A Maximum BMI for nurses

[soapydopeybubbles]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/21/how-public-thinks-nhs-should-change/

According to the Telegraph one of the most popular ideas for improving the NHS is to have a maximum BMI for nurses. This is from the website set up for suggestions but also continues in the comments for the article.

I'm a neonatal nurse and I am classed as obese. I wear L/XL scrubs and I'm a dress size 14-16.

Does the public honestly think that I'd be a better nurse if I was thinner? Or, as written in the comments, if I wore a cap and apron, had no tattoos and didn't dye my hair?

I'm a large woman but I'm pretty sure I wasn't magically better and making up complex medications, changing ridiculously tiny nappies and resuscitating sick newborns when I was rather thinner than I am now.

I can see why people might have the opinion that if we're giving out health advice we should lead by example but it's mainly the doctors giving the advice and the nurses doing the hands on caring.

I just don't understand why there seems to be such a focus on how a particular staff group looks, rather than the actual issues in the NHS.

AIBU?

I'd love to see the lawsuit on this! Massive sex discrimination payout not to mention the inappropriate use of BMI.

Surely it’s about being physically fit enough to do the job rather than about looks? But BMI alone doesn’t tell you anything about a person’s fitness so it’s still a bollocks idea.

It's the Telegraph, just ignore it.

IME, the role of a community nurse is not physically demanding - they are mainly concerned with assessments, changing wound dressings, emotional support to people, reporting back to district nurses for any further action.

@setmestraightplease In between catheter changes, nephrostomy care, Picc line care and disconnecting chemo therapy, dealing with complex wounds that require NPWT, palliative care, doppler assessments and compression bandaging, draining pleural effusions and abdominal ascites, I have been known to change the odd dressing

It's called goady shite and best ignored.

I don't mind being given weight-loss advice by a fellow fat person. I'm in my 50s and have always been fat and know what I should be able to do to reduce it. An overweight HCP likewise knows they are overweight and what to do about it, and knows that I know the theory, too, after 50 years of hearing it. None of it is news to either of us. Their job is to give me advice, not to demonstrate their marvellous thinness, and I prefer to receive that advice from someone who has the same struggles as I do, rather than from some snotty, skinny, 'massive salad'-eating, lollipop head who regards me with revulsion and disdain.

I believe the workload of the NHS makes it hard for staff to maintain healthy weight. So how is penalising overweight staff going to help? Ps, are you sure 14/16 is obese?

A 14-16 could be obese if you're quite short. I'm 5ft8 and currently a size 18(ish) and I'm obese. Only just, my bmi is 30.5 but it's still classed as obese.

That's not to say someone with that BMI cannot manage being a nurse. I work in a hospital and I spend all day running around and up and down stairs and I manage just fine, thanks.

I don't want to move or exercise when I get home but I cope at work without any issues, even when carrying heavy equipment around.

If anything I'm coping less well after loosing weight because I'm in a calorie deficit and therefore have less energy to spend on moving around.

Hilarious concept. Wd already employed mostly women into these underexposed and underpaid posts, why don't we reduce the numbers even more 😂

It absolutely is.

How and why people can’t see that I cannot begin to fathom.

I think with so many avenues for discrimination shut down these days, ( which I agree with), this leaves behind a group who itch to discriminate as part of their very nature so they have to direct their proclivities with full force at obesity because it is one of the last remaining discriminatory outlets sanctioned by society.

I’m always a bit repulsed by how predictably posters will try to shut down use of words like wrinkly or scrawny on these threads discussing things like “grossly overweight” and muffin tops because thin people don’t deserve such awful language. The hypocrisy inherent in the weight threads is rife.

Very well said . “ Their job is … not to demonstrate their marvellous thinness.” 😂

Oh don’t even start! You’ll bring out the “ society has lost track of what healthy looks like. Ribs should be protruding” brigade, who, I might add, ply their craft with no thought whatsoever for those with body image struggles and eating disorders.

Oh the irony. “Not holier than thou about it” my substantial hypothyroid arse.

Maybe it’s your knee-jerk attitude that you are being lectured not advised that is the problematic issue here.

