are "fake nails" okay for nurses?

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 19, 2003

Originally posted by mark_LD_RN
no they are NOT ok! our hospital does not allow them. recently had a lot of postpartum infections at one hospital i work at it was traced back to one nurse who was wearing fake nails:)
your patients deserve better do not compromise their care with you wearing fake nails:)

WOW mark that is eye-opening. See, I could NOT live w/myself if I were that nurse the pp infections were linked to. HOW sad and unnecessary......I would feel VERY bad were it ME spreading infection around.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 19, 2003

Originally posted by Gator,SN
Actually I wanted my nails to be long and pretty for graduation so I let them grow. I have stong natural nails. 2 weeks ago I found a paper that I wrote the first week of school about "what professionalism means to me" and decided to cut them. Before when everything was new and exciting I had an expectation that I wanted to live up to. Over the last 2 years I may have lowered my standards to fit what I could get away with in this area. It was an eye opener.
For people that have cracked nails it is probably much safer to get the tips but for the rest, its probably not something we'd find acceptable from our own nurse if we were in the hospital. JMO
Gator

Well said, Gator.

SC RN, RN · Apr 19, 2003

I started a thread on this subject a few weeks ago ... I've had acrylics (kept short, pink & whites only, clear nail polish, done in an upscale salon) for 16 years. I'm so vain that taking them off seemed like death to me.

But guess what? I read all of the responses here and realized that my vanity was not worth the risks. So I had them taken off two weeks ago. As I type this, my nails are weak (just put another coat of stregthener on) and I hate how they look and how they feel (especially when making beds! ugh!). But I made the best decision and they will get better soon ....

I hope you'll come to a similar realization ... if you knew me, you'd know how hard this was for me, I still have friends who pick up my hands each time they see me and say they wouldn't have believed it without seeing it! Me without nails! It's worth it though. Absolutely.

gizzy76 · Apr 19, 2003

Not to drag this topic out, I just wanted to mention that yeah, there have been the studies of infection due to fake nails. At the same time, it is better to have your fake nails intact than not. By this, I will use the example of when I was in nursing school. I had gel nails that were just covering my own natural nails. They were cut to a "sport" length so that they were no too long. My instructor was okay with me having the nails, she just wanted them shorter b/c she said that all the moms on maternity would shoot me if I went anywhere near their babies with my nails. I obliged to her request and filed them down each week so that they were shorter. Well, once filed, the seal was broken inside thus leaving more entry room for germs and bacteria. Also, my nails were not smooth anymore, they were sharp, very sharp in fact that when scratching my arm, I caused a small scrape. I was more terrified of touching those little babies once they were filed but my instructor couldn't understand that.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 19, 2003

Very interesting thread. Learning and enjoying it.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Apr 19, 2003

Our hospital policy is no fakes. I wear polish on my nails...usually a very light color or clear.

We have spot checks on nails at our hospital (like management has nothing else to do LOL) and if you are caught with fakes, you are sent home without pay and no pay until you return with them off. End of story.

chae · Apr 19, 2003

Our lecturers and perceptors do a nail check to make sure no one is wearing falsies and your naturals are short,as short as you could possibly make them or they send you looking for a clipper before you are allowed to go into your area. Besides what if your glove did happen to tear durng clean up of a BM. How confident would you feel at the lunch table? Just something ot think about.

ktwlpn, LPN · Apr 19, 2003

Originally posted by Ruffles
I am a nursing student graduating next month. I wore "fake nails" before nursing school, but my program did not allow them during school. I am considering getting them again after graduation. What is your opinion and the policies at the facilities where you work? Are they a health hazaard to patients if proper handwashing precautions are used? Have you read any studies on the "fake nail" issue?

Most facilities in this area prohibit them-with good reason.If you truly care about your patients you won't risk their health or your own.Besides the fact that many outbreaks of some nasty infections have been linked to them (imagine spreading some fingernail funk to your own family) they poke through gloves(yuch!) and scratch fragile skin....Don't wear them....

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 20, 2003

imagine what having to send policy-violators does to staffing for that shift. SO NOT WORTH IT TO VIOLATE POLICY AND RISK THE HEALTH OF ONESELF OR OTHERS IN their care.

mark_LD_RN · Apr 20, 2003

deb-- i would have a hard time living with my self also if i was the one spreading the infection around. thankfully the hospital had a good infection control department. but it was a pain they came around cultured everything and everyone. kinda mad me feel violated:)

mark_LD_RN · Apr 20, 2003

deb-- i would have a hard time living with my self also if i was the one spreading the infection around. thankfully the hospital had a good infection control department. but it was a pain they came around cultured everything and everyone. kinda mad me feel violated:)

sphinx, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2003

In the past I have had acrylic nails. I had them because I am a nail biter, have been since I was a child. I am a *bad* nail biter, and I have tried to stop many times, to no avail, it is a stress related habit. I bite so much my skin breaks, I bite the skin around my nails and occasionally will bleed. I tried the acrylics not for vanity, but in an attempt to stop the biting (the nasty tasting stuff you paint on never worked, I just bit anyway). With acrylics on, I can't bite cuz the darn things are so hard, and I was able to stop because it forced me to.

I always had the acrylics filed short (I could never get used to nails with any length to them)and polished in a light color or natural. They never fell off. I was able to keep my hands out of my mouth for once in my life, which I feel in many ways was much more sanitary, because even with good and frequent handwashing, having your hands in your mouth is not sanitary at all, esp with broken skin. It also makes you look like a yahoo.

However, when the studies about infections being traced to nurses with fake nails came out, I immediately quit getting the acrylics. I figured I could never be too sure, even if I was very careful with cleanliness. I also figured I could manage to keep my hands out of my mouth during my shift, after all, smokers could go without cigarettes except for breaks, and that's a physical addiction! I still bite my nails, but usually only when acutely stressed, not all the time, and I do manage to *not* do it when with a patient.

However at present I am working in an area where I have no patient contact, and had considered trying acrylics again.....until I read in another thread about a nurse who had a pt come to the ED with a nas-tay fungal infection r/t fake nails (shudder).