Tattoed or Not Tattoed – Nursing Students Asked The Question
With tattoos becoming more and more noticeable, the question is being debated about whether having a tattoo affects patient care. One Missouri nursing school recently implemented a policy that stated that all tattoos must be able to be hidden by the standard student nurse uniform requirements outlined by the school.
Some students planning to attend are upset with the policy which they contend infringes on their person rights to self expression. They argue that the Missouri Southern State University policy intended to ensure their graduates can get jobs in hospitals with “no visible tattoos” policy is not in line with other regional schools or even some local hospital policies.
Do A Nurse’s Visible Tattoos Impact Care?
I tweeted about this – (Twitter.com/podmedic) – and boy did I dig up a can of worms!
In response to my tweets, I was called “backward,” “oppressive,” and urged to stand up for the nurse’s or student’s rights to express themselves. I did discover that other nursing schools have similar policies and that this one just appears to have made the news because of it’s recent addition to the school’s policies.
Of course, I was the person who stirred the pot, but I wanted to see if this really was a big issue?
I don’t believe that a tattoo affects a person’s ability to learn the skills and knowledge that make you a good nurse. That’s insane!
But . . . is this about the nurse or about professionalism in nursing?
Good Patient Care – Versus – Nurse’s Rights
One tenet hammered into us when I was in nursing school was that it wasn’t about me, it was about the patient. As a nurse, I needed to appreciate what would help that particular patient move along the path to healing and facilitate that healing. When educating the patient, I was to put myself in their shoes and make sure they really understood what I was trying to say. That included recognizing and removing obstacles to their understanding or healing.
Like it or not there is an underlying public perception among many people about tattoos. That perception is changing but certainly not for all people.
The place to stand up for that right to self expression and someone else’s disapproval is certainly not in the patient care arena. That makes it about you and not about the patient.
If your tattoos cause the patient to have a preconceived notion about your ability to care for them, it may be wrong but it also may impact care. Right or wrong, your visible tattoo may affect the patient’s willingness to call on you for assistance, listen attentively while you explain interventions and treatments, and ultimately hinder their care.
If you think that is the patient’s problem and not yours – you are in the wrong profession!
Being Different is Your Right – Having a Nursing Job Isn’t
I support your right to self expression and even welcome it. I don’t have any tattoos but I probably would if I were younger. I will defend your right to look however you want in public – piercings, tattoos, pink hair, skimpy outfits, or baggy pants with your underwear showing. Be different and draw the stares of the people around you. I’m an internet celebrity with my own style of entertainment on my shows and I get it!
Here’s where I draw the line, though.
Don’t come crying to me when you can’t get a job because they are judging you. You chose to look different or what some might call unprofessional, as a personal form of expression. There are rules about what is acceptable in society. If you don’t want to play by those rules and live outside them, great, but don’t complain when your CHOICE to stand outside those rules removes certain opportunities from your grasp.
If you want to run a marathon and choose to do it in a cocktail dress and high heels, I say, “Go for it, Dude!” Just don’t bitch to me about how unfair it is that everyone else showed up in running shoes and shorts.
Yes, you look great but you aren’t going to win the race!
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As Craig Ferguson would say, “I look forward to your letters.” Leave your comments. I want to hear what you have to say!
Filed under RN tips, nurse career guide, nursing education, nursing news by on Nov 9th, 2009. Comment. 
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Comments on Tattoed or Not Tattoed – Nursing Students Asked The Question
Fantastic! This is exactly it…and seriously, how many physicians do you see with visible tattoos? It is about the preconceived notion of the patient and most definitely impacts patient care.
Well said! ((((CHEERING!!!))))
Great article!!! I see how it could be a hinderance, but I can’t change that I have two on my right forearm. I love my tatoos, and do far so have my patients. All of my ink tells a story or has a message behind it. When I explain to my patients why I have them and what they mean, and assure them that I am a good caregiver and not a hoodlem with an ems degree.
I love your articles and podcasts Jamie!!! Keep up the great work!!!
