Vote for which tattoo was your favorite from this gallery of tattoos from fellow NursingLink members: http://nursinglink.monster.com/lifestyle/articles/19058-nursinglinks-tattoo-gallery

I do not like tattoos. It can serve as a turnoff for some patients because seeing the nurse's tattoo can serve as evidence to that person's risky health behavior as it related to getting Hepatitis B et cetera. However, if the person had it before entering nursing we will just have to understand because it is risky to try and remove it.

It shouldn't matter if you have tattoo's or not, that's descrimination. Having a tattoo doesn't effect the quality of care you bring to your patient's, drugs and alcoholism do! I have a tattoo that covers a good portion of my back (hip to hip) but that doesn't make me someone with risky behavior like an addict or a prostitute. Scenario: You get bad news saying you're in desperate need of surgery, you see the top surgeon in the area, Ivy League graduate, Board certified A-Z, invented a miracle drug that saves stage 4 cancer patients, he's cured AIDS, and he does pro bono surgery for people that can't afford it... He's the one you want operating on you! Surgery day arrives, you see him Pre-op and there he is in his Armani scrubs, you see a tattoo peek down the bottom of the sleeve on his scrub top... do you walk out of the OR because he has a little ink? Does that  REALLY make him unprofessional?

I LOVE tattoos!!!  I go to a clean licensed professional, so those "risky procedures" are about as risky as getting my blood drawn everyday for a week in the hospital, maybe less...  The point I would like to make is I am currently an LPN working on my ADN, I have 6 tatts, and I'm currently working on a half sleeve.  My ink has encouraged a lot of conversations with patients, and opened up a lot of opportunity to build rapport.  The only one I have that shows with my scrubs on is my caduceus, I have quite a few geriatric who also have tattoos (the old school ones!!), and I find it helps to discuss where, when, & why they got it, and they tend to feel more at ease speaking to me about them since I've "been there, done that" ink wise.  I don't feel there is such a stigma about nurses with tattoos, they are far more common, and no it most certainly does NOT effect the care or skill a nurse gives their patients...   

I like my snowman, that just peeks out of my bikini bottom...LOL Teresa