tattoos and nursing, yay or nay

[Louise Henaut]

I am planning on becoming a nurse, I am already a certified nursing assistant and working as one as well. I am 17, turning 18 in a few days. Long story short, for my birthday I want to get the words "breathe" or something similar (maybe in latin) on my inner arm. I want it because I suffer from depression and have anger issues and I want to see it when I am upset to remember to just take a deep breath and relax. I was wondering, will having this small tattoo be that big of a problem with finding a job? i wear long sleeves under my scrubs already because its cold in the nursing home and I dont see why couldnt do that with a future job as a nurse in hospital. Thanks so much!!

[SingDanceRunLife]

My school policy is that we have to cover it up, either with a long sleeve, watch/accessories, or maybe you can even use makeup concealer.

Same with my school. In my clinical group, I have a girl who has to wear a turtleneck because she has neck tattoos.

[certifiedna]

I have a tattoo on my left wrist, going all around my wrist, but it can and was covered by a wrist watch during clinical and my sleeves covered it during interviews. I do not think that such a tattoo should exclude you from any programs or jobs, particularly as it sounds as if it would be covered. As such, I think one should always wait. I waited around five years to get my own to be sure it was what I wanted, although I think yours' sounds lovely!

Nearly every CNA and nurse that I saw during clinic had very visible tattoos, such as forearm or neck tattoos, which I think are much worse than one on the upper arm would be. I had an interview at an LTC facility and the woman doing the interview had a visible tattoo on her arm too. Just my way of saying it won't get you excluded from jobs necessarily, although people do judge and will as everyone has said. More so if you want to work in a hospital, I imagine.

[certifiedna]

Quote from mcoron

My school policy is that we have to cover it up, either with a long sleeve, watch/accessories, or maybe you can even use makeup concealer.

Same with my school. In my clinical group, I have a girl who has to wear a turtleneck because she has neck tattoos.

I understand the need for that, as you are representing the school. It reminds me of a girl that was in my CNA class and she had more than five tattoos, running all over her arms, hands and chest. I believe she even had one on her face. That would be a lot of make up haha.