Long hair at the bedside

[kakamegamama]

I have a question. Have things changed in hospitals at the bedside to the point that nurses who have waist length hair are no longer required to have it in a pony tail or braid or bun? A few weeks ago my husband had a procedure done in the GI lab. One of the nurses came into the waiting room to call the next patient back into the patient admit area and her hair was long enough she could sit on it, and not restrained in any way. All I could think of was "yuck" and "fomite!". I wanted to run up to her and give her my infection control talk, but didn't....maybe I should have...

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

What about us part Italian nurses who no matter what we do, wax, cream, shave etc. We STILL have a stache? Sorry that you're paying THAT much attention to my upper lip...Shall we talk about my eyebrows next?

Me, too! #NotItalian that I know of! I'm hairy!

[trytounderstand]

This ^^^^

Even if you are so cynical that you dont care about infection control and pt safety, why would you want to risk blood, C. diff or other bodily fluids in your hair?

As a patient I would prefer the hair be up. For one thing I don't want a nurse male or female to have to be concerned about pushing their hair back out of their face to insert an iv, a catheter, or place electrodes etc on my body.

Recently, I witnessed 2 ICU nurses concerned about keeping their hair pushed back while they were trying to care for a patient. First of all the patient probably does not appreciate their caregiver's hair brushing their body or getting in the way of whatever they have to do for the patient. Would you really want to have push your hair back while giving a bed bath, cleaning a patient, dressing a wound, inserting an iv, or placing your hand anywhere near your face after possibly having someone's body fluids on it even if you are wearing gloves? Also what about spreading germs from one patient to the other if you are constantly touching your hair to keep it pushed back or out of the way while you are caring for a patient?

As someone else made a statement, you are their to take of sick patients not put on a fashion show. There is no reason for you to be a fashion plate while caring for sick or injured men, women and children. Dressing to the impress or to draw attention to your shining glory is not necessary you are there to take care of your patients.

The same rules that apply to cooks, dentists, military, waitresses should apply here as well. Why take the chance of spreading disease, contaminating patients with lose hair getting into a very private area or wound, possibly contaminating what is supposed to be a sterile area?

[Garden,RN, ASN, RN]

As someone with long hair, I almost always had it up, but definitely out of the way. That should be common sense, though.

[BurnedoutICURN]

I have coworkers who wear their long hair down. I have coworkers who cut their hair short. Me? I have to pull up my hair, because I can't stand hair on my neck when I'm working. My employer used to enforce hair standards, but not so much anymore.

[Garden,RN, ASN, RN]

You can pull it back and out of the way, but if you are going to bend over and get close it has to picked up. It's just not clean all around.

[twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN]

I remember watching that show trauma in the ER and used to gag at all the providers running around with long hair while dealing with traumas.

[twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN]

Personally I have to have it back cause it gets on my nerves.

[nurseluckett, MSN]

She came out to the waiting area to call the next patient back for a procedure. She wasn't actively providing care. I can put my hair up on 30 seconds in my sleep. Your clip or pony tail pulls down. So most will take their hair down off and on to adjust the weight or position of the hair on their head for comfort. Also most procedures require the staff to wear a surgical cap. Seems like she would be securing her hair up prior to patient care.

[osceteacher]

You wouldn't get away with it in the NHS.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

Are you sure she was a nurse? GI labs utilize other staff, so she might not have been someone who participates in the procedures.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I always wore my long hair in a bun or put it up in a clip. No way did I want it hanging in whatever I was doing, whether it was a bed bath or a blowout code brown. (I did cut it short once, which was a breeze to take care of, but I don't like short hair on me so I grew it out again and have kept it long since.) But I worked with nurses, most of them younger, who left their hair down and God knows what creepy-crawlies got into it. I once saw a girl with very long hair change a wound vac dressing. I still shudder when I think of how gross that was. Ick.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

She came out to the waiting area to call the next patient back for a procedure. She wasn't actively providing care. I can put my hair up on 30 seconds in my sleep. Your clip or pony tail pulls down. So most will take their hair down off and on to adjust the weight or position of the hair on their head for comfort. Also most procedures require the staff to wear a surgical cap. Seems like she would be securing her hair up prior to patient care.

GI lab procedures do not require hats.

Yes, she may not be part of the actual procedure staffing, but that doesn't negate the fact that the dress code likely addresses hair and that it has to be up or at least off the collar.