A nurse’s feet are one of the most important assets for her. Due to long working hours in which most of the time they’re either walking on hard surfaces or standing with patients and doctors, proper footwear becomes not only helpful but essential for them. Without a proper pair of nursing shoes they may not only feel tired but also may get injured sometimes. So it’s important to know the art of purchasing the right footwear if you’re a nurse. Yes, it’s also an art. A good pair of shoes should provide proper arch support and should also fit the width of your feet easily. It should provide some ample support as well. In essence, it should perfectly suit the shape of your feet.
Given below are 5 important tips that’ll help you in purchasing the right nursing shoes:
- Purchase your pair from a specialty store: Instead of going to just any shoe store, it’ll be better if you purchase your shoes from a store that specializes in selling nursing or athletic shoes. These stores hire trained associates for helping you out in choosing the right type of shoes according to your feet’s measurements and your type of job.
- Follow the guidelines of your hospital: Most hospitals have a set of guidelines for nursing shoes. For example, some may require you to wear white shoes and some may even require you to purchase the shoes of a particular company. So before you go out to a store for purchasing your shoes, take a look on the requirements of your hospital.
- Avoid shoes with openings: Nurses should always avoid the shoes that have holes, cuts and openings for making them look stylish. Since work of nurses sometimes involves dealing with bodily fluids of patients, these cuts may expose their feet to those fluids. So as a nurse you should always choose properly enclosed shoes.
- Consider arch support: Test each pair of shoes for arch support. Your shoes should have a strong but flexible sole for providing proper comfort to arch. Sometimes nurses purchase additional inserts with shoes for extra comfort. If you’re planning to do the same, try your shoes with inserts for ensuring that they provide enough comfort to your feet.
- Don’t purchase shoes in the morning. I hope you know this already – our feet are a little bit swollen in the morning when we wake up from sleep. So avoid purchasing your nursing shoes in the morning. Instead, purchase them either in noon or in evening.