Overweight and Working in Healthcare

miss_melissa_

Hi Everyone,

I am a second year graduate student pursing a Master of Health Administration. As a student who will be applying for jobs next year, I feel an urgency to have my body reflect the health I promote. I also believe I am judge negatively for wanting to work in healthcare, but being overweight. I know some healthcare organizations outlaw employees smoking because of its negative health outcomes. Yet, hospitals don't regulate obesity in the same fashion.

I was wondering if anyone on MFP works in healthcare? If so, do you feel as if you are judged due to your weight?

As for people who do not work in healthcare, do you frown upon overweight healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, therapist, etc.)?

allshebe

I would definitely have trouble taking a doctor, PA or nurse seriously if they started lecturing me about losing weight and they weren't in a more or less normal weight range (a little "fluffy" might get a "by", but up in the obese range of appearance, I don't think so).

pippywillow

I graduated summa cum laude from a medical assisting program a while ago and it took me two years to find a job in healthcare. I got 20 interviews but it never went any further than that. I finally got a job as a phlebotomist. Looking back now I bet me being overweight had a lot to do with it.

msurads06

I work in healthcare as a Radiologic Technologist. I am not "over weight", but I work with several people who are. From what I have seen I think that those who are truly overweight or even morbidly obese are not able to provide patient care as effectively as someone in a more "ideal" weight. The physical demands and mobility/flexibility are more difficult for my overweight/obese coworkers. From my own personal experiences with co workers I don't know if I would hire someone who was truly overweight/obese.

For an administrative position it would be different, mostly sedentary, not as much walking, lifting, pushing/pulling, etc. so I wouldn't find it as important.

I do prefer medical professionals who "practice what they preach" when it comes to my physicians, if a doctors smokes, or is overweight, I would be much less likely to go to them as a patient. Its hard to take advice from someone who doesn't do what they are telling you to do.

kar328

I'm going to go a little in the opposite direction. I'm a nurse and I'm overweight, my BMI puts me in the obese category. I work in a delivery room, it can be very physical. Yes, it affects me in that I sometimes crawl out of there after a hectic shift, but so do the younger and thinner nurses. I've been doing this for 27 years. And while I may be tired and my back hurts, the seriousness of the job makes sure I don't get lazy, if there's an emergency, I'm there.

Now, as a patient, I've had many family practice doctors over the years. I've gotten the weight loss lecture more times than I can count. I know that medical school training doesn't spend much time on nutrition/weight loss etc.I also have a hard time listening to weight loss advice from someone who weighs 110 lbs and has never been fat a day in her life. Most of them don't get it. I left one doctor who suddenly got really rude about it on one visit and spoke to me in a highly inappropriate way when the scale showed I gained a few pounds since the last visit. This was a woman who wore her skinny jeans home after giving birth. While I realize doctors can't know what it's like to have every medical issue for their patients, I've always had a hard time listening to those who are thin/slender and don't have a clue on something that's this emotional/physical/mental.

Mokey41

I also have a hard time listening to weight loss advice from someone who weighs 110 lbs and has never been fat a day in her life.

Because a thin person would have no idea what is required to maintain a healthy weight? Because a thin person might be able to offer you some insight on how to eat properly to be a healthy weight? I don't buy that you have to have been fat to understand. If you're overweight and can't get a grip on your weight then you have a mental issue and should be seeking some help from a professional rather than saying thin people don't "get it".

To the OP: from observation I find that overweight healthcare providers are less likely to go the extra mile for patients. My mother is in a long term care facility and if she rings for assistance you're more likely to have one of the thinner PSW's show up while the heavier ones are parked behind the desk. I met with the dietician who is very overweight which makes me wonder about her meal planning although maybe she just doesn't practice what she preaches although seeing her does make me go "Hmmm".

goldmay

I don't work in health care, I'm a pre-med, and I think it's important for providers to set a good example for patients by living a healthy lifestyle. I get what you mean though about feeling judged; I haven't told anyone about my career goals yet and don't think I plan to until I get to a healthier weight. My fear is that being overweight is going to associate me with being lazy, careless having no self control, etc.

