http://nursingadvocacy.org/news/2008/mar/28_spanish_skirts.html
Wear skirts, caps and aprons...or lose 30 Euros
March 28, 2008 -- Recent reports say a clinic in Cadiz, Spain has told its nurses they will be docked pay if they fail to dress in "miniskirts." These reports seem to be partly inaccurate, as the Clinica San Rafael appears only to be requiring the nurses to wear traditional nursing outfits, with a modest-length skirt and cap. Still, this policy would force female nurses into a regressive outfit that suggests they are not modern professionals. We urge supporters to ask the clinic to reconsider its policy. And we thank our Spanish counterparts, the Association for the Recognition of Nurses in Society (ARES), which has investigated the issue for us.
Read more below or go straight to our letter-writing campaign.
Recent Spanish press pieces on the dress code include Nurses in skirts in Cádiz on the typicallyspanish.com website and Las enfermeras de una clínica de Cádiz denunciarán a la empresa si las obliga a usar falda in the March 25, 2008 edition of Publico. According to the reports, nurses who do not follow the code will lose 30 Euros of their pay each month. It appears that some of the US media viewed the Spanish reports and videos and mistranslated "skirt" as "miniskirt." See the video reports on "miniskirts" on ABC and Yahoo (by contrast, a CBS report refers only to "skirts"). The errors may have happened because video footage showed two nurses wearing different, shorter dresses. But the sanctioned Clinica San Rafael uniform (right) does not appear to include anything we would call a "miniskirt." In any case, we understand that the clinic believes the outfits are an important part of being a nurse.
We disagree. Forcing nurses to dress in this way undermines their efforts to convince society that they are modern professionals who save lives and improve outcomes with advanced education and skills. Given that we are in the midst of a critical global nursing shortage, we need fewer barriers to bringing smart, confident men and women into the nursing profession. Few wish to join a profession that appears to consist of women assigned to do regressive or subservient work.
This policy may also affect the health of the patients of Clinica San Rafael. Some may see women who dress in this fashion to be less educated than they really are, and less able to make critical decisions that make the difference between life and death. Nurses who do not appear knowledgeable cannot convince patients to follow their health care guidance. In addition, physicians may equate nurses who dress this way with servants, instead of colleagues, making it difficult for nurses to establish healthy working relationships. Lives depend on both patient education delivered by nurses and collegial relations with physicians.
In addition, reinstating the nurses' cap is unwise because research shows that caps increase the risks of deadly infection. Nurses' caps have largely disappeared because of this risk to patient health.
We hope that you will join us in sending a letter to the directors of Clinica San Rafael. Thank you.
Please send our instant letter or one of your own to the Clinica San Rafael! Thank you!
Read our letter in English before sending it in Spanish.
Tu tb puedes enviar un correo a los directivos de la clínica...
Clínica San Rafael
Dr. D. Jose Manuel Pascual Sanchez-Gijón
D. Antonio Martínez García, Dirección de Enfermería
D. Victor Cortezo Guitarte, Dirección Administrativa
C/Diego Arias, 2 - CádizSPAIN / ESPAÑA
amartinez@jmpascual.com
vcortezo@jmpascual.com
Wear skirts, caps and aprons...or lose 30 Euros
March 28, 2008 -- Recent reports say a clinic in Cadiz, Spain has told its nurses they will be docked pay if they fail to dress in "miniskirts." These reports seem to be partly inaccurate, as the Clinica San Rafael appears only to be requiring the nurses to wear traditional nursing outfits, with a modest-length skirt and cap. Still, this policy would force female nurses into a regressive outfit that suggests they are not modern professionals. We urge supporters to ask the clinic to reconsider its policy. And we thank our Spanish counterparts, the Association for the Recognition of Nurses in Society (ARES), which has investigated the issue for us.
Read more below or go straight to our letter-writing campaign.
Recent Spanish press pieces on the dress code include Nurses in skirts in Cádiz on the typicallyspanish.com website and Las enfermeras de una clínica de Cádiz denunciarán a la empresa si las obliga a usar falda in the March 25, 2008 edition of Publico. According to the reports, nurses who do not follow the code will lose 30 Euros of their pay each month. It appears that some of the US media viewed the Spanish reports and videos and mistranslated "skirt" as "miniskirt." See the video reports on "miniskirts" on ABC and Yahoo (by contrast, a CBS report refers only to "skirts"). The errors may have happened because video footage showed two nurses wearing different, shorter dresses. But the sanctioned Clinica San Rafael uniform (right) does not appear to include anything we would call a "miniskirt." In any case, we understand that the clinic believes the outfits are an important part of being a nurse.
