Nails question

htrn · Aug 8, 2006

Acrylic Nails, chipped nail polish, nail polish of any color (including clear), and long fingernails are all know sources of nasty bacteria - acrylic nails being the worst and listed in decending order of offense.

NoWaNrN, ASN, RN · Aug 8, 2006

I love the acrylic nails but as a nurse I dont wear them they are hard to work in, you can harm the pt and they are not easy to keep clean to the naked eye let alone the microscopic nasty stuff.

supernurse65 · Aug 8, 2006

i've been a nurse for 22 years and in nursing school (when we wrote on tree bark with slate rock) we were NEVER allowed to have nails longer than the tips of our fingers. it is unprofessional and harbors bacteria...... In the real world the nurses around have nails that are very long and as said before the acrylic nails that harbor bacteria and even fungus under them. this is truly nothing new.

TazziRN, RN · Aug 8, 2006

Nope, no fake nails allowed.

suebird3 · Aug 8, 2006

i've been a nurse for 22 years and in nursing school (when we wrote on tree bark with slate rock) we were NEVER allowed to have nails longer than the tips of our fingers. it is unprofessional and harbors bacteria...... In the real world the nurses around have nails that are very long and as said before the acrylic nails that harbor bacteria and even fungus under them. this is truly nothing new.

I had them for 6 weeks and hated them. And there are still those who have the long, dagger like things. Would you want a rectal check with them? :uhoh3:

Suebird

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 8, 2006

i've been a nurse for 22 years and in nursing school (when we wrote on tree bark with slate rock)

LOL! :lol2:

I just recently finished school, and the instructors were quite strict about NO NAILS while you were there. Absolutely nothing fake, and anything real that was longer than the end of your finger was probably going to get you some flack (risky to scratch patients among other things).

I didn't like the rule at first, since I'm a longtime acrylic wearer and had to lose them, but I quickly grew to see the wisdom of it. Frankly, I couldn't scrub my fingers/nails ENOUGH during and after clinicals--so much ICK!!

Of course, the DAY AFTER my last clinical I had some lovely tips put on for the summer--never long by salon standards, but certainly longer than the nothing I had!

Otessa, BSN, RN · Aug 8, 2006

It is true here-Western US.

We haven't been able to have acrylic nails for the past 5 years. The length of the nails has to be under a certain length also.

They haven't dictated what color at this time BUT chipped nailpolish is unacceptable.

It is an infection control issue...................

ortess1971 · Aug 8, 2006

In my OR- no acrylic nails allowed..Nail polish is allowed, but it has to have no chips in it. I gave up wearing nail polish for the reason that mine was always chipping. I have always preferred short nails-I just don't like the way long ones look(kinda trashy, IMHO) and I don't want to cause injury to a patient-being scratched is not fun.

NurseKittyAtlanta · Aug 8, 2006

I didn't like the "no nails" rule either at first, but it is really so much easier to have short, unpolished nails when working in the hospital setting. Much easier to keep clean, no worries about chipped nail polish/accidentally scratching someone, etc.

jschut, BSN, RN · Aug 8, 2006

I can agree with not having the artificial nails, but does anyone have a suggestion on how to keep your own nails from breaking and splitting from the moisture that we constantly subject our hands to? Mine are soooo short and thin, they are horrid!

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Aug 8, 2006

I have no nails to speak of anyway...LOL!