As a patient I find that I am more able to trust providers who are at a healthy weight because they appear more healthy; I can assume that they are more likely to have good judgement in how to take care of me because they know how to take care of themselves (studies have even shown that overweight doctors are less likely to bring up weight loss with patients than doctors of a normal weight). I only really think this way for doctors, nurse practitioners, etc. who make more decisions on my behalf than others in allied health. However I wouldn't mind if I found out that they're actively trying to lose weight. In that case, they'd be kind of inspiring since we'd have something in common.

okcat4

I do work in healthcare. I know people look down on overweight folks. Now that smokers have been properly humiliated, they have moved n to overweight. Many insurances are also charging higher premiums if you smoke and will help with some weight lose programs ( WW and other more moderate ones).I will not be surprised to see higher premiums for obesity in the future. Again it is a case of not fully understanding each person is different and has to have the issue addressed individually, when they are able to and ready.

Look at Change theory for more info on deciding if it is really that easy, we would all be skinny if it was. Also, many fail to realize the stress and crappy hours direct care medical staff deal with ( including lab staff, housekeeping, etc). Lots of info on stress and weight.

Keep taking care of yourself in your chosen field, we need lots of good people. You weight will chafe and as your health improves, it will show. You can use your experience to help others when they are stuck.

michellechawner

I used to work as an Emergency Medical Tech in my county. But it seems as an EMT you're either super fit and healthy or super big. Because of the fast paced life style you're always on the go, eating as fast as you can, and eating whenever you can. I don't think I was looked at negatively - at my largest I was 167. I knew some people over 300 working in the field.

My mother was also overweight for some time and finally pursued her passion and became a medical assistant. She is not as overweight now (she was 235, now she's about 165) and she uses her weight loss journey as a way to talk with patients. She is diabetic, but now off most of her medication and they always ask if she has the lap band. Her claim to fame is no, it was diet and hard work. No surgery, no magic pills, no special potion. Just good old fashioned hard work and eating right.

I do think as a provider it's different than working in administration. When you are more face to face with patients and telling them they need to watch what they eat or keep their weight in balance, who are they more likely to believe? The fit healthcare provider or the person who is just as overweight as them and not fixing their own issues (ie taking their own advice?) I would see it like "well dr. so-and-so is telling me to lose weight but she should really look in the mirror!).

The truth is - if you're qualified for the job, you should get it. Not saying that's how it really is out there (there were many medical jobs i was qualified for) but i'm sure didn't get because I didn't know someone, or I was a little chunkier, or they didn't accept my field experience as "real" experience".

supplemama

As for people who do not work in healthcare, do you frown upon overweight healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, therapist, etc.)?

YES

One of my doctors has a morbidly obese nurse and when this doctor was explaining how my (then) obesity caused my (then) health issues, I so wanted to yell Tell it to your big a** nurse who can barely walk! This same nurse, upon seeing me last month, actually asked ME how I lost weight. lol WUT?? You are a nurse! You KNOW what to do! My goodness. And then her face fell just like everyone else's when I said portion control and exercise. I found that to be very sad.

FitnSassy

As for people who do not work in healthcare, do you frown upon overweight healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, therapist, etc.)?

My doctor also has a very, very obese nurse who has to roll around in her chair in the office to do her job. I never say anything, and I don't mean to judge, but YES, she is "frowned upon!" I don't even trust her work. How can you help me, if you won't help yourself? I'm not saying that people in healthcare have to be perfect, but at least make health your priority!

pattya925

This. I am a nurse and in patient rooms, esp. rooms with two beds, I often have to squeeze between equipment, twist and contort my body to be able to reach the equipment/outlets/etc. (Our rooms were definitely NOT designed by floor nurses!) I am 5'6" and 155 and sometimes it's a tight fit. I have no clue how even larger people are able to do it!

