Do you wear rings on your fingers to work?

Tait, MSN, RN · Nov 12, 2008

I wear my ring. I used to be nervous about losing the stone or it slipping off, but ever since I coupled it with the wedding band on Sept 27th, 2008 :redpinkhe I am lucky if I can get it off when I need to shower!

However I did aim for a slightly smaller diamond when we were purchasing to make it beautiful, but work appropriate.

However, I have seen nurses with a whole knuckle full of rocks/5 year bands/10 year bands/"I exist therefore I diamond" bands.

Tait

Straydandelion · Nov 12, 2008

I wear rings but not my best. The chemicals are harsh on them and unless a smooth stone I would be afraid of scratching someone.

Chixie · Nov 12, 2008

Good heavens no!

My ring is not the most expensive in the world but it means the world to me so id rather not run the risk of damaging it or getting nastiness in the setting,under it.

Makes me feel queasy to think about it being on my finger during work

My partner,soon to be husband, bought me a chain for me to place my ring on whilst im at work so ive got my ring with me at all times.

twistedpupchaser · Nov 12, 2008

I dont wear mine at work, which translates to hardly ever wear it. I saw some chemical burns on a Pt which happened to be worse under his ring as it served as a resevoir. Since then I figured that if chemicals can sit there so can pathogens.

NewWayofLife · Nov 12, 2008

I wear my wedding set AND what's known as a "healer's ring" to work.

Neither is all that expensive, so I'm not worried about damage to the rings themselves.

As far as the infection control issue goes... I wash my hands well between patients, and remove the rings to wash under after using the restroom, etc- but I am wearing gloves for MOST patient contact anyway.

They also get soaked and well cleaned several times a week.

queenjean · Nov 12, 2008

I was scratched by a nurse's ring when I was a patient. It wasn't even that big of a rock, and she felt terrible "I've never had that happen before!" but it happened. It was a pretty good scratch, it hurt and bled and pi$$ed me off at the time; but ultimately it was not a big deal as I was a healthy young woman. What if I would have been an ill infant, child, or older patient for whom this could have been a much bigger deal?

Not only that, they harbor germs. To wash your hands properly, you need to remove them (or at least slide them out of position to wash underneath them) every time. Do you all do that? One of our nurses lost her diamond twice; one aide lost her ring entirely and never found it. It if has so much value to you, why would you ever risk damaging or losing it?

I can't believe we still have this discussion. Rings have been shown to harbor bacteria, decrease the effectiveness of handwashing, and anything elevated can scratch a pt and tear your glove, but a wedding ring is still okay? How can wearing them be justified? Can you find any studies that show that rings are not potentially harmful for pts?

Surely everyone's marriage is secure enough to be able to take off the ring while at work. I leave mine in my jewelry box every evening, and put it on when I get home. Why is that so hard? It just seems selfish.

Tait, MSN, RN · Nov 12, 2008

I was scratched by a nurse's ring when I was a patient. It wasn't even that big of a rock, and she felt terrible "I've never had that happen before!" but it happened. It was a pretty good scratch, it hurt and bled and pi$$ed me off at the time; but ultimately it was not a big deal as I was a healthy young woman. What if I would have been an ill infant, child, or older patient for whom this could have been a much bigger deal?
Not only that, they harbor germs. To wash your hands properly, you need to remove them (or at least slide them out of position to wash underneath them) every time. Do you all do that? One of our nurses lost her diamond twice; one aide lost her ring entirely and never found it. It if has so much value to you, why would you ever risk damaging or losing it?
I can't believe we still have this discussion. Rings have been shown to harbor bacteria, decrease the effectiveness of handwashing, and anything elevated can scratch a pt and tear your glove, but a wedding ring is still okay? How can wearing them be justified? Can you find any studies that show that rings are not potentially harmful for pts?
Surely everyone's marriage is secure enough to be able to take off the ring while at work. I leave mine in my jewelry box every evening, and put it on when I get home. Why is that so hard? It just seems selfish.

I can understand your concern, especially having been injured by a ring.

On a side note, I do slide my ring when I wash my hands and brush it clean each week. I also specifically chose channel set diamonds on the side and a low set main stone (weighing in at a mere .44 carats despite economic stability).

Some interesting articles I came across this morning:

Bradford nurses and termination threats over wedding rings:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1059535/Nurses-face-SACK-refuse-remove-wedding-rings-new-hygiene-campaign.html

Small study on rings and antibacterial foams:

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0020748908000588

Hindu marriage symbols and hospital policies:

http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/5304.html

I did not find any articles (that I could get to) that discussed rings and proper hand washing, only rings and alcohol based rubs. Also stethoscopes appeared to be an issue in a tiny amount of articles.

I am getting a little tired of everyone trying so damn hard to sterilize the world. There is a reason we have resistant bugs...yet we keep pushing the same agenda.

Maybe I will get a band, because I really do not want to injure my patients, but I am going to wear my ring. Because I love my husband and value it's symbolism.

In the meantime I am going to continue to be concerned with docs that don't wear gloves at all, and techs that think it is ok to insert a foley into the lady parts of a patient and then into their bladder.

Tait

mama_d, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2008

I wear my wedding set and a ring I inherited from my grandmother. Although the diamond is slightly raised on my engagement ring, I have never scratched a patient with it. I think it's b/c I'm incredibly anal retentive about wearing gloves and that provides a sort of buffer between the ring and the patients.

Several of us in my micro lab are planning on swabbing our rings after washing our hands to see what grows. Our micro lab teacher has told us that she usually sees minimal growth with swabs from rings due to the natural antimicrobial properties of metals used to make most rings. It should be interesting to see.

grandkids4 · Nov 12, 2008

I don't wver take my wedding ring off except to clean it once a month. when I wear gloves it buffers the harshness and have never scratched anyone.

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2008

I only wear my wedding band. I gave my husband some scratches with my engagement ring. Never happened to a pt, but I would have been horrified if it did. I felt bad enough when it was my husband I scratched.

rjflyn, ASN, RN · Nov 12, 2008

As it stands most facilities policies I have worked in are written as such to allow for a wedding set and thats all. Have been in healthcare for a long time I have seen the gambit of rings. Small and classy to huge and tasteless. Most that ladies I see getting engaged and married now are smart enough generally get a subdued engagement ring with a matching wedding band. I typically see the larger ones on someone older or who is coming in to nursing from something else already married.

As someone else stated if your concerned you can get a nice gold chain to wear and keep them around your neck- I see a lot of OR, neonatal ICU , delivery and nursery nurses do this as they are ones who typically are not allowed rings at all.

As far as germs go MRSA is in the general public. We know what the hospital cleans surfaces with, what are they using at the mall or the small shop you just went to.

Rj