I see understand your point that it may indeed make a patient feel like a tattood nurse may not be someone they can trust/learn from. Unfortunately I also respectfully disagree. The thing is your nurse is someone who is trained to provide care you need. Patients are not allowed to pick what they look like, to say on this topic that it is ok, is not so different then saying I don’t want a nurse with blonde hair, or I don’t want a short nurse. We are trained professionals. We provide something you need. What matters is not what shape or form we come in-even if we have chosen to alter that but our skills and compassion. Patients should be greatful that someone is willing to provide that for them. If they choose to judge based on appearance-that is that patients issue and haven’t we all seen this in one form or another? Many people coming from nursing school have piercings/tattoos, people will see more of it, and will adjust or won’t. I would rather have a tattood nurse at my side who knows their job and has good skills, then one who does not, and so should that patient. For the record, I have no tattoos.
Thank you so much for having the courage to remind us that it is not about “me” so much as what is good for the patient. I’m a long-time advocate for nurses’ rights but I was also taught to put myself in the patient’s place. I am there to help empower the patient to heal, not to express my ideology, social, or artistic interests.
Thanks for the your comments, Ali. I don’t advocate letting patients choose their nurses in this case. That would lead to pandemonium very quickly, especially when that nurse is me
I raise this point only to explain that nursing schools and employers have the right to determine what defines a professional appearance for their students/employees, just as those prospective students and employees have the right not to meet that standard if they choose not to.
Thanks, Deanna. The thought struck me as I was reading the tweets back in response to my link to the news item yesterday. All of the tweets were “me, me, me” and there was not a thought about the best way to care for the patient.
Thanks for the comments and kind words, Mac! I’ll keep the shows coming and the good discussion topics flowing.
I might also point out that while you can have Tattoos in the marine corps, you are severely limited in where and how many for choice, top level duty assignments like embassy guards (as has been told to me by a former marine). Thanks for chiming in on the this one Heather!
While I understand your concerns about the patient’s perspective, I don’t think I can agree totally with your conclusion. We are talking about two different things here: nursing education and nursing profession. While a person’s tattoos may be perceived as unprofessional and inhibit the client-patient relationship, it does not limit one’s ability to learn nursing.
There are some patient’s who might feel less comfortable with a nurse of a different ethnicity or gender, also, but we do not limit enrollment (or hiring for that matter) based on race or gender, so why tattoos? Is it because it is a choice? Even if it was a choice that was made long before the choice to become a nurse?
You’re absolutely right. Tattoos may be detrimental to a person’s search for employment in the field of nursing and, because of how tattoos are perceived by some members of society, they may inhibit the quality of care that a nurse with visible tattoos can provide.
But I find it hard to believe that one would say, “Oh, Mr. Jones, I understand that you don’t want Nurse Smith to care for you since she is a different race, we’ll find you someone else.” What is the difference? We’re allowing people to be judgmental but only if it concerns a choice? It’s OK to be different if you were born that way, but not if you CHOSE it?
It’s promoting a stereotype. Plain and simple. And, as nurses, we have a responsibility to EDUCATE, not follow the herd.
Will their ability to find employment be more difficult? Yes. Is that fair? No. But they still have the right to learn and face those challenges when they arise.
Jennifer, great discussion we’re having here and that’s what I was hoping to promote. This issue is far from black and white in how most people feel about this decision.
As far as schools go, while the tattoos do not inhibit the individual’s learning, the nursing schools themselves have a professional image to present to their clinical site partners. The nursing students must meet the requirements of the most stringent of the dress/conduct codes for the clinical sites in which they will operate while in nursing school.
One of my clinical sites was a VA hospital and that required all students to do a background check. One student was dismissed because of a minor infraction that occurred in the past. While this might have been acceptable to the state nursing board, it was not to the hospital in which we were to operate. The student was unable to continue in the program since that rotation was required to graduate.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT equating tattoos with a criminal past. I am saying that student’s decisions and choices made in the past as well as rules and codes from the present all have bearing on what the nursing school must do. For most students, this is not a problem since long sleeves will cover most tattoos. For other tattoos, it will be up to a student to find a school without such requirements.
Some of you Guys, get off that high horse!
Well for one I say that having ink has proved positively beneficial to my contact with some patients, with some social-economic types the feeling of alienation and Clinical attitude does put up barriers.
I have been to several agitated people who are fearful of the ‘clinical’ environment, or can not connect with the typical nurse/ physician role model; with some visible ink on my skin I can form degree of trust with them….Similarly I have had many occasions that patients have treated me as a porter due to the ink, as people say ‘preconceived idea’s’ indeed.