I work in healthcare as a Radiologic Technologist. I am not "over weight", but I work with several people who are. From what I have seen I think that those who are truly overweight or even morbidly obese are not able to provide patient care as effectively as someone in a more "ideal" weight. The physical demands and mobility/flexibility are more difficult for my overweight/obese coworkers.

141by2016

I am just about to finish my first year of medical school, and this is something I think about a lot. I do worry that my patients won't listen to me, that they will make my issues theirs and visa versa. That's part of why I am here, and when I do lifestyle counseling I will be sharing my personal struggle with them, that it is hard, and that trying honestly and focusing on health over a particular number. I hope that people will judge me on my skills when hiring, because I know that between my history, genetics, and stress load, my weight is going to be a life long struggle.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that health care workers are more prone to alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, divorce, and a plethora of behavioral issues and isolation. In a lot of ways, the way we are asked to live feeds out lacks of health. I am actually in the process of getting a healthy lifestyles FOR medical professionals course added to our curriculum.

Thanks for bringing the topic up: it is important!

lj8576

I am a respiratory therapist and I also work in a sleep lab so a lot of my patients are in the obese category and they are trying to get help for it. I guess it depends on what kind of medical advice they are trying to give.

BondBomb

My doctor is on the heavy side. When I wanted to discuss my difficulty in losing weight and perhaps undergoing thyroid testing she looked at me as if I had 3 heads and said 'you're fine'. Despite the fact that my BMI had me overweight at the time. I felt she had no concept of what overweight really looked like. But I keep her because she will give me a prescription for damn near anything

tehzephyrsong

My grandma works at a hospital, although she just works at the coffee stand and is not actually a medical practitioner of any kind, but even hospitality staff like her have been affected by the smoking bans and such. At least some hospitals are now starting to go after obesity, using office-wide Biggest Loser-type competitions and the like. My grandma has a pedometer and if she takes a certain number of steps per day, she gets a bonus of $50 at the end of the month, or something like that. I'm in support of measures like that, I have to say; I personally wouldn't trust a doctor in worse shape than I.

pattya925

I absolutely agree with you! The rotating shifts, length of shifts, lack of quality healthy food on site, rarity of actual lunch breaks all make it very difficult to make good choices. Most shifts I would just be happy to have the chance to pee once - sadly I often don't drink all day because I likely will be too busy to pee, let alone eat! Sometimes I remember to bring a lunch and eat a bite here and there... On days I forget, it is guaranteed that families will have brought cake and cookies or candy for staff.

I am just about to finish my first year of medical school, and this is something I think about a lot. I do worry that my patients won't listen to me, that they will make my issues theirs and visa versa. That's part of why I am here, and when I do lifestyle counseling I will be sharing my personal struggle with them, that it is hard, and that trying honestly and focusing on health over a particular number. I hope that people will judge me on my skills when hiring, because I know that between my history, genetics, and stress load, my weight is going to be a life long struggle.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that health care workers are more prone to alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, divorce, and a plethora of behavioral issues and isolation. In a lot of ways, the way we are asked to live feeds out lacks of health. I am actually in the process of getting a healthy lifestyles FOR medical professionals course added to our curriculum.

Thanks for bringing the topic up: it is important!

SoViLicious

My doctor is on the heavy side. When I wanted to discuss my difficulty in losing weight and perhaps undergoing thyroid testing she looked at me as if I had 3 heads and said 'you're fine'. Despite the fact that my BMI had me overweight at the time. I felt she had no concept of what overweight really looked like. But I keep her because she will give me a prescription for damn near anything

I love prescription happy doctors

maddienortonaus

I'm in med school and as someone earlier in the thread said, this is exactly why I'm here! I want to be a healthier weight so that patients don't think I'm hypocritical - if you're going to talk the talk you've got to walk the walk, right? Also, I'm only going to be 22 when I qualify as a doctor so I've been warned that patients will already be up in arms about me looking like a 'baby' so I don't want to give them anything else to worry about. That being said I do have Hashimoto's disease which makes it very hard for me to lose weight without medication (medication I can no longer take) so I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be despite my best efforts. So all in all, I'm going to try like crazy to be healthy so I can be a good role model etc. but I would hope my patients wouldn't judge me for being overweight.

