Dressing up on Halloween... unprofessional?

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Oct 30, 2010

When I was at the DME and the chiropractors office we always dressed up.. When I was doing my preceptorship at a small hospital several of the MD's were dressed up while doing rounds. I have also seen at my kids peds office;staff dressed up. So I would think it would depend on the company..

I don't think it would be very comfortable as a bedside nurse in a hospital setting tho..

Unprofessional, IDK but if the setting is right, we should be able to have a little fun too :)

DarkBluePhoenix · Oct 30, 2010

No "sexy nurse" (kinda disrespects the profession) and I think its just fine. Its festive and if you work in pediatrics then I think the kids will get a kick out of it!

mudd68 · Oct 30, 2010

Just imagine this scenario...you are the nurse taking care of pt who takes a turn for the worse or who passes away. Would you be comfortable standing in front of a grieving family or loved one...explaining the situation in your Halloween costume? If you do not expect to find yourself in this situation it may appropriate for you.

IaCountryGirl · Oct 30, 2010

Before I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but then one of my classmates talked about a situation that happened at her work (she works for the hospital).

It seems ok, until you have to deliver the news to someone in the ER that their child, mother, brother, etc didn't make it while wearing a costume. So I'd have to say no, I don't think it's ok.

SlightlyMental_RN · Oct 30, 2010

Just imagine this scenario...you are the nurse taking care of pt who takes a turn for the worse or who passes away. Would you be comfortable standing in front of a grieving family or loved one...explaining the situation in your Halloween costume? If you do not expect to find yourself in this situation it may appropriate for you.

Agreed...probably not the best in some situations. However, festive earrings and/or the headbands w/funny attachments are easy to remove and don't look too unprofessional. I work in chemical detox/psych, and I go in to work on Halloween with minimal seasonal accessories, as I don't want to freak out anyone that's hallucinating.

whodatnurse · Oct 30, 2010

If you work in psych, fuggedaboutit.

(I can just see it now...NURSE!!! There's a devil coming towards me!!!) :devil: :eek:

whodatnurse · Oct 30, 2010

Agreed...probably not the best in some situations. However, festive earrings and/or the headbands w/funny attachments are easy to remove and don't look too unprofessional. I work in chemical detox/psych, and I go in to work on Halloween with minimal seasonal accessories, as I don't want to freak out anyone that's hallucinating.

Aw...ya beat me to it. :lol2:

allnurses Guide · Oct 30, 2010

Last night for work, I was TOTALLY planning to wear my Donald Trump costume... I work in a nursing home with a rather laid back atmosphere, and many of my coworkers wore costumes.

However, I woke up kinda late and didn't have time to get it together. Kind of a good thing; it ended up being a horrible night anyway. :rolleyes:

Emergency RN · Oct 30, 2010

Holiday spirit can be fun, but can also go overboard or be perceived as inappropriate. In extreme cases, depending on the opinion of a viewer, it may be construed as insensitively unprofessional.

Like those neighbors (and every neighborhood seems to have one) that can't let a holiday go by without doing the whole nine yards in turning their house into a road side spectacle, some nurses or nursing units lose all perspective and turn their place of work into a holiday extravaganza. I've seen these things backfire disastrously, but one especially sticks in my mind.

On one particular coronary unit infected with an annual Christmas spirit, they won every "best decorated unit" award for I don't know how many years. They had wire formed reindeer festooned in lights hanging from the ceiling, with sparking ornaments and tinsel accents on the light fixtures. Christmas lights raced around the patient hallway handrails and the doors were also covered in shiny wrapping paper, punctuated with giant ribboned bows or pine wreaths in an imitation of an over sized gift box. If one didn't know it, you would have thought that you were walking through a department store. To add to the "atmosphere" the head of cardiac surgery took to organizing an annual caroling session where he and many members of the hospital's executive administration went floor to floor singing Christmas favorites in the hospital halls on the eve before Christmas.

It all came to an end when they once arrived unannounced, and began singing "Joy to the World" down the hall while a code was going on. The relative of the dying patient, came out of the room and bluntly told them that they were the most insensitive idiots unworthy of their professions. He then requested that they please shut the hell up so that his mother can die in peace in quiet. Needless to say, all holiday frivolity came to a screeching halt after that year.

:uhoh3:

Thus, IMHO Christmas, Halloween or any other holiday, isn't my primary purpose on the job. So, I'll wear the same "costume" that I always wear; I'll dress as the nurse.

agent · Oct 31, 2010

Thus, IMHO Christmas, Halloween or any other holiday, isn't my primary purpose on the job. So, I'll wear the same "costume" that I always wear; I'll dress as the nurse.

sounds like a fabulous idea =)

mustlovepoodles, RN · Oct 31, 2010

I guess it depends where you work. I"m a school nurse in an elementary school, so dressing up just goes with the territory. However, when I worked in NICU I did *not* dress up, mostly because I didn't need to be fussing with a costume while I was taking care of critical infants. The saddest thing was when one of our micro-premies decided to die during a holiday shift. As I carried the lifeless baby out of the NICU to her mother's room, I was very VERY glad I was not dressed in a silly costume.