We disagree. Forcing nurses to dress in this way undermines their efforts to convince society that they are modern professionals who save lives and improve outcomes with advanced education and skills. Given that we are in the midst of a critical global nursing shortage, we need fewer barriers to bringing smart, confident men and women into the nursing profession. Few wish to join a profession that appears to consist of women assigned to do regressive or subservient work.
This policy may also affect the health of the patients of Clinica San Rafael. Some may see women who dress in this fashion to be less educated than they really are, and less able to make critical decisions that make the difference between life and death. Nurses who do not appear knowledgeable cannot convince patients to follow their health care guidance. In addition, physicians may equate nurses who dress this way with servants, instead of colleagues, making it difficult for nurses to establish healthy working relationships. Lives depend on both patient education delivered by nurses and collegial relations with physicians.
In addition, reinstating the nurses' cap is unwise because research shows that caps increase the risks of deadly infection. Nurses' caps have largely disappeared because of this risk to patient health.
We hope that you will join us in sending a letter to the directors of Clinica San Rafael. Thank you.
Please send our instant letter or one of your own to the Clinica San Rafael! Thank you!
Read our letter in English before sending it in Spanish.
Tu tb puedes enviar un correo a los directivos de la clínica...
Clínica San Rafael
Dr. D. Jose Manuel Pascual Sanchez-Gijón
D. Antonio Martínez García, Dirección de Enfermería
D. Victor Cortezo Guitarte, Dirección Administrativa
C/Diego Arias, 2 - CádizSPAIN / ESPAÑA
amartinez@jmpascual.com
vcortezo@jmpascual.com
CARTA TIPO => copiar y pegar...o la tuya propia...
Estimados señores Pascual Sánchez-Gijón, Martínez García y Cortezo Guiarte:
Por mediación del presente escrito tenemos a bien solicitarle que ponga fin, con la mayor brevedad posible, la política que penaliza a las enfermeras que se niegan a vestir el uniforme de falda, cofia y delantal, descontándoles 30 euros de su nómina mensual.
Considero que obligar a las enfermeras a vestir tal uniforme minusvalora sus esfuerzos para convencer a la sociedad de que son profesionales modernos que salvan vidas y mejoran la situación de salud de las personas a las que cuidan gracias a los conocimientos y avanzada educación que poseen. Asimismo, y teniendo en cuenta que nos encontramos en medio de una crisis sobre el ratio de enfermeras a nivel mundial, necesitamos que instituciones--como la suya--trabajen para eliminar las barreras frente a las que nos encontramos y así contribuyan a aumentar el número de hombres y mujeres que se dediquen en el futuro a la Enfermería. Medidas como la suya hacen que la profesión parezca un trabajo asignado a mujeres encargadas de hacer actividades serviles.
En la misma línea, consideramos que esta política puede afectar, asimismo, a la salud de los pacientes de la Clínica San Rafael. Y es que, algunas personas pueden creer que las mujeres que visten uniforme son profesionales con menor formación, conocimientos y menos preparadas para tomar decisiones en situaciones críticas de vida o muerte. Por este motivo, las enfermeras que no aparentan contar con conocimientos--debido al vestido--pueden no resultar convincentes para los pacientes cuando les proporcionan indicaciones sobre cuidados relativos a su salud. Además, los médicos pueden comparar a las que visten de tal manera con sirvientas en vez de con colegas, haciendo así más difícil para las enfermeras establecer y/o definir sus relaciones laborales. Téngase en cuenta que las vidas humanas dependen de ambas, de la educación proporcionada por las enfermeras a los pacientes/clientes y de sus relaciones con otros profesionales sanitarios como los médicos.
En otro orden de cosas, opinamos que restablecer el uso de las cofias es una medida inadecuada, ya que -tal y como ha demostrado la evidencia científica-las cofias (o gorros) aumentan el riesgo de infecciones mortales. Por este motivo, las cofias y gorros fueron retiradas por poner en riesgo la salud de los pacientes.
Por todo lo anterior, le solicitamos que ayude a fortalecer la profesión enfermera lo cual mejorará la salud de los pacientes. Me gustaría conocer en un futuro cercano que han decidido retirar la involutiva y regresiva política sobre el uniforme consistente en falda, cofia y delantal.
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Enviado. Soy chico.
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