jnuchaeli

I work in L&D so most of my patients are fluffy themselves. I have never been judged by my weight. I have lost 44 lbs over 1.5 years. I share that with my co-workers. If you are judged by your weight find another place to work. Be confident in what you do. If your not completely confident fake it. Nobody will know even if you are falling to pieces inside. Give God the glory. I tell my pt all the time that I would like to take the credit for doing such a good job but I am only the instrument for His work. Good luck to all.

udamom

"I also have a hard time listening to weight loss advice from someone who weighs 110 lbs and has never been fat a day in her life. Most of them don't get it. I left one doctor who suddenly got really rude about it on one visit and spoke to me in a highly inappropriate way when the scale showed I gained a few pounds since the last visit. This was a woman who wore her skinny jeans home after giving birth. While I realize doctors can't know what it's like to have every medical issue for their patients, I've always had a hard time listening to those who are thin/slender and don't have a clue on something that's this emotional/physical/mental.
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^^^ THIS. I am an RN also with 28 years in the feild. Have always been a bit overweight and more recently creeped up into the obese BMI. Got back into the overweight category here at MFP
I work with many tiny little asian co-workers who have never had to diet a day in their life and can eat me under the table!!
I had a tiny Dr who I know never weighed more than 120lbs tell me all I needed to do to lose weight was move more eat less....well really??? DUH! LOL
I think severe obesity in any workplace can make the persons job harder to complete. Hospital rooms are usually confined access so that can get challenging at times if trying to work next to a very large person.
Good luck to you original poster!! I hope you find a job you love :O)

lausa22

I'm overweight. Currently training as a nurse, working as a healthcare assistant and after my training im applying to do medicine to become a doctor.
Never has a day in work gone by where I haven't given 110% in my job and I never want that day to come. I love caring for people and helping them, my own weight has nothing to do with the care I provide. Although I will agree that if a healthcare professional is too big that they struggle for breath and are unable to carry out daily tasks then yes that is a problem. However that is EXTREMELY rare.
I've had patients tell me I look fine the way I am, I've had the older generation comment on that I look 'full figured' whether that's an compliment or not ill never found out. Then again if I weighed 100lbs the larger patients wouldn't listen to me because they would assume I didn't know what they were going through. I also got angry at my contraceptive nurse when she told me I needed to lose weight, I had just lost a stone and she still told me to lose weight because 'she lost weight and lost 7 stone in 6 months last year' whoop-de-do, good for you, your weight loss has nothing to do with mine I thought.

People are always going to pick holes in the healthcare service. Next it will be we aren't allowed to drink on the weekends because alcohol is bad for you, even though we only drink when we're not working. Then it'll be healthcare professionals eat too much fast food or what not. As long as what they are doing doesn't effect the care they give, it shouldn't matter.

runningjen74

I work in health care, but am not patient interfacing.

Looking at patients coming in is part of my motivation for losing weight. I can't do anything about my genetics, and some people have rotten luck and get some c"$py diseases....but others are caused by their lifestyle. I figure I should make the best out of the body I was given - end of. No more ifs ands buts, could have, should have, would have, ....Just do it. This isn't about me judging others and their lifestyle choices but trying to ensure that mine get the best out of me.

I've noticed my GP has put on weight over the last few years. But he's just a bit over weight. I would struggle a bit more with someone that was very obese. But they're human too, work long hours, often shift work, mine isn't to judge, but to focus on me and myself.

Athena53

I also have a hard time listening to weight loss advice from someone who weighs 110 lbs and has never been fat a day in her life. Most of them don't get it. I left one doctor who suddenly got really rude about it on one visit and spoke to me in a highly inappropriate way when the scale showed I gained a few pounds since the last visit. This was a woman who wore her skinny jeans home after giving birth. While I realize doctors can't know what it's like to have every medical issue for their patients, I've always had a hard time listening to those who are thin/slender and don't have a clue on something that's this emotional/physical/mental.

