Shocked by facial piercings at work

Nurses Professionalism

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So occassionally I'll see a nurse or doc with a nose ring, or tongue ring. If it is not for cultural purposes, I personally find that it truly takes away from the professional look we are supposed to have while at work.

I'm a fan of nose rings, I think they are cute and I thought about getting one however I thought it wouldn't be a good look for work. I also would not was to bother taking it in and out.

Anyway, during my share time at a hospital yesterday I was shocked to see that a nurse midwife was allowed to wear a facial piercing at work. She had a piercing above her upper lip.

Is this becoming more common in your work places? How do you all feel about facial piercings in the health care setting?

Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.
Wow. I don't even know what to say to this.

I thought the same thing. Then I started liking comments for some reason.

Specializes in LTC.

I'm a student but I can't help but throw in my 2 cents. I have a large visible, bright, you can't miss it tattoo on my wrist (really it goes about half way up my forearm). It's blue and orange with snakes and just jumps out at you! Am I then by some of the posters observations unclean, do I show poor judgement? Am I trendy and going to regret it later?

What if I told you what the tattoo has written on it? In large letters it says Type 1 Diabetic. You see, I could never remember to wear the darn bracelet all these long years. So I got a tattoo. That way if something ever happens NOBODY is missing that baby.

Still going to judge me for my very visible choice in body art?

Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

After careful consideration I've decided to reply to the OP. I can careless what anyone else think of MY OPINIONS.

I work at a very large Magnet/teaching Hospital. Upon my hiring over 4 years ago and in orientation I read the personal appearance/professional policies. I've followed those policies for years and management seemed more focused on infection rates, patient satisfaction scores and staffing. Ya know, things that affect how much money we bring in.

I followed the rules consistently. No acrylic, no chipped nail polish, long hair pulled back, No visible tattoos & piercings, white shoes, clean white uniform that I ironed before wear daily. I took it upon myself to be conservative. Light make up, black/white solid undies. Etc.

At work I've seen, unnatural hair colors, tattoos everywhere except the face, long acrylic nails, chipped polish, stained uniforms, ear bars, eyebrows loops, facial microdermal piercing (stud removed), microdermal piercing on the forearms, wrinkled uniforms, colored shoes (supposed to wear white per policy) and hair unrestrained and falling all over patients they bend over.

I thought so much for policy. Now I see that they are hiring people with the tattoos and piercings. I'm sure people hide these things during the interviews but they continue to work.

I don't know what corner of the closet some of you live in but patients of ALL AGES have tattoos and body piercings some offensive. Women come in with nail polish (pulse ox?), wigs (can't remove pre/intra/post op.) Physicians have tribal or other arm/neck tattoos. I've never seen a patient turn away not one tech, RT, RN, MD because of a damn tattoo.

We have patients from as far as the middle East at our hospital. People from all across the US.

I used to think certain things are unprofessional but since the hospital doesn't care to enforce their policies. Oh well...

At the school where I am a lab assistant for a class, we have a male student who has full sleeves. He is not required to cover them up. I have tattoos and piercing but I keep myself respectable. I wouldn't say he has to cover them up because that is just not what I believe. HOWEVER, he does sort of fit the standard of slacker and not caring. His assignments are always late and he always walks around with headphones and not talking to anyone. So, if you are going to have tattoos and piercings but do not want to be classified the way that some people would classify anyone with tattoos, please hold yourself to a high standard. Prove otherwise!

SMH.. Lol. I'd have probably Googled this before asking.

It was my knee-jerk reaction to the post.....automatically thought it was speaking of the actress, not that it was a newly-coined term for a piece of metal stuck to one's face! Learn something new every day, I guess.

Why is valuable time wasted on evaluating appearances? As long as the person doesn't stink, has clean fingernails/hands, and is courteous, then why nitpick?

Specializes in Med-Surg.
I wear rubber soled shoes, so I've never been shocked by a piercing.

That's amazing lol! Made me laugh :)

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I wear a small nose stud. I had a tongue ring but took it out before I started nursing school because I thought it didn't look professional. I don't think be respected with a tongue ring.

No one has ever given me a hard time about it and most people don't notice it. Some patients have actually complimented it. I was hired with it in, all of management has seen it and no one cares. I don't think some other facial piercings are appropriate and maybe that's hypocritical. Nose studs just tend to be accepted for whatever reason. A lot of the indian population here have nose piercings and wear them to work; my indian co worker told me if anyone gives me a hard time just tell them I'm Hindu LOL (I'm caucasian).

I also have a boat load of tattoos, which I cover up to maintain a professional appearance. I love my tattoos but I respect that others may not. So although I've seen other people rock tattoos at work, I personally choose to keep mine covered.

How is a facial piercing unprofessional? Your assumptions make you look silly and close minded. I would rather take a nurse with tattoos and piercings who was adept and skilled at her job over a "normal" looking nurse who is mediocre. Seriously grow up.

Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

There're these things, called societal norms...

Specializes in Public Health.
Somehow unprofessional! How could it ever be considered professional! As one of "the older generation" who is still very cognizant, sensible, and practical, I find your comment offensive. Allow me to explain why I feel that look is unprofessional: Tattoos and piercings are a fad that doesn't belong in the workplace, the same way many forms of casual dress don't. And like any other fad, they will fall out of favor. "The younger generation" makes fun of '80s hair and clothing, correct? But that's exactly how your tatts and piercings will be viewed one day. As a woman, I wish to always be able to update and modernize my professional look in a very short period of time, say the 20-30 minutes that it takes to color hair or get a haircut or pick out a new blouse from the rack or remove or apply makeup. But, a tatt or piercing is like being permanently stuck wearing '80s hair or last years' blouse, only it can't be instantly remedied by trip to the mall and a couple hundred dollars, and least not yet. It currently costs thousands of $USD and much time to remove those tatts and halfway restore your body to a neutral canvas. Anything that difficult to alter, I do not favor.

Not practical, not attractive, not desirable: That is aesthetically how I see tatts and most piercings.

From a medical standpoint, and as a professional who also worked years in the chemical manufacturing industry (I know my way around MSDSs and hazmat cleanups and toxic nerve agents and hazards that RNs will never see in their entire lifetimes), I see tatts as bombarding the body's largest organ with chemicals of unknown composition. In Pennsylvania, there are few-to-no regulation and licenses and professional training required to set up a tattoo shop. Any nimrod can do it. Sorry, but tattoos don't seem very smart or prudent to me from a safety and health perspective, either.

You can do what you like. And if I am a patient, I will most likely request an "older generation" nursing professional who is not all marked up with tattoos and piercings. If the hospital can't provide a nurse who looks "normal" to me, I will bestow that hospital with a low customer satisfaction rating and I will CLEARLY explain that their employees make me feel uncomfortable, because they don't look like sensible people who use good judgement.

At a total loss for words... and if you have read any of my previous posts, you'll know that is very rare!

Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.
I don't think any patient would like to have a nurse with sleeves of tattoos, 10 facial piercings, heavy makeup, messy hair, stained scrubs.

I don't see in the OP that the healthcare professionals were dirty or wore messy scrubs, only that they had piercings. Many of the posts made so far strike me as a straw man arguments. The presence or absence of piercings does not imply competence or cleanliness, or at least I have seen no studies that show any causality between these variables. There are probably plenty of people who have piercings and tattoos that are less visible. If you were to suddenly see them, does that reduce their competence? I don't care if my nurse has full-body tats and piercings if they are competent. If you have time to worry about whether someone has piercings and tattoos as a patient, you aren't that sick.

It concerns me that some people are willing to judge an entire group of people based on one minor feature. If you instead substituted people of a given race, religion, sexual orientation and said those things about them, people would be appalled. I would be more concerned about being forced to work with a bigot than a person woth body mods.

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