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..

Specializes in Future DNP.

i dont wear my wedding rings!! the only thing i wear is my $8 watch from walmart... that thing is only worn in the hospital and gets cleaned on a regular basis.

i love the responses here... some are very entertaining (and funny) and ive learned a few things! nice!

and i cant wait for my gold medal!! :jester:

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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..

Im sure I interpreted this wrong... however last week, I actually worked with an agency nurse who was painting her nails at the nurse's station, WHILE on duty :uhoh3: :eek:

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Wedding rings are an infection risk, too.

I've always read that plain bands that you can clean under are fine.

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Hidden, it's still a risk, though I suppose it is less of one than those with a setting or any stones. Take a look around you at work sometime, though. You won't see just plain bands.

Ottawa, I saw your post before it was edited. No need to be rude. You're in good company, just take a quick glance around you at work sometime. I simply don't get it. To me it's just strange and unreasonable that so many nurses will complain about someone wearing fake nails or strong perfume, they practice great nursing in all other aspects, but they wear this germy jewelery and somehow totally rationalize it. It's just one of those weird complexities of human nature, I guess. If you want it badly enough, you can justify it in your mind, no matter the evidence.

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Specializes in FNP.

I work with someone who a) never wears gloves for reasons unbeknownst to me, and b) has about 30 rings on her hands, and at least a dozen bracelets. I'm not kidding, multiple rings on each finger, yes, even thumbs. Nicest, smartest, hardest worker in her department, but good god an infection control nightmare. If she pierced her nose, she'd be sent home, I guarantee it.

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Im sure I interpreted this wrong... however last week, I actually worked with an agency nurse who was painting her nails at the nurse's station, WHILE on duty :uhoh3: :eek:

yeah after posting it, i said, this might be interpreted wrong and they might think that am asking why nurses cannot do it, painting nails, while working. haha silly, but thanks for sharing. i havent tried that. and i may not :nurse:

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oh wow.... i havent seen that? the hospital allowed it... cool but infection control is compromise.

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Regarding rings at work: my husband recently retired from the Fire Dept. and I requested he remove his ring for safety while on duty. Ours are both plain gold bands, and though gold can be cut, he still almost lost a finger a few weeks after our wedding (can easily get caught on the rig or gear). As for the idiots he worked with who had tungsten and titanium bands....well you can cut the finger off, and keep the ring.......but those rings last forever (and what better way to prove your unending love?)

The best solution I've seen is pinning wedding bands to bra straps with a safety pin... dumbest thing was an RN who did this very thing with her "real rocks", then proceeded to put on fakes to send a message to all would be suitors that she was taken! Didn't want bacteria and gunk in the real bands, but had no problem keeping her junk bands in her makeup kit, and wearing them all day.

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Specializes in acute care med/surg, LTC, orthopedics.
The best solution I've seen is pinning wedding bands to bra straps with a safety pin... dumbest thing was an RN who did this very thing with her "real rocks", then proceeded to put on fakes to send a message to all would be suitors that she was taken! Didn't want bacteria and gunk in the real bands, but had no problem keeping her junk bands in her makeup kit, and wearing them all day.

I'm pretty sure that safety pins are a bad idea as they can become undone and injure the nurse or even a patient if it falls off (and ring can become lost). I figure that if you don't want to wear your ring then you might as well just leave it safely at home.

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As for the idiots he worked with who had tungsten and titanium bands....well you can cut the finger off, and keep the ring.......but those rings last forever (and what better way to prove your unending love?)

I can reassure you on the issue of titanium rings:

http://www.snopes.com/weddings/horrors/titanium.asp

I'm with you on the issue of not wearing a ring on certain jobs, though. My dad never wore his ring while working for the phone company climbing poles. He saw one guy with a partial degloving type injury from catching his ring on a piece of wood and off it came!

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hmmm....thanks for the link. A chemistry prof. told me about titanium and an additional metal (which name escapes me at present time) and I never thought to question him. Now off to check the link in the snopes story about revenge, a wedding band and a member........

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
im just wondering why nurses cannot paint their nails during duty...??

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

because nail polish smell nauseates many patients, and you should be tending to them rather than to your nails anyway. is their any hospital that allows nurses to give themselves manicures while on duty?

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