In most of these occasions once they have witnessed my level of care, they have seen past the ink! It is how you behave and not what you look like that makes a difference to the patient….your clinical skill and patient care has no relevance on if you have ink on your skin, in fact in some cultures it is a sign on spiritual wisdom……either way, try not to judge a book by it’s cover, try reading a page or two!
Great to hear from you as always, Jerry! I wondered when one of my mates from down under would chime in?
I thought this might be a bit of a contentious topic but I decided it was one that needed to be aired out anyway. Seems I was right. I don’t think there’s a perfectly right answer to this question. The lesson for students is to do some research into their prospective schools before applying and make sure that they will be able to enter the program if they have any body art going on.
I am new to this site. Happened to see it listed on the podcast awards page. Great, a place for RN’s to learn and share. The first thing I came across was this post about tattoos. What an incredible disappointment. It is as if I was reading a nursing publication from the 1950’s.
It is stated that it is about the patient not the nurse. Of course our profession is about the patient. But having some ink or decoration on my skin does not change my abilities. Unless it affects my care of the patient it is a non-issue.
Does it make the patient classify us as a less competent nurse? It might, but so might skin color, accents, age, sex etc. We overcome that by being a competent nurse at the bedside.
Another issue relates to the acceptance of tattoos and piercings in this day and time. Tattoos are not new. How many soldiers came home from war in the last 100 years sporting a tattoo of some kind? Tattoos are extremely common now. Also I doubt that most patients that are younger would have any problems with it at all.
I do agree that having extreme tattoos or piercings could present more difficulties, but that is certainly not the norm.
So I am sorry to say that this article has made the type of impression on me about this site that you were saying tattoos would make on a patient. I will come back and explore but the taste in my mouth of the backwards thinking, servant mentality that *I* felt will be hard to overcome.
Oh btw I have no tattoos, but I am a male with long hair and in 20 years I have never had a problem either with patients or securing employment.
Ok I have to chime in on this one. and it will be inflammatory, take a Midol and get over it!
Consider the population your treating. All remember, some have a “tat”…from Auschwitz. All remember the tattooed bike gangs terrorizing towns all over the US. I know your too young to believe this, google it.
Heres an experiment for you, go to Neiman Markus and sit outside (they probably wont let your tattooed, baggie pant, jacket 5x too large posse in) and count how many tattoos go in. Now go to Walmart, Head on in! Heck wear your PJs, you’ll fit right in. And count the “tats”.
You tell me, when your babys blue, who do you want treating him?
Preconceived notions are what keep us alive. That wide black spot with the yellow line running down it is not a safe place to nap. That growling dog does not want you to pet it. The tattooed guys in the alley are not the guys to ask for directions!
I will fight to the death for your right to “express” yourself. But dont expect me to trust you with my wallet, much less my family.
Me and my brother are both LPNs. I just graduated but I didn’t get pierced or tattooed due to fear of not landing a job. My brother has been a nurse for 3 years and there is another male nurse (RN) on his floor that looks like he just got out of prison. Full arm tats, piercings, bald head, the works. Apparantly he’s a really good nurse too. I’m pretty conflicted on what is acceptable nowadays.
I’m not pierced or tatted yet, I’m waiting to get a job first to see what’s acceptable for me to have before I do anything.
I’m pretty neutral on the whole tattoo thing in the nursing area. Nowadays you really can’t judge a book by the cover. You just never know who you are dealing with until you really get to know someone. Also, what one puts on their body has no bearing on their skill as a nurse in my opinion…especially because of all the people I’ve seen and met in my nursing career.
Case in point, at my brother’s hospital there was a guy dressed all in fubu gear with earrings and just generally looking like a thug. Guess what, he’s the urologist.
There was a day when nurses were only women, had to wear dresses and hats, and had to stand up when the doctor walked into the room.
Times have changed very much and nursing has evolved to keep up with the times. Tattoos, piercings, and the like are quite common these days, and although our elderly of today may not prefer to see it, they are aware of it. (they all have grand-children)
I think that the nursing schools need to do what the students pay them to do. If a student pays their tuition fees, the school is obligated to educate them, regardless of what they look like. It is not the school’s responsibility to get the students a job after graduation.
For me the bigger problem is the many nurses that I have worked with that don’t have tattoos, but are just plain terrible nurses.
Just because someone has no tattoos, doesn’t mean they are good at their job.
Regardless of the patients’ initial perception of their nurse, it doesn’t usually take long for them to figure out whether they’ve got a good one or not.