who has been overweight for the 5 years that I've known her) has put on lots more weight. She was wearing leggings with her sisters tunic and had a large fold of flesh hanging down from her abdomen which was underhanging the bottom of her tunic. She is morbidly obese and a sister of an acute medical ward.

i was more concerned about him doing venepuncture minus any gloves TBH

Who cares as long as he is good at his job.

Don't be so silly, it has bugger all to do with how he does the job. I don't give a toss how much my healthcare professionals weigh, just as long as they know what they're talking about.

I wouldn't give a sod whether a doctor had the BMI of Kate Moss as long as I got good medical care-I'm a bit strange like that

if his weight prevents him doing his job YANBU. if not then YABU. being a healthy weight is not part of his contract.

I agree that it's not part of his contract to maintain a healthy BMI, but surely a healthcare professional should portray a healthy image?

Glad someone else noticed the venepuncture! One rule for doctors...

Oh stop being so bitchy.

Do as I say not as I do I guess.

I am a doctor. I do venepuncture without gloves on. I clean my hands first. This is as clean as using non sterile gloves (which is what people who wear gloves for venepuncture wear) if not cleaner.

Wearing gloves reduces your sensitivity and makes it harder to find veins to take the blood from. So to my mind this makes me MORE likely to get a needlestick injury.

Therefore wearing gloves doesn't help protect either me OR my patients. Moreover there is nothing stating that doctors should wear gloves (and I have worked in the same trust as the doctors in the programme you are talking about)

And while I get the principle behind what the OP is saying if you only want people in the NHS who are not over or underweight, don't smoke, don't drink more than the recommended amount of alcohol, always wear sunscreen, eat the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day etc etc blah blah then there would probably be about 1 left.

By the same tune should we refuse to treat people whose conditions could be deemed self inflicted by lifestyle choices? Eg smokers with lung cancer? I don't think so! So cut the doctors and nurses some slack - its how they do their job that matters not what they look like / what lifestyle choices they make

I've got a feeling I would hate that one person who was left YelloDino

yd I agree wearing gloves makes it more difficult.Also trying to stick tape on the gauze afterwards!

Have manager who would go loopy if found us not wearing gloves and is policy here.Also horrid disposable tourniquets,they are crap.

Agree with your other points:)

What a lovely gastro consultant

Enjoying this series.Poor junior docs,they work horrendous hours,with little support,esp at night.

My dh is a clinical oncologist, is overweight and smokes. His speciality is

Lung cancer.

not trying to be bitchy - genuine question. I am a teacher and there are endless threads on here about how outrageous it is if a teacher spells something wrongly or speaks poorly. Is an unhealthily overweight dr not a similar issue? (IF it affects him doing the job which in some instances it could and IF part of their job is advising on healthy eating and lifestyle)

YellowDinosaur I completly agree. In an ideal world none of us would be overweight, we are all aware of how to stay healthy but how many of us abide by every single rule. Is the OP asking all NHS staff to be some kind of godlike humans?

Health professionals are human too

Hmm, Interesting. I was going to start a thread posing this very question, so forgive me OP if I hijack a little...

Took DS to the docs today. Saw a new GP. She was quite young, probably no more than 30, and very nice BUT she was very overweight. I mean seriously obese. I just kept thinking, if I had come to you for some kind of blood pressure advise, or heart disease, or something which could be diet related, could I take you seriously? I just thought she wasn't a very good advert for a health care professional tbh.

I know many medics smoke and drink and I admit, I judged her on her appearance although she was actually very helpful. So not sure what to think, really.

Is it a case of physician heal thyself?

How judgmental are you? Is everyone in your line of work thin and non-smoking? I would be looking for a good diagnosis myself - I don't give a stuff if they're overweight. After all, it is their private life.

How do you know that these people havent just lost weight?

I've been watching it too, and perhaps you could turn it round that the less than godlike health professionals are better at their job because they've lived and can give more realistic advice out?

It's all very well saying you need to lose weight/stop smoking, but if you're like that yourself, you know you need to do more than just peddle standard NHS advice.