I was waiting to get my hair done with I started up a chat with a young lady sitting next to me. You see at the time my hair stylist carries a few BB Couture nail polishes along with a few sample sets of Overall Beauty Minerals. He and I have been friends for years and he is doing what he can to help me get my name and site out to his customer base. Cool huh?
So here I am chatting with this young lady I found out she was a nurse and who I will call Bandy to protect her privacy, she knows I am going to blog about what we talked about, I am choosing not to use her name.
As we got to chatting she was looking at the BB Couture colors almost drooling so I had to ask why not pick up a few? That was when we really got to talking about nails, nail polishes and nursing.
Bandy is a RN at one of the local hospitals and I have had this question I have been wanting to ask a nurse if I ever got to sit and chat with one outside of where they work.
So sitting waiting to get your hair done was perfect timing for me. So I asked her my question after finding out she was a RN. That means she is a Registered Nurse in case you do not know what RN stands for.
My question was this: “Is it true that nurses can’t have acrylics on their nails? And if the answer is no they cannot, then why not?” I had read somewhere that nurses where not allow to have acrylic nails and I just been dying to find out why.. (that’s what I get for being article writer, always curious about things)
Bandy was happy to answer my question and gave me lots of information about it, enough to do a post about it in fact! Now the reason why nurses who work with side by side with the doctors can not wear acrylics is because no matter how many times to wash your hands you are not going to be able to get all the germs out from under your nails.
Even if you are wearing gloves you still must wash your hands when you move on to another patient. In fact you are not to have fingernails that are longer than at your fingertip. Over your fingertip is too long!
She went on to tell me about how in nursing school they did a test to prove no matter how many times you washed your hands there will still be a few germs under your fingernails. They looked at their nails under a black-light and those with acrylics at the test had so many germs under their nails it was scary!! It also taught them a very valuable lesson as well when you think about it.
Now not all nurses have to follow this ruling, those that work administration or any job that does not have to do with working with patients one on one can have their fingernails anyway they like. As long as its not too crazy.
Next time you have to visit the doctor and you see the nurse tell her thank you.. she is giving up a simple enjoyment of having nice long nails and wearing nail polish to protect you and me.
This was just something that I have always been curious about, and finally got my question answered by a real nurse!! Thanks Bandy!!
Have a great Sunday everyone!
What you think, got a questions you need answering, questions that are just driving you nuts? Use the contact Us on my blog and I will see what I can do..Don’t be shy!!
In fact I had someone ask me about eyeliner so I even got a few guest bloggers who gave me great answers! Coming soon..
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That’s really interesting! I’d never thought about why nurses not being able to have long nails before.
Is there a length of nail they must stick to as well? Thanks for the info!
There is in fact. It can’t be over your fingertip. In fact that can be thought of as too long. So if you got no nails at all that is even better. Thanks for stopping by!
I had to write and let you know that I send a big thanks on behalf of all health care workers. It’s part of my job to inform every new hire that enters our hospital of this policy. Every staff member must sign an acknowledgment that their employment is contingent upon compliance for it! Very few people understand the situation, so thank you for the article!
Thanks Michelle for stopping by! I am glad that I have been helpful. I try to write about things I see, or hear about. Having had jobs that you must follow a policy about things like short nails, no nail polish, hairnets and such, I was always wondering what about nurses? When I got to talk with my friend, it really helped open my eyes to what you as nurses can and can not do. My mother in law before she passed was a nurse. Its such an important job..
My father is getting homehealth and I have a CNA to shower my father with long nails. She came last week too and I did not notice scratch on my fahter arm and face. I just trim my dad’s nail. not thinking much. once she leave I am calling the agency and asking her to not came again till she have trim nails
I do hope that you get a CNA that has trimmed nails for your Dad. I talked with nurses before I wrote this post to be sure I got my facts right. I have been in the hospital not too long ago and the only the nurses who do the checking out had nails. Everyone else who had anything to do with patient care had next to no nails. Thanks for stopping by!