jewelry in the NICU

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 31, 2005

No jewelry if any kind.

Even the visitors are to adhere to this policy. Safety pins are provided to9 clip this stuff to9 clthes if necessary.

SFCardiacRN · Dec 31, 2005

Too many hospital infection clusters have been traced to wedding bands. VRE and MRSA have been cultured from the skin under the rings. Pagers and nursing scissors are 2 other common locations...so use those ETOH pads for cleaning them.

sparkyRN · Jan 1, 2006

We are allowed bands, but no watches. I try not to wear the band either because I find all the handwashing to be so irritating and it becomes increasingly so with jewelry on....probably due to the extra moisture under the band.

minniemiteRN · Jan 1, 2006

Thanks for the replies! I agree with the policy...just find it strange that parents and other visitors are able to wear as much jewelry as they want esp. since we don't know how well they are scrubbing before they visit :madface: (there is a scrub demonstration for each parent/visitor but often we catch them either not scrubbing in at all or just doing a quick soap up and rinse).

Also was curious about the policy about parents and visitors wearing gowns before holding.

SFCardiacRN · Jan 1, 2006

Families aren't going from patient to patient. In general, families aren't bringing MRSA, VRE or C Diff into the hospital.

Deidre Shiobhan · Jan 1, 2006

Wedding bands are generally allowed but not any other kind of jewelry or the watch. Infact the infection control team has conducted culture study on our hands particularly around the finger where the wedding band suppose to be. So far results has been negative. This test are conducted at random basis.

Sweden · Jan 2, 2006

No jewelry of any kind on hands and arms for anyone (that´t now the policy for the entire hospital). Personell use gowns when caring for patients but parents and visitors don´t have.

minniemiteRN · Jan 2, 2006

Families aren't going from patient to patient. In general, families aren't bringing MRSA, VRE or C Diff into the hospital.

Actually we are seeing more and more MRSA as a community wide infection, not just solely a nosocomial infections anymore.:uhoh21: We swab each new admits nares as well as their parents for staph aureus non resistant and MRSA. In the last year we have had 2 babies born with MRSA and multiple parents to be treated for the infection. Luckily we are not yet seeing VRE or C Diff clusters.

The big reason I wish we required our parents to wear gowns is they come in either plain dirty or reeking of cigarette smoke. Infants in RDS or just plain preemie with an repressed immune system deserve to be protected and if their parents don't have the sense to refrain from smoking in the car on the way to the hospital to protect their infants airway...then its our job.:)

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jan 2, 2006

On the original topic; our unit's policy is only 1 ring and no stones (like plain wedding bands), no wrist jewelry. It is not always firmly adhered to such as right after someone gets engaged, seems like they wear their rocks around for several weeks. I don't like it and think one could just as easily keep the ring on a safety pin and model it when you have a break.

As for the parents not bringing in MRSA; this has been a problem for us. About half of the last few cases have been traced to family exposure. We had one family where the grandfather was being treated for an MRSA infection and came to visit his child, one where the mom had chronic MRSA colonization due to her chronic health problems. Another had a mom who had chorio that cultured MRSA. One of the first MRSA infections I remember in our unit had a mom that worked in our hospital as an aide on one of the Med/Surg units, she would visit without changing her uniform/scrubs (this one was never traced to mom but it was suspicious). I could go on but this thread is about jewelry not MRSA.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Jan 2, 2006

We can wear one bracelet, one ring set, and a watch. I think MRSA comes from the docs and the other people that come from other floors to see babies. We are seeing a rise in it too.

SFCardiacRN · Jan 2, 2006

DC the jewelry and see if the MRSA rate falls!