I can get that. I'm normal weight and have to work at it, but when I read stories here from people with bingeing and stress eating problems, I'm incredulous because I just don't have that tendency. I can see that it would be a lot easier for a doctor who's never had those problems to preach the good old "eat less, move more" without realizing that underlying issues make it more complicated than that. But, one of my big complaints about the health care system in this country is that it's heavily slanted towards quick fixes when sometimes 6 months to a year of counseling would solve the problem.

I do like to have a doctor who's oriented towards healthy living and prevention rather than a pill for everything, and typically they're thinner.

louloulou

I have been an RN for a decade now. I have always had a normal BMI. I have worked with ALOT of very overweight nurses, it seems like weight issues are more predominant in nursing (would be interesting if someone did some research on that!). I don't judge a nurse on her weight, I judge them on their performance. Your just as lightly to meet a hopeless skinny nurse as you are a heavy one.

Missyb322

I have been a nurse for 25 yrs and up until 5 yrs ago was overweight. I weighed 245# and worked 2 full time nursing jobs. I had such a bad complex about my wt and what people would think that I over did everything. I refused to have people think that I was fat and couldn't do my job. I went non-stop and did more than anyone else I worked with. I bent, lifted, pushed, squatted, transferred, etc. To be overweight with a BMI of 42 I was extremely active, worked 12 hr shifts 70-80 hrs a week. So basically you can not judge a book by its cover. I did more work than nurses half my size. Was I healthy? I'm sure I wasn't. Unfortunately it doesn't matter what you do for a living...if you are overweight, you will be judged.

kss1231

I do feel there is a bit of double standard. Unless I am dying I will not go to the doctor. The first thing out of his mouth is "you need to lose weight", I am very aware that I need to lose but it is not as easy as putting it on. Just once I would like the Dr. to comment on the few I have lost.

THICKandFIT

During undergraduate school I worked as a research assistant. The program was all about providing nutritional and physical education to older adults with Type II Diabetes. The researcher's were all women in their 40s/50s and they were all in incredible shape. Even the study participants (at least most of them) where thinner than I was/am.

Although no one ever mentioned my weight I did feel very self-conscious especially as I put on a few more pounds during the time I worked there. Perhaps the most sobering/frightening/uncomfortable thing was when I would file and sort participant's medical records. The action of moving a participant's file to a drawer reserved for those who had passed away during the duration of the story was a huge wake-up call for me. It was clear by looking at numerous patient's medical charts that those who remained obese and sedentary had many more health problems and were more likely to die early (50s-60s). I definitely didn't want that for myself.

So, to answer your question I did feel slightly judged. However, I'm happy I felt uncomfortable around women twice my age and half my weight. I am happy I could see, first hand, what the effects of poor nutrition and I am happy I decided to make a change.

I wish you the best of luck with the rest of school (go you) and your weight loss!

Cheers to long life and prosperity! :drinker:

lkcuts

Only if the are over weight and preach to me about losing it myself.. I work with a gal who is over weight and going to graduate from nursing school this fall. she has realized that she would promote bad health practices and is currently working on exersise and eating healthier. She has lost quite a bit so far and I respect her for it. She is a walking inspiration to me as she does hair 2 days a week, goes to school and has 2 kids. Being a single mom she also has to take her kids to sports practices etc. I figure as busy as she is and can still fit in exersise I have no excuse.

runlilyrun

Just to chip in - the thing about people always having been skinny - they know what it is to eat healthy and move and so on. They don't, however, know what it is to have to make a change.

jeansuza

Obesity has many causes. Advertisements, cultural background, environmental issues, hereditary traits and social expectations, among others, are putting equal pressure on both medical staff and population. Maybe even more so if I judge by most of the comments I read here.

Doctors and nurses may know what to do (and so do I, don't you?) to be healthy but it doesn't mean it is any less difficult for them than it is for you and me. If an obese doctor or nurse would tell me to lose weight, it would at least mean that they understand first hand what my problem is and that they can relate with me. It doesn't mean in the least that they are any less good or competent! Not at all!!! Come on! We don't judge a book by its cover!