This is my first post here, so apologies if I've picked the wrong forum or otherwise committed a newbie faux pas.
I have been accepted to a BSN program, starting in the fall. I am not religious, but for a variety of reasons I wear a "head covering" whenever I leave my house; personal modesty, style, but mainly because I worked in biomedical research for years, I got used to covering my hair for biosecurity reasons, and just never stopped. Mostly in the civilian world this amounts to a bandana, scarf, or a hat, usually a beat up Stetson. I am aware that the orthodox religious communities are allowed their own options. I've seen bandana and cap-type lids in scrub materials and am an experienced seamstress, so I could certainly buy or make them to match my scrubs. Is this sort of thing allowed? How might I approach the question with supervisors (etc.) so as not to seem like a weirdo or raise any hackles?
Can I ask OP since you are not even in nursing school yet, you know your hospital is not all that sanitary? Have you spent time in there to know their policy and procedure to how they clean and sterilize or is it just an older, more run down hospital that isn't pretty looking but in fact may be very clean?
JHACO has very specific rules on being sterile and clean.
I spent several days a week for a few months voluntarily job shadowing nurses in different units all over the facility. It is an old facility, but I didn't mean that it's "dirty" or that it looks unsanitary. I only meant that while it's cleaner than the outside world, the hospital staff (not just nurses) did a lot of things just going about their business that would never have been OK in the biosecure research environment where I previously worked. As I mentioned somewhere upstream, these clearly aren't worries in this environment. I'm absolutely not interested in getting pegged as a weirdo or seeming to question my superiors, so it's not something I'm going to go around questioning or challenging. I'm perfectly happy to be trained in their SOPs and to follow them to the letter. I was told at one point that unnecessary attention to sterile technique in places where it wasn't explicitly called for might be offensive to patients anyway.
I'm painfully aware that I know nothing yet about nursing, so please don't read this as judgement; I'm just adjusting to new expectations and different SOPs in a new environment.
I would love to see headcoverings, or go back to the days when hair had to be pulled back and up. Twice, during my mother's last hospitalization, she ended up with a nurse's hair touching her as they leaned over her. This was only twice that I saw, who knows what happened when I wasn't there. One of them had cleaned her arm to insert an IV, then her long hair fell onto the arm and she brushed it away. She was not happy at all when I told her that she needed to reclean the area. I know it was more embarrassment than anything but geez, who knows what else that hair was in before my mom's arm. I HATE loose, long hair on nurses.
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
Sorry, it's clear that I miscommunicated my position.
I don't in any way believe that personal style or work history has any bearing on my "right" to wear a modest head covering at work, and I'm most certainly not suggesting I wear my civilian headgear to work. I was just trying to be personable and present a little background. I'm also quite familiar with the dress code for my program.
Clearly there are reasons nurses are allowed to cover their hair, and it's absolutely possible to do it within the structure of the dress code. It is not appropriate in most circumstances to discuss religion with my employer, and I am not anxious to discuss my complicated feelings on the topic of my conservative Catholic upbringing with strangers anyway.
I suppose what I'm really asking is if there's a way to talk about my need to cover my hair for modesty and sanitation with supervisors or prospective employers that doesn't invite an in-depth probe into my spiritual beliefs and consequent assumptions on how that may affect my nursing practice?
Thanks, this is helpful. I thought it might be the case that some nurses choose to wear them in ICUs and other highly sanitary areas as a matter of course.
Simply state that you wear your head covering for religious reasons. It sounds to me like you do have religious reasons.
There will be no in depth questioning, nor will you have to provide any documentation that goes above and beyond your statement that you wear a head covering for religious reasons.
You should not be scrutinized for consistency, tested or otherwise harassed about this.
Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
I would love to see headcoverings, or go back to the days when hair had to be pulled back and up. Twice, during my mother's last hospitalization, she ended up with a nurse's hair touching her as they leaned over her. This was only twice that I saw, who knows what happened when I wasn't there. One of them had cleaned her arm to insert an IV, then her long hair fell onto the arm and she brushed it away. She was not happy at all when I told her that she needed to reclean the area. I know it was more embarrassment than anything but geez, who knows what else that hair was in before my mom's arm. I HATE loose, long hair on nurses.
Oh, and yes, I reported the nurse.
I don't usually have bangs but on a particularly difficult case I somehow had a loose piece of hair fall in the way of catherizing a patient who had no ability to flex hips or knees. It was like trying to pry open rusty pliers. I took my clean trauma shear and promptly gave my self bangs. The thought that I had smegma potentially touch my hair made me gag.
I would love to see headcoverings, or go back to the days when hair had to be pulled back and up. Twice, during my mother's last hospitalization, she ended up with a nurse's hair touching her as they leaned over her. This was only twice that I saw, who knows what happened when I wasn't there. One of them had cleaned her arm to insert an IV, then her long hair fell onto the arm and she brushed it away. She was not happy at all when I told her that she needed to reclean the area. I know it was more embarrassment than anything but geez, who knows what else that hair was in before my mom's arm. I HATE loose, long hair on nurses.
Oh, and yes, I reported the nurse.
Asking the nurse to re-clean the site is a perfectly acceptable response to that situation...but REPORTING her??? SERIOUSLY??? this was an extreme overreaction.
I'm sure that you were absolutely perfect and never once broke infection control. You reporting this nurse to management could have resulted in her termination.
Asking the nurse to re-clean the site is a perfectly acceptable response to that situation...but REPORTING her??? SERIOUSLY??? this was an extreme overreaction.
I'm sure that you were absolutely perfect and never once broke infection control. You reporting this nurse to management could have resulted in her termination.
No perfection here. Unfortunately, that just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back with her. I did hear, from a friend who works there, that she is no longer employed there. A few months after my mom's incident she was escorted off of the property mid-shift, never to return.
Todays society is very diverse and the wanting to be yourself wherever you are is becoming the norm. In the medical arena we are inundated with regulation and policies throughout our work day, adhering to those policies can be challenging. HR Dress codes must:
•show business justification for your requirements
•reasonably accommodate their religious beliefs
•ask the employees to seek an exemption from wearing religious garb while on duty
when you have dress codes and enforce them the organization remains the same, there is a sense on commonality, solidarity which develops amongst them, industry demands to look the same so when patients approach you they can be confidant they are going to get the same or similar answer and there is a feeling of equality amongst the staff and appearance of equality appearance for the patients, this would be my managerial answer when staff come to me asking why….
There are jobs that require hats; construction and other jobs it is common place to wear hats i.e. truck drivers, baseball players...and I appreciate hats worn while they are cooking my food, ugh... the thought of a hair in my food is revolting. On the other hand if a medical person in scrubs came to me wearing a hat when I am in the hospital for say gastroparesis and need TPN therapy I would be alarmed to think they are going to do surgery on me! First impression are important. I personal would be wondering if they replace those hats when going back into the OR and if this is how one mode of infection transmission occurs.
In the medical field you wear a surgical scrub hat most employees take their hat off when not in the OR. Did you notice people looking at those employees who are walking around in a scrub hat while in the cafeteria? Rule of thumb if you have to ask it more than likely is not allowed.
Lastly the military and most etiquette calls for hats to be removed indoors, at specific functions, and upon the national anthem playing.
the thought of a hair in my food is revolting. On the other hand if a medical person in scrubs came to me wearing a hat...
For me, the thought of a stranger's floppy loose hair touching me at any time is kind of revolting, especially in an environment like a hospital, but I get what you're saying. This is basically the answer I got asking a nursing friend elsewhere about some of the questionable stuff I saw. "Even if [an action] is more effectively hygienic, it will make patients uncomfortable if you are acting too "clean". They will get offended that you are treating them like they're dirty, so if it's not cost-effective or truly necessary, we don't do it".
I don't get that at all, but I'm happy to comply. Or rather, I'm willing to comply because I want to work in this field. I get the cost-cutting measures, but for me, personally, I'd find attention to this sort of thing very comforting. It had been a fair bit of time since I was in a hospital. Seeing nurses with their hair just flopping around, picking up microbes on all that surface area, really surprised me.
I'm not a fan of lying about religious beliefs, especially if your sole purpose is to reap a benefit of that religion. Edited to add: OP, I don't see that that is your plan, but it was suggested a couple of times so wanted to address it
What about wearing your hair in a bun with a bun-wrap? The majority of your hair would be covered, your hair would be secured, and it's not considered a "hat" or a "covering."
In preparing for JC to come to our facility we've recently been reminded about the booties because several co-workers in the ED wear them thinking that will keep them from taking germs home. ðŸ˜
Talking about infection control with head coverings I just have to say one of my pet peeves is the cloth stethoscope covers that so many people purchase. I often wonder how often and how well those get washed. I can use a wipe on my stethoscope
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I'm not a fan of lying about religious beliefs, especially if your sole purpose is to reap a benefit of that religion. Edited to add: OP, I don't see that that is your plan, but it was suggested a couple of times so wanted to address it
What about wearing your hair in a bun with a bun-wrap? The majority of your hair would be covered, your hair would be secured, and it's not considered a "hat" or a "covering."
That would still violate a number of dress codes. Ours says we can't have something more than 2 inches wide. Or is it one inch? I don't remember the exact wording, but I've seen the CNAs get sent home for violating that part of the dress code. (Maybe they wanted a day off and couldn't get it?)
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Oregon, My Oregon
12 Posts
I spent several days a week for a few months voluntarily job shadowing nurses in different units all over the facility. It is an old facility, but I didn't mean that it's "dirty" or that it looks unsanitary. I only meant that while it's cleaner than the outside world, the hospital staff (not just nurses) did a lot of things just going about their business that would never have been OK in the biosecure research environment where I previously worked. As I mentioned somewhere upstream, these clearly aren't worries in this environment. I'm absolutely not interested in getting pegged as a weirdo or seeming to question my superiors, so it's not something I'm going to go around questioning or challenging. I'm perfectly happy to be trained in their SOPs and to follow them to the letter. I was told at one point that unnecessary attention to sterile technique in places where it wasn't explicitly called for might be offensive to patients anyway.
I'm painfully aware that I know nothing yet about nursing, so please don't read this as judgement; I'm just adjusting to new expectations and different SOPs in a new environment.