<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0>Students call nursing school policy barring tattoos unfair<font color="#ff0000"> w/ MSSU nursing school tattoo policy </font>

By Scott Meeker

smeeker@joplinglobe.com

It was when she was in high school, helping care for her sick grandfather, that Tina Shadwick realized she wanted to be a nurse.

As it sometimes does, life took a different turn, and it was only after raising her children that she decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in nursing.

But Shadwick, 40, said she recently learned that there was a small issue blocking her admission into the nursing program at Missouri Southern State University: a tattoo in the shape of tulips located a few inches from her wrist.

“In a no-nonsense way, I was told that that is their policy,” Shadwick said. “They showed me in the handbook where it says the policy is no tattoos that can’t be covered by scrubs.”

Elizabeth Arnold, 26, a junior, said she encountered a similar situation.

Arnold has four tattoos that are visible: a strawberry about the size of a quarter on the back of her neck; two flowers and a lace pattern on her upper arms designed to look like the centerpiece of her wedding dress; and a butterfly on her chest.

She said she could cover all of the tattoos by wearing her hair down or in a braid, and with another shirt under her scrub top.

Both Shadwick and Arnold are taking the prerequisite classes — such as anatomy and microbiology — for entrance to Southern’s nursing program, and both planned to apply in January.

And after making inquiries with the department, both said they got the same message: Don’t bother. No tattoos allowed.

Both women say the policy is at odds with those at other area nursing schools as well as the local employers where they hope to eventually work.

‘Prohibited’

The 2009 MSSU handbook for nursing students states: “Any personal enhancement, adornment or coloring that causes undue attention to oneself is strictly prohibited. Any tattoos that are visible when attired in the student uniform (excluding laboratory coat) are prohibited.”

“Essentially, the reason for the policy is because some hospitals have a policy against tattooing,” said Rod Surber, director of public information at Missouri Southern, speaking on behalf of the nursing school. “We have to meet the highest standards so we can place our students in any institution.”

The standard uniform for nursing students at the university is short-sleeved scrubs. Any tattoos that are visible while students are wearing that uniform are not allowed.

“Students are conditionally accepted into the nursing program, and have to go through orientation and sign a form saying they have read the handbook,” said Surber. “They are informed that this policy is in place.”

He said tattoos on the hands, for instance, could pose an infectious disease risk, even if a student covered the ink with a bandage.

“The bandage could become wet or soiled, and there is the potential for cross-contamination,” he said.

Surber said the no-visible-tattoo policy at the nursing school will help students who will be entering a field in which some hospitals might have a similar guideline.

“We don’t want our student nurses spending four years here and then find out they might be prohibited from entering a job because they have a tattoo,” he said.

Other schools

Rules regarding students with visible tattoos are not quite as stringent at other area nursing programs.

At Pittsburg (Kan.) State University, the handbook for nursing students states that tattoos are to be covered.

Peggy Tottman, an administrative specialist for the nursing department at PSU, said students who have visible tattoos can cover them with long-sleeved T-shirts or bandages. That would put students in compliance with the clinical agencies with which they work as part of their training, she said.

Tottman said she believes tattoos are a cultural issue, and one that wouldn’t prohibit nursing students from carrying out their duties.

“Some tattoos are questionable, you know, but we have a lot of students for whom tattoos are just a part of society,” she said. “How does (having a tattoo) inhibit you? It doesn’t.”

D’Ann Dennis, director of the nursing program at Crowder College in Neosho, said students there must keep any visible tattoo covered.

“As long as (a tattoo) is covered, we’re OK with it,” Dennis said. “They can wear a bandage or a lab coat, as long as it’s covered.”

An exception, she said, is tattoos that are on the hands. Because of the risk for infection, she said, prospective students would need to get those removed.

“We’re seeing more and more students with tattoos,” Dennis said. “What we try to do is stay in compliance with what hospitals are doing. Those are the rules that we try to follow.”

Hospital policies

Miranda Lewis, media and promotions coordinator for St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, said hospital employees can have tattoos, but they may not be visible.

“As long as (the tattoo) is covered,” employees may have them, Lewis said.

Hypothetically, if a nurse or doctor had a ring tattoo around a finger, wearing gloves while with a patient would count as adequate coverage, she said.

At Freeman Health System in Joplin, there is no specific policy addressing visible tattoos. Instead, they fall under the hospital’s blanket dress policy, which simply states that grooming and personal hygiene must be professional.

“Tattoos, hair color and piercings fall under the responsibility of each department manager,” said Heather Collier, the hospital’s media coordinator. “Nurses would fall under the same dress policy that we all do. It would be on a case-by-case basis, and it would be up to the manager in that department and what they feel would be appropriate.”

Tracy Lemmons, director of human resources at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage, said the hospital’s policy does not allow for visible tattoos on any employee — clinical or nonclinical. Those with tattoos must cover them.

“(Employees) can wear long sleeves or bandages to cover them,” Lemmons said.

Undue distraction?

“Sailor” Bill Johnson, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla., and vice president of the National Tattoo Association, called the MSSU policy “ludicrous.”

“My personal doctor has four tattoos,” he said. “I’ve even done tattoos for dentists and dental hygienists. Tattooing is so widespread these days that you can’t find a basic profession that doesn’t have a person employed there without a tattoo.”

The association, based in Allentown, Pa., was founded in 1976 to emphasize tattoos as an art form. It now works on advancing quality, safety and professionalism within the industry.

Johnson said that if the nursing school is worried that a tattoo could present an infectious disease risk, the school should test all students who have had dental work or a surgical procedure in their lifetime, as they could pose the same risk.

“The thing that sticks in my craw about this is that it’s a school, and it’s a school making a requirement that has nothing to do with (a student