why nurses cannot have a nail polish..?

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im just wondering why nurses cannot paint their nails during duty...??

is it a general rule or only to the hospital where i work..

we've used glo germ on new hires to show the importance of good handwashing.

those with polish or fake nails always had residual left on their hands even after more than one round of careful hand washing.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
im just wondering why nurses cannot paint their nails during duty...??

Because they are supposed to be working during duty and not painting their nails, doing their hair, etc.

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My hospital allows nail polish as long as it is not chipped on most units. OR and some of the ICUs have a no nail polish unit specific policy. Acrylic nails are banned hospital wide. Slightly off topic this hospital has recently banned all personal hand lotions. They provide hospital approved lotions on every unit for us to use that are odorless and colorless. I forgot now what the infection control team found with the lotions. Some of my friends work at a cancer hospital they have strict rules no nail polish and no perfume ever on any unit. On the BMT units they added no loose hair, no jewelry, no one with a cold works. Nurses and techs are sent home at this facility if they develop s/sx of a cold during a shift and a per diem person is called in to take the rest of the shift.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele/Onc.

Around here, polish is OK, but false nails, wraps, etc are not. Infection risk is what they say.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
My hospital allows nail polish as long as it is not chipped on most units. OR and some of the ICUs have a no nail polish unit specific policy. Acrylic nails are banned hospital wide. Slightly off topic this hospital has recently banned all personal hand lotions. They provide hospital approved lotions on every unit for us to use that are odorless and colorless. I forgot now what the infection control team found with the lotions. Some of my friends work at a cancer hospital they have strict rules no nail polish and no perfume ever on any unit. On the BMT units they added no loose hair, no jewelry, no one with a cold works. Nurses and techs are sent home at this facility if they develop s/sx of a cold during a shift and a per diem person is called in to take the rest of the shift.

That makes a lot of sense. Not to open a new can of worms here but I've never understood why some health care facilities insist that staff come in to work even if they're sick. Yes, people will abuse sick leave but from an infection control standpoint, it makes no sense whatsoever to have people coming to work with colds or other viral infections and exposing other staff and patients to their crud. It especially makes no sense to have sick people working with immunosuppressed patients.

To the OP, if you want nice-looking nails without using polish, you can always buff them. I've been buffing my nails for years, even if I haven't been working in a direct-care setting. It's a nice look and much better from an infection control perspective.

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Specializes in Psych, EMS.

I don't know..it's just another stupid rule for nurses to follow. We are not supposed to wear nail polish but the social workers can wear bright orange tights. Nursing is such a nauseatingly conservative field in my opinion. :down:

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

The CDC guidelines can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5116.pdf.

Great slideshow about the NICU K. pneumoniae outbreak that was linked to the fingernails of 2 nurses: http://nursing.columbia.edu/CIRAR/CIRAR_P20/Saiman_Presentation.pdf. It cost the hospital 342,000 dollars in labs, closed beds. The infants had septicemia, abcesses and osteomylitis and were on 6 weeks of IV antibiotic therapy as a result of bacteria living in the artificial nails of the nurses.

I go and have my toenails painted, designs applied, etc., because my toes stay inside my shoes at work. My fingernails go plain. I wear no rings, no bracelets, and nothing but a watch and a necklace with my cross on it at work; the necklace stays inside my scrubs. Even my earrings are simple and close to the ear. Not only do I not want to be told that I transmitted a bacteria that killed a patient because I wanted to look fashionable, I don't want to harbor bacteria on my hands that I then take home to my family.

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I was always told in nursing school it was because of the bacteria. While some non-chipped polish might be acceptable, I think there was a case several years ago where some babies in the nursery got sick from nurse's long fake nails. Here's a link to the article Google Answers: Possible dangers of acrylic fingernails to premature babies

"Bacteria found under the long fingernails of two nurses may have

contributed to the deaths of 16 sickly babies in 1997 and 1998 in an

Oklahoma City hospital, researchers say."

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I've noticed, during one of my clinical rotations, the RNs and techs at a local women/baby hospital wearing funky colored nail polish and their hair down. However, this hospital is more like a hotel, so maybe it's just the image they want to project. Even before I started my nursing program, I never wore fake nails (they annoy me) and I've never had much luck with getting nail polish not to chip, I guess I'm not girly enough.. so I don't think that will ever be a problem for me as a nurse.

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Specializes in NICU,ICU,ER,MS,CHG.SUP,PSYCH,GERI.
Can't find a color to match my beard.
:nurse:

Black or brown can be a real fashion statement. But maybe you need gray...and that tends to look deadish!

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.
:nurse:

But maybe you need gray...and that tends to look deadish!

:crying2:

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It's ok Boratz, we don't need nail polish, we can pee standing up HAHA

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