Anyway when do all these fat lectures take place? I’ve never walked into a hospital and been cornered by a nurse telling me to lose weight. I’m guessing it’s when operation waitlists mean the hospitsl has to save face by saying “ well you need to lose weight first anyway,” in which case the issue is the patient’s “wait” not the nurse’s weight.

It can be quite galling to have a clearly overweight medical professional tell you to lose weight and that will fix a lot of your problems.

But that sort of thing just makes me smirk internally. I know I have a medical condition which makes weight loss very difficult if left untreated. I'd assume that the nurse may have similar condition or be grabbing a quick snack between patients and long shifts which means healthy eating plans aren't always achievable. It boggles my mind that the nhs as an organisation doesn't permit structure to practise what they preach, with proper rest breaks. Access to gyms etc.

At least my work facilitates gym use every lunch time, with a mandatory hour lunch break, ranging from yoga to circuits. We also have a monthly wellbeing hour where we are encouraged to participate in sport or other mindfulness activities.

Thing is society wants these perfect, slim nurses who 'practice what they preach' but they also want the nurses to not take the breaks because someone is pressing their buzzer, there aren't enough staff and the patients should come first, to work the 12 hour shifts, to work the night shifts, provide flawless care (and then the unpaid overtime to get everything done) but then to eat well, take exercise and get enough sleep as well - so they can do it all again the next day but be thin while they do it.

You can't have a culture where hcps are not given the time and resources to look after themselves, an attitude where they must come last in every scenario and put everyone & everything else above their own wellbeing and then be surprised that the hcps are not looking after themselves and one of the results is obesity and the health issues that brings.

I mean sure, let's get rid of all the overweight hcps. That's what the NHS needs, less nurses. What a smashing idea. Let's not look to change the culture that has led to this in the first place, let's just rid ourselves of the concequences of it and carry on regardless.

I think this is the answer, really. A sort of nostalgic, cartoon version of what people think a nurse looks like. Probably somewhere around 1962.
Tattoos at that time would have been an absolute no-no and dyed hair, similarly. Some people are of the same mindset now. before anyone jumps down my throat, DD has both tattoos and green hair.

The problem is that the NHS is getting the messaging wrong. People taking umbridge at an OW nurse discussing weight loss would be no more receptive to it from a thin nurse, because the problem is what is being said, not the appearance of the speaker. All that's happening with OW nurses is their appearance provides an easy target for the offended to lash out in retaliation.
Rather than trying to change the messenger in the hopes the audience will be receptive, they need to change the message. The general consensus is that vanishingly few OW people need to be told they are OW, that being OW carries a health risk, or that diet management and excercise are the first resorts to address being OW. If a person is OW its reasonable to assume they know all this but are OW despite it. So the solutions are trying to address the wrong problem.
It would be a great deal more helpful to offer a dialogue starting with, "Would you like to discuss any issues around diet?" And address this to everyone. Because there are plenty of other issues people may have related to food and nutrition that isn't just about being OW, like diet in menopause, or diet to manage specific health conditions.

ManyATrueWord · Today 07:41

I'd love to see the lawsuit on this! Massive sex discrimination payout not to mention the inappropriate use of BMI”

How is is sex discrimination?

I've said this before, as a tubby woman, I would rather discuss my weight with an overweight nurse than a slim one because I feel like there would be less jugement from an overweight nurse as clearly they understand the struggle.

Or they could take their own food! Flask of soup or pasta or stew, fruit, nuts, healthier snacks. No fridge or microwave needed. Why go to work knowing that the only food options available are snacks from a vending machine? Many, many people take their own food to work. It’s cheaper too.
Not having time to eat is another matter, but again one that many in other walks of life ate affected by too.

Of course it’s not about being physically fit. Why on earth would you think that motivated these comments.

Flat out misogyny is the problem here, hence the focus on a largely female professional group.

That’s great advice! Amazing that you make this work for you around 12+ hour night shifts, how many years have you been doing them for now?

Well I actually keep an oily rag in my pocket and sniff it.

I’m having an operation in a couple of days and don’t give S……t what the staff’s BMI is as long as they know their job and look after me with gentleness, skill and kindness, which I am sure they will!

I admire all the professionals in our NHS and think they deserve more recognition.