pre-nursing student needs help with tattooed nurse survey!!

[perseverance72006]

Hello all!

I have posted a few times here on this board and I read the digests diligently. Let me make this as short and concise as possible.

I am in a psychology class (doing nursing pre-requisites!) I have to do a survey for my final paper. I will be going around to people having them fill out a survey about whether or not they would perceive a heavily tattooed nurse as being unprofessional.

I would present to one group of people a picture of a nurse with very visible tattoos, wearing scrubs, badge of some sort. It will be evident she is a nurse. Her hair will be neat, her scrubs will be clean and pressed, she will look nice and she will have very visible tattoos.

The list of questions they would answer will range from "strongly disagree to strongly agree." The questions are Common stereotypes and not necessarily at all valid but to represent what a large number of people seem to think. (based on my own personal experience as a heavily tattooed woman)

Male____ female____

High School/GED___ Certification___ Associates Degree___ Bachelors Degree____

Masters___ PHD___

This nurse is dressed professionally.

I believe this nurse is competent in her field.

I would be concerned this nurse would steal my personal belongings.

I would be as comfortable as possible with this nurse administering an IV or an injection on me.

This nurse's appearance conflicts with my religious beliefs.

This nurse may have Hepatitis C.

This nurse would listen to my concerns.

This nurse has excellent bedside manner.

I would feel comfortable with this nurse changing my bedpan and performing personal care for me.

This nurse would advocate my needs for me and help me receive proper care.

I will then have a picture of a clean and neat nurse with no visible tattoos and the same exact questions will be presented. This will be my control group.

Since I'm sure plenty of you have figured out why exactly I'm posting this here, I do not have a picture of a tattooed nurse. I do not know any tattooed people besides myself and I can't go around expecting honest answers if I'm standing right in front of them. I did order some of those Halloween fake tattoo sleeve things but I dread the way they're going to look, but will use them if I have to. I google constantly trying to find tattooed nurses, and I come up with risqué stuff that is obviously not what I'm looking for. I do not know how to use photoshop, sadly, or problem would've been solved.

If there are any tattooed nurses here that would be so extraordinarily kind as to help out a pre-nursing student by sending me a picture of yourself? My intent is listed above, there will be no harm done. I intend to fully keep my tattoos under wraps when I obtain my licensure. I rarely show them in public anymore anyway! So I understand that you probably wouldn't even show yours at work.

But if anyone has any tattoos and wants to have a picture of yourself taken in scrubs; Please let me know. I just need a picture preferably of a tattooed female nurse. Because I am a woman and I wanted to my research around that.

Thank you enormously.

Any feedback involving the survey is also welcomed. I take any and all and am not afraid of criticism! I will also be glad to post the end results and the final paper once it has been completed.

Sincerely,

Sarah

[athena55, BSN, RN]

Hi there:

I am at a computer that does not have a slot for a memory disc or card, but once I get to one I will send you a pic of me in my scrubs. I have 10 tats, the largest one that is visible: a rather large symbol of the Army Nurse Corps!

I have worked as both a civilian and now as a Military Nurse (Army) and I don't have to cover up any of my tattoos. {{shrugging my shoulders}} I have never, ever had any complants from any of my patients, civilian, retired Military, Active Duty Military

athena

[dura_mater]

I would go to a tattoo parlor & bring scrubs/stethascope/etc... and camera in hand & ask if anyone would be willing to help.

From what I have seen, most female tattoo artists would fit the bill of what you describe you are looking for.

Just like someone else said, you don't necessarily need a nurse to photograph, just someone who is dressed like one.

Good luck

[perseverance72006]

Are you just focusing on tattooed female nurses or are you also including heavily tattooed male nurses?

actually chicagoNIT, i wanted to use females. simply because being a heavily tattooed woman has a different social stigma as a heavily tattooed man. and since, this is for my personal benefit as well, i wanted to relate it to me.... but........ i take it you are a heavily tattooed nurse? i need a lot of visible coverage. full sleeves?

[perseverance72006]

I would go to a tattoo parlor & bring scrubs/stethascope/etc... and camera in hand & ask if anyone would be willing to help.

From what I have seen, most female tattoo artists would fit the bill of what you describe you are looking for.

Just like someone else said, you don't necessarily need a nurse to photograph, just someone who is dressed like one.

Good luck

i may get up the nerve to do that.

thank you.

[perseverance72006]

Hi there:

I am at a computer that does not have a slot for a memory disc or card, but once I get to one I will send you a pic of me in my scrubs. I have 10 tats, the largest one that is visible: a rather large symbol of the Army Nurse Corps!

I have worked as both a civilian and now as a Military Nurse (Army) and I don't have to cover up any of my tattoos. {{shrugging my shoulders}} I have never, ever had any complants from any of my patients, civilian, retired Military, Active Duty Military

athena

hi miss Athena

thanks for writing! if you would like to share your picture my email is [email protected]. do you suppose the acceptance of your visible tattoo is based on subject of US Army Nurse Corps? I would be pretty proud to wear that myself :) Do you think it would be different, if it were just a plain skull n cross bones, or a scantily clad pinup girl? Do you feel that your age brings about greater acceptance of your tattoos? And, the fact that you work on critical care, trauma. Does anyone really have the capacity to stop and judge you? Do u think your tattoo would be less accepted on another unit? But i would imagine you've moved around quite a bit in your years as a nurse. I would like to further cite your views in my paper. :) forgive my barage of questioning. which state do you work in if i might ask? I'm not sure if i will be able to use your picture, as i am looking for a fair amount of visible tattoo coverage, like sleeves. (i have centered my paper and ideas around heavy tattoo coverage) but beggars cannot be choosers and i am ever so greatful for your offer. thank you graciously.

Sarah.

[perseverance72006]

In my facility, they don't have to be covered-we have a couple of people with neck tattoos also. I myself have 4 tattoos(soon to be 5) and a tongue piercing. We are in an urban area-don't know if that makes a difference.

wow that's encouraging. I live in the city ranked 3rd in violent crime in the nation. talk about urban! But everyone's sure tattoos are going to offend someone, somewhere. in terms of my experience with jobs not pertaining to nursing. i don't exactly know what the policies are in the hospitals in the area are yet. at this point, i'm thinking i'll get a job in mental health, or in a prison.

are your tattoos visible?

which state do you work in?

[email protected]

thank you, you are a dear.

[momandstudent]

I, personally, would like to see the results of your survey when you have it finished. That is if you care to share it. Very interesting topic-good luck.

[Erikadawn RN]

I sure wish I were in contact with one of nursing school classmates. She was heavily tatooed and was also a tatoo artist prior to nursing school. In fact she tattooed alot of our classmates. She did keep them covered but she also wore long sleeves toclinicals. I had 2 but are in places that can be covered.

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

my suggestions below:

this nurse is dressed professionally.

this nurse looks like a professional

i believe this nurse is competent in her field.

this nurse is competent.

i would be concerned this nurse would steal my personal belongings.

this nurse is trustworthy.

i would be as comfortable as possible with this nurse administering an iv or an injection on me.

i would be comfortable allowing this nurse to administer injections or insert an iv on me.

this nurse’s appearance conflicts with my religious beliefs.

this nurse shares my values.

this nurse may have hepatitis c.

this nurse might have hepatitis or hiv.

this nurse would listen to my concerns.

this nurse is a good listener.

this nurse has excellent bedside manner.

i would feel comfortable with this nurse changing my bedpan and performing personal care for me.

i would be comfortable having this nurse perform personal care for me.

this nurse would advocate my needs for me and help me receive proper care.

this nurse would advocate for me.

just suggestions. if you want my thinking behind these just email me. good luck with your paper.

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

If you need someone for the photo why don't you go post a sign at your local tatoo places or ask the tatoo artists there if they know someone.

My suggestion -- use the same photo and photoshop off the tatoos. That way all things are equal.

Also, it may be interesting for you to call several key facilities that hire nurses and find out what their policies are regarding tatoos. Essentially a different survey but not unimportant information. It would make for a nice compete picture. You could even ask the facilities if they used some sort of market research on which to base their policies. THAT would be very interesting.

[perseverance72006]

I, personally, would like to see the results of your survey when you have it finished. That is if you care to share it. Very interesting topic-good luck.

thank you! i will post the results here :)

[perseverance72006]

If you need someone for the photo why don't you go post a sign at your local tatoo places or ask the tatoo artists there if they know someone.

My suggestion -- use the same photo and photoshop off the tatoos. That way all things are equal.

Also, it may be interesting for you to call several key facilities that hire nurses and find out what their policies are regarding tatoos. Essentially a different survey but not unimportant information. It would make for a nice compete picture. You could even ask the facilities if they used some sort of market research on which to base their policies. THAT would be very interesting.

thank you for your input. i realize ignorance doesnt make for an excuse on my part. but i stated at least twice that i don't know how to use photoshop. this would be much easier if i did:)

i ordered some fake nylon tattoo sleeves that i will be using on a girl. so, in one picture she will be tattooed, in one, she wont. i was just hoping to find the real deal. it does seem really simple to go badger a bunch of tattooed people, but i have a little more than a shyness issue so that would be last on my list so i'm just going to go with the fake sleeve idea. thank you for offering ur opinion though! it's a really good idea. that is a very good idea to look into the exact tattoo policies in my area too. that should be added to the paper.

thanks.