http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R4gHcuK2pk
When Czechoslovakian nurse Petra Kalivdova, 31, was considering renewing her three-year contract at a private health clinic in Prague, her employer sweetened the deal with ample vacation time, free German language lessons -- and free plastic surgery.Kalivdova, who chose breast implants and liposuction after re-upping, thinks it was well worth it. "I feel better when I look in the mirror," she said in an article published in the Sunday New York Times.
She went on to suggest that a surgically enhanced bod is tied to increased patient well-being:
"We were always taught that if a nurse is nice, intelligent, loves her work and looks attractive, then patients will recover faster."
While I go in for the old you-can't-truly-care-for-others-till-you-care-for-yourself philosophy to a point, this seems a bit far-fetched, no?
Well, maybe not when you put it into context. As the Times piece points out, the Czech Republic is not long out of the shadow of its Communist past. As such, beauty pageants and glamor exert a strong, gaudy cultural pull that might seem weird to our jaded American sensibilities. In fact, Kalivdova reports that a male recruiter asked her to do a little catwalk strut in a recent (nursing!) job interview. Smaller Czechoslovakian cities outside of Prague -- also hurting for nurses -- by and large offer enticements like free meals and childcare, although some also discount cosmetic procedures.
Not surprisingly, using plastic surgery as an incentive has pushed some buttons. Sociologist Jirina Siklova, founder of Prague's Gender Studies Center, huffed, “I would expect such behavior from an erotic salon — not from an institution devoted to health care.”
Despite such criticism, the freebie procedures seem to be helping nurse recruitment at Kalivdova's workplace, where a male doctor is also considering taking his bonus in the form of lipo.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about the nursing shortage here at home, which is just part of a global paucity of qualified nurses. They need and deserve all the bonuses, incentives and compensation they can get, but this just seems a little too sexist, demeaning, and frankly creepy to fly in the States. Not because nurses are being offered these procedures if they really want them, but for the rationale that seems to be behind it in the Czech Republic.
When Czechoslovakian nurse Petra Kalivdova, 31, was considering renewing her three-year contract at a private health clinic in Prague, her employer sweetened the deal with ample vacation time, free German language lessons -- and free plastic surgery.Kalivdova, who chose breast implants and liposuction after re-upping, thinks it was well worth it. "I feel better when I look in the mirror," she said in an article published in the Sunday New York Times.
She went on to suggest that a surgically enhanced bod is tied to increased patient well-being:
"We were always taught that if a nurse is nice, intelligent, loves her work and looks attractive, then patients will recover faster."
While I go in for the old you-can't-truly-care-for-others-till-you-care-for-yourself philosophy to a point, this seems a bit far-fetched, no?
Well, maybe not when you put it into context. As the Times piece points out, the Czech Republic is not long out of the shadow of its Communist past. As such, beauty pageants and glamor exert a strong, gaudy cultural pull that might seem weird to our jaded American sensibilities. In fact, Kalivdova reports that a male recruiter asked her to do a little catwalk strut in a recent (nursing!) job interview. Smaller Czechoslovakian cities outside of Prague -- also hurting for nurses -- by and large offer enticements like free meals and childcare, although some also discount cosmetic procedures.
Not surprisingly, using plastic surgery as an incentive has pushed some buttons. Sociologist Jirina Siklova, founder of Prague's Gender Studies Center, huffed, “I would expect such behavior from an erotic salon — not from an institution devoted to health care.”
Despite such criticism, the freebie procedures seem to be helping nurse recruitment at Kalivdova's workplace, where a male doctor is also considering taking his bonus in the form of lipo.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about the nursing shortage here at home, which is just part of a global paucity of qualified nurses. They need and deserve all the bonuses, incentives and compensation they can get, but this just seems a little too sexist, demeaning, and frankly creepy to fly in the States. Not because nurses are being offered these procedures if they really want them, but for the rationale that seems to be behind it in the Czech Republic.
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