Tattoos and body piercings in the
medical field are often looked at as unprofessional and inappropriate when
caring for others. Tattoos are still seen by some as giving off a poor
appearance in a setting where professionalism is a must. Tattoos can be offensive
to some and I think this may be one reason they are so heavily regulated in the
medical field. If a tattoo has anything inappropriate such as foul language, discriminatory
statements, or is an inappropriate image I think this is a very fair reason to say
they must be covered. On the topic of body piercings, I think this is a far
more difficult issue and it is much harder to determine where to draw the line.
While the beneficence to you may be
that you can express yourself through these images, any maleficence to the
patients you will interact with must be taken into consideration. I think healthcare
workers should be granted the autonomy to express themselves through tattoos or
piercings, but we must be careful because even though we think it may be appropriate,
it is not our judgment that ultimately matters in the case of healthcare. The patient
takes priority and administration is always going to go with satisfying their patients
in order to maintain a strong record and returning customers.
Many hospitals
have policies regarding employee tattoos and body piercings and I think this is
ultimately a good idea to keep things professional. Luckily, most tattoos can
be covered and for this reason many people have them in the work place and
there is never an issue. For body piercings, I think it is always a good idea
to keep things conservative because you never know how your boss or someone
else may react to this. This would especially be important if you are looking
to climb the ladder as an administrator. I also think that as time passes we will see a more liberal view of tattoos and piercings. Ultimately, you may feel the need to get
a tattoo or piercing as a young student, but as future healthcare providers, I
think it is always best to err on the side of caution to prevent any complications in your future career.
Interesting choice of topic. You make a lot of strong statements, do you have any sources that support these? While historically the policies and standards of many healthcare settings have been more strict in keeping with the standards of the times such policies were created in, we have seen a lot of these practices relaxed. A friend of mine currently in med school at Indiana University had brought this up a while back, and here's a brief coverage from my alma mater's news channel of the changes in tattoo and piercing policies that have occurred at many Indiana hospitals.
ReplyDeletechanges in tattoo and piercing policies that have occurred at many Indiana hospitals (https://www.wndu.com/content/news/IU-Health-updates-employee-dress-code-allows-visible-tattoos-and-addl-piercings-491924531.html). This is the same at the hospital system I worked at in northern Michigan, I was allowed to wear my nose ring at work and I honestly don't think that you would have found a single patient that would have thought me unprofessional. Here's a study published in the Emergency Medicine Journal earlier this year that found patients did not perceive a difference in physician competence, professionalism, caring, approachability, trustworthiness or reliability in the setting of exposed body art (https://emj.bmj.com/content/35/9/538). This study is just one of many that are finding results such as these.
I think that at the end of the day most patients care much more about your experience, competence, respectful treatment of others and them, and the way that you care for them in a medical setting far more than the way you look while doing it. Also, despite years and years of rigorous and demanding training to learn their craft, healthcare professionals are not robots. They are people with real lives and real stories, and I personally don't think that we should be forced to hide our humanity behind a white coat. In my experience, the best doctors don't. Regarding tattoos and piercings the only 'maleficence' that seems relevant medically would be the risk of exposing patients to infection from a new site. I cannot think of anything else that would directly affect a patient's wellbeing.
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ReplyDeleteJake,
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a very interesting topic. I always wanted a tattoo but of course the thought of entering into the medical field was concerning to me about how my patient will perceive me as. But then there is a research stating that about 50% of the patient only care about what you are wearing, specifically your white coat. The study showed that base on how the physician are dressed actually determines patient's satisfaction. I think it would be nice to express who you are and ideally you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but I think that in the field of medicine there is already that set expectation. A patient might see a physician with tattoos a bit out of ordinary but how they react to it, would probably vary from patient to patient.
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/5/e021239
Tommy, I also have always thought about getting a tattoo but like you, have chosen not to incase of any future circumstances. I think healthcare workers should be allowed to do as they please within reason. I was mostly stating as future professionals that it may be in our best interest to keep things conservative just incase until the views on tattoos are not so narrow.
DeleteJust a passing comment with personal anecdotes, rather than cited sources. I think you make a good point about erring on the side of caution until you have established a solid career or foundation just to be safe, and in addition to that, postponing such acts until you are more mature will reduce your chances of regretting the tattoo later in the future.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I work in an Emergency Department and I am surprised by the variation in tattoos and piercings among the hospital staff. While most ER physicians do not have any tattoos and minimal piercings (small nose piercings or a few earrings), there have been a few with tattooed art along their arms/exposed skin. There is literally no difference between working with these physicians and with non-tattooed/non-pierced physicians, and I mainly attribute this to the patient population that is being cared for (the blacked out drunk patient or the heavily sedated aggressive patient or the patient dying of a GSW couldn't care less about tattoos). In terms of other hospital staff, however, there is much more present. Half of the nurses and ED techs I work with have easily visible tattoos, and one nurse even has tattoos covering his head and rear neck (which is covered by a nurse cap though). But just the same as the doctors, the tattoos and piercings they have have never caused an issue or directly resulted in poor patient rapport or poor quality of care.
With this experience, I agree with your conclusion about the humanity of medical providers and that allowance of such expression should be allowed in a respectful and controlled way.
ReplyDeleteBryan, I agree that tattoos do not affect care. I mainly wanted to point to the possibilities of affecting your career if you encounter a higher up that looks down on tattoos. It is not worth the risk right now as we transition to the professional scene.