Tattoo's on Nurses

:balloons: I have had a tattoo for 9 years (Got it for my 50th BD present from my husband). Have never had any problems with it at work. In fact, I work with a lot of nurses who have them.

The funniest comment I ever had about my "Ankle rose" came from an elderly man with alzheimers. He commented that I had a rose growing out of my sock. I told him my foot was dirty and it took root. He really had a chuckle about that.

lime ihave 11 piercings in each ear. i never take them out. 2 in my nose. 1 in my eyebrow. they are moderate in size. 5 tattoos. i have not had a problem with them yet. i am an icu nurse . no person has ever gone for them. no made remarks. when people are sick , they are more concerned with your skills. and how you act towards them. i consider myself extremely professional. i am certified in many things. people need to look past looks. unless they are vulgar.

:angryfire I am a male nurse working in the UK. I have a tat on my arm which is covered by my uniform, and used to wear three 18 gauge stainless steel hoop earings (same as the ones used for body peircing) in both ears, two in the lobe and one in the cartilage of each ear. I also used to wear one in my tongue and one in my lip (I always took the lip ring out for work without questions.) My earrings were never a problem until a new head of nursing came into power and issued a new uniform policy. The matron for cancer services (my directorate) came around one day and made a point of calling myself and another nurse aside and made a big production about the new policy making specific refrence to the fact that earrings were not to be worn, which I thought was a bit weird as the other nurse didn't even have her ears peirced. It was apparent to all in the conversation what the real intention of the discussion was and since that time I have removed all my earrings for each shift. The thing that ticks me off is that many of the female members of staff continue to wear their hoop earrings and break other aspects of the uniform policy such as wearing wrist watches (which are forbidden), and are never hauled up on it.

Pete

Soon2BNurse

Hi, I am a LPN, I work in a long term care home (nursing home) on the medicare wing. I have 7 in each ear (a total of 14) I wear studs while at work. Which is no problem, the don't hang. I have ahad a few patients make positive comments about them. I don't have to cover them up.

Hope this helps

Kathy

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QUOTE=Soon2BNurse]Kashlee.. If you don't mind :) What dept do you work in? What kind of nurse are you? You said you had 7 in each ear? Meaning you have 14 total in your ears or did I read that wrong and that meant 7 total? Do you do anything to "cover them up" or do you just wear normal earrings? I'm sorry if I sound like I am being nosey, but most nurses don't have anything near what you have. And it would be nice to get some sort of advice from someone who actually has that many piercings.

I have a solid band tattoo on my left forearm..i've never gotten any flak for it... just from patients, but usually they compliment me. I work with nurses that have some tattoos as well. I've seen others in my hospital with visible tattoos. I don't think most employers would be swayed by tattoos unless there is a hospital policy or if unfortunately they have a personal bias against it. I'd like to think we are judged on the content of our character but i'm just a nurse, not a Dr. :)

DID YOU TRY TO FIGHT IT. IT'S NOT FAIR TO LET WOMEN AND NOT YOU. THEY SHOULD CARE MORE ABOUT YOUR SKILLS AND PROFESSIONALISM. NOT ACOUPLE OF EARRINGS. GOOD LUCK.

Thank you, Kathy. I'd love to see your ears someday. I think piercings are neat and I have a few myself.

Hey Leoparado,

To be honest I didn't even bother. The hospital where I work clings tenaciously to a reputation it built years ago which is now a faded memory. The matron acts as thought we were working in the bygone era of harsh rule where Sisters and Staff Nurses would leap up and line up for inspection when the matron visited the ward.

I did think about making an issue of it, but decided to stay myself and choose battles which are more worthwile to the unit. It doesn't take a second to take out/put in my earrings, and if it keeps Matron happy and out of my hair it is worth it. Also to make an issue would have meant a clampdown by the matron making all the nurses lives on the unit miserable, I wouldn't want to be the reason for them getting hauled up as they are such hard workers. Part of my role as a Junior Charge Nurse is to ensure that trust rules are followed, so I chalk it up to leading by example, plus I can wind up the other nurses when they are in violation of the uniform policy, (Are those regulation stockings Junior Staff Nurse???). I agree with you totally, rings in my ears do not change what kind of nurse I am. I give it my all every shift, earrings or not.

Pete

How did your tattoos come out??

I just got the outlines for both done. That was about all i could stand. I'll go next weekend for the color fill-in for one.

I always thought the outline part was worse than the filling in part

I wouldn't know, this is my first 2.

I didn't mean to be rude or anything, just wanted to say the outline is usually worse and you got that over with :)