Shocked by facial piercings at work

Nurses Professionalism

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So occassionally I'll see a nurse or doc with a nose ring, or tongue ring. If it is not for cultural purposes, I personally find that it truly takes away from the professional look we are supposed to have while at work.

I'm a fan of nose rings, I think they are cute and I thought about getting one however I thought it wouldn't be a good look for work. I also would not was to bother taking it in and out.

Anyway, during my share time at a hospital yesterday I was shocked to see that a nurse midwife was allowed to wear a facial piercing at work. She had a piercing above her upper lip.

Is this becoming more common in your work places? How do you all feel about facial piercings in the health care setting?

Specializes in MDS/ UR.

never mind

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Totally creepy when you see an elderly, bony dying patient with a penile implant or breast implant and the family says "oh yeah, they got that in the '80s".

:wacky:

The joys of more those days for current and future nurses to come...

At first I thought this was about someone getting an electrical shock and blaming their facial piercing, my first thought was "Mythbusters busted that!"

Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
Somehow unprofessional! How could it ever be considered professional! As one of "the older generation" who is still very cognizant, sensible, and practical, I find your comment offensive. Allow me to explain why I feel that look is unprofessional: Tattoos and piercings are a fad that doesn't belong in the workplace, the same way many forms of casual dress don't. And like any other fad, they will fall out of favor. "The younger generation" makes fun of '80s hair and clothing, correct? But that's exactly how your tatts and piercings will be viewed one day. As a woman, I wish to always be able to update and modernize my professional look in a very short period of time, say the 20-30 minutes that it takes to color hair or get a haircut or pick out a new blouse from the rack or remove or apply makeup. But, a tatt or piercing is like being permanently stuck wearing '80s hair or last years' blouse, only it can't be instantly remedied by trip to the mall and a couple hundred dollars, and least not yet. It currently costs thousands of $USD and much time to remove those tatts and halfway restore your body to a neutral canvas. Anything that difficult to alter, I do not favor.

Not practical, not attractive, not desirable: That is aesthetically how I see tatts and most piercings.

From a medical standpoint, and as a professional who also worked years in the chemical manufacturing industry (I know my way around MSDSs and hazmat cleanups and toxic nerve agents and hazards that RNs will never see in their entire lifetimes), I see tatts as bombarding the body's largest organ with chemicals of unknown composition. In Pennsylvania, there are few-to-no regulation and licenses and professional training required to set up a tattoo shop. Any nimrod can do it. Sorry, but tattoos don't seem very smart or prudent to me from a safety and health perspective, either.

You can do what you like. And if I am a patient, I will most likely request an "older generation" nursing professional who is not all marked up with tattoos and piercings. If the hospital can't provide a nurse who looks "normal" to me, I will bestow that hospital with a low customer satisfaction rating and I will CLEARLY explain that their employees make me feel uncomfortable, because they don't look like sensible people who use good judgement.

Wow! I am a nurse just like you and somehow can't help to wonder what you would think of me, or the care you would render me if I should ever become your patient. Yep, in my hospital gown at my most vulnerable state.

I am glad I not "your generation" right about now. SMH

There is no end to what people do to their bodies in the name of individuality even though they are following a group. When nurses split their tongues or have horn implants - I quit.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
There is no end to what people do to their bodies in the name of individuality even though they are following a group. When nurses split their tongues or have horn implants - I quit.

Yeah, I have to say that would freak me out.

There is no end to what people do to their bodies in the name of individuality even though they are following a group. When nurses split their tongues or have horn implants - I quit.

I got nothing against tattoos or piercings, but some people seem blissfully ignorant of the irony of their logic that making the self look like a member of a sub-culture somehow makes them an individualist. Or how some people use the artistic works of others to "define themselves". (ie they define their personality by music written and performed by other people)

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