MH clinic staff in Halloween costumes

[Retired APRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I was discussing this with a friend of mine who is a psychiatrist and medical director of a community mental health center in the US. He was telling me about the administrative director's memo saying that staff members (therapists/counselors, admin people, nurses, doctors, social workers, etc.) could wear costumes to the clinic on Halloween. My friend told me about a doctor on staff who wrote a very stiff memo against the idea.

I have to say that I join that doc in finding this inappropriate during the clinic day. (It would be okay with me if there were an after-hours Halloween party for patients, families, and staff where everyone could wear costumes if they wanted.) In my opinion, the community mental health clinic setting, which serves people with a wide range of issues--including long-term disorders (chronic psychosis), blurred ego boundaries, personality disorders--staff dressing in costumes while performing their usual work is too confusing on a number of levels.

What do others think?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

We won't do it for patient safety reasons, and I agree 100%. The last thing we need is a psychotic or delusional patient seeing a costumed staff member and flipping out because they think it's real. Some staff may wear Halloween-themed scrubs, clothing, accessories or jewelry, but that is the extent of it.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

The last thing that a hallucinating or delusional patient needs is to be cared for by someone in costume. There is also the matter of a professional appearance. I agree that this has no place on a hospital floor or mental health unit. If you go to a party after work, by all means dress up for it, but not for work.

On my adult/CD unit we generally wore dress casual street clothes as our work attire. One creative thing we did one Halloween was to wear our whites to work. The patients got a kick out of it, and we looked like we belonged there.

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

We are allowed to dress up on our unit, the ones that chose to dress up, what the picked did not interfere with patient care.

[Retired APRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

How did the patients do with it? (And what kind of unit?)

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

How did the patients do with it? (And what kind of unit?)

Acute inpatient psych, age 18 and up, typical population paranoid schiz, depression and lots of Axis 2. We also have a high rate of D&A ( about 50 percent are straight d&a issues).

The patients loved it, they got to see a different side of the staff. We didnt have any issues.

[302queen]

so what did you dress as mandy?

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

I didnt work Halloween. My daughter had to go the psychiatrist that day for an evaluation. But I probably would have dressed like a fairy or wore my pjs ( flannel pants and a big shirt with messy hair).

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

hey, tried to respond to your pm and it wont send cause your pm box is full :)

[302queen]

check now

[TerpGal02, ASN]

I think it's totally inappropriate too. I could just imagine some of our acutely psychotic pts flipping out thinking there were REAL witches or vampires in the hospital LOL. Not to mention the "no fairs" from the borderlineish adolescents because we prohibit them from wearing clothes with skulls, flames, etc. Halloween IS my fave holiday though, and I have a single Halloween themed scrub top (its one of the Koi Tokidoki ones) that has cartoony Halloween cats and bats, etc. I wore it the day before since I didn't work actual Halloween day, and it went back in the closet for next year.