Pinning up long hair

[annetter]

I am wondering what everyone's opinion is about wearing long hair down in the work place as an RN. I work at a hospital and I see this with alot of the RN's and I think its a safety hazard to our patients because nurses do sterile procedures and work with food, not to mention a combative patient could grab hair.

[annetter]

Hair off the collar. I wear mine in a bun ever since my almost-waist long braid ended up with vomit in it ::barf::

Definitely would be wearing it a bun......poor thing.....what an experience. Thanks for sharing.

[annetter]

The one and only time I had my hair down at work, a psych patient thought my hair would make a great 3am snack when I was positioning her. Never again. When it's long it's in a pony tail and when I chop it off, it's pinned back with a head band.

I happen to like my hair on my head, thanks.

I saw a psych patient grab a girl by her pony tail at work. Thank goodness she had a pony tail, if she had long hair hanging it would be much harder to get away. We have been taught how to get the patient away from a pony tail but with long hair I forsee a situation where you get the patient to let go of a portion of your hair only to grab another handful. It is much easier to be safe and wear it up then to be sorry when put into a bad situation. People can be unpredictable.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I wouldn't wear long hair down: you'd be constantly having to pull it out of the way...and that's not necessarily going to present a good image to your patient. Plus, depending on your setting, it can also be a hygiene and/or safety issue.

[Zombi RN]

95% of the time my hair is in a bun at work. If it is down, it goes up before I go to bathe/assess/fingerstick/turn/anything with my patient, and is only down at the nurses' station. It's just in the way if it's down.