Halloween and Nursing

PANurseRN1 · Oct 14, 2006

Costumes are not professional. We're working with people who are sick, stressed, many times elderly. Can you imagine being a confused elderly person and having a witch/clown/alien/angel showing up at your bedside? What if you're a pt. coming out of anesthesia after surgery? Or a small child?

No, no, no. There is a time and place for everything. If you want to wear a costume, go to a party. I've seen way too may people "dress up" for Halloween at work and wind up scaring patients/visitors.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Oct 14, 2006

I work in assisted living, and my boss has OK'd costumes, so my dh (who works as the housekeeper/maintenance man) and I are going to dress up as pirates. He's got a pirate hat with a wig inside that makes him look amazingly like Captain Jack Sparrow---all he needs is some eyeshadow! :wink2: Mine is less ornate, but I also have a do-rag, eye patch, 'gold' earring, red sash, and a real sword that matches dh's (these will be tucked safely inside their scabbards, of course). I even bought orange-and-black striped socks and am going to cut up some old dungarees to make raggedy pants.

ARRRRRRRRR!~

joyflnoyz, LPN · Oct 14, 2006

The facility I work for has a halloween party for all the residents (we are a large one stop shopping place-- indenpendent retirement apts, Assisted living, SNF and LTC all on the same property). 2 years ago, after a nasty DON got mad because I wouldn't pull extra shifts (she made the comment "Well, I guess I know who I can count on" in a snotty voice), I wore black scrub pants, black T shirt, cut out cardstock of bright colors and used a marker to write numerals. Used some bright embroidery floss and safety pins to attach the tags all over. Depending on the way the tags turned, I was either some one you could or couldn't count on. As soon as someone told her my costume, she came down to see for herself.

point made LOL

ahsitters · Oct 14, 2006

I asked that last year at the hospital that I work in and was told that they used to until they had a code one night and the family complained that it was inappropriate that someone dressed up as an elf was assisting in the code.

If I was the one that coded I know I would have a good laugh on the other side , but I can see the families point. So now we don't dress up.

jo272wv · Oct 14, 2006

My hospital lets us wear halloween scrubs which I have to agree with them when they say we must keep a profesional enviroment at all times.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2006

We wear surgical scrubs in the NICU, but we can wear whatever warm up jackets we want so a lot of nurses have Halloween print ones. Cute socks are big around the holidays, too. Some nurses will wear those headbands with stuff attached to them - bug eyes, kitty ears, halos, etc. If the nurse is called into an emergency situation like a bad delivery or a code, she can easily take off the cute jacket and funny ears.

We DO dress up the babies though! First we make sure the parents don't have a costume already or any religious objections to Halloween. We bring felt, ribbons, pipe cleaners, glue guns, etc. to work on the night of the 30th and just make little costumes. Usually stuff like big flowers or butterfly wings made from felt that strap around the baby girls' waists, or hats and capes for the boys. Nothing usually that they actually have to put on like clothes - just something so that in the morning when day shift comes on, all the babies are decorated for the holiday. Some of the bigger, more stable babies will have actual costumes we've made out of sleepers and stuff. We take pictures and make a collage for everyone to see, and make sure the parents get pictures. If the baby is very very sick, we will make something that can just be placed over its body with just their face showing, and we'll ask the parents if they want to use it or not. Some are too upset, but usually they are thankful to have something "normal" like a Halloween costume for their baby.

beautifulb · Oct 15, 2006

The facility I work for has a halloween party for all the residents (we are a large one stop shopping place-- indenpendent retirement apts, Assisted living, SNF and LTC all on the same property). 2 years ago, after a nasty DON got mad because I wouldn't pull extra shifts (she made the comment "Well, I guess I know who I can count on" in a snotty voice), I wore black scrub pants, black T shirt, cut out cardstock of bright colors and used a marker to write numerals. Used some bright embroidery floss and safety pins to attach the tags all over. Depending on the way the tags turned, I was either some one you could or couldn't count on. As soon as someone told her my costume, she came down to see for herself.
point made LOL

Hee Hee! :rotfl:

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2006

The facility I work for has a halloween party for all the residents (we are a large one stop shopping place-- indenpendent retirement apts, Assisted living, SNF and LTC all on the same property). 2 years ago, after a nasty DON got mad because I wouldn't pull extra shifts (she made the comment "Well, I guess I know who I can count on" in a snotty voice), I wore black scrub pants, black T shirt, cut out cardstock of bright colors and used a marker to write numerals. Used some bright embroidery floss and safety pins to attach the tags all over. Depending on the way the tags turned, I was either some one you could or couldn't count on. As soon as someone told her my costume, she came down to see for herself.
point made LOL

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the LIMIT!!!!!! I love it!!!! :jester:

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2006

We wear surgical scrubs in the NICU, but we can wear whatever warm up jackets we want so a lot of nurses have Halloween print ones. Cute socks are big around the holidays, too. Some nurses will wear those headbands with stuff attached to them - bug eyes, kitty ears, halos, etc. If the nurse is called into an emergency situation like a bad delivery or a code, she can easily take off the cute jacket and funny ears.
We DO dress up the babies though! First we make sure the parents don't have a costume already or any religious objections to Halloween. We bring felt, ribbons, pipe cleaners, glue guns, etc. to work on the night of the 30th and just make little costumes. Usually stuff like big flowers or butterfly wings made from felt that strap around the baby girls' waists, or hats and capes for the boys. Nothing usually that they actually have to put on like clothes - just something so that in the morning when day shift comes on, all the babies are decorated for the holiday. Some of the bigger, more stable babies will have actual costumes we've made out of sleepers and stuff. We take pictures and make a collage for everyone to see, and make sure the parents get pictures. If the baby is very very sick, we will make something that can just be placed over its body with just their face showing, and we'll ask the parents if they want to use it or not. Some are too upset, but usually they are thankful to have something "normal" like a Halloween costume for their baby.

Awww, how cute. I was just picturing all the little "bugs"....too sweet.

puggymae · Oct 15, 2006

We always dressed up for Halloween until we had a a code on the floor where we worked. All the nurses on our floor had matching clown costumes. The lab people were all dressed like Dracula, The xray guy was a skeleton, the ER nurse that came to the code was dressed like a flapper...Anyway the family wrote a letter and said they were really distressed that their mothers last minutes on earth were spent with a bunch of people dressed for a "white trash Halloween extravaganza." Although I can understand why they were upset that statement never really made any sense to me! Anyway... we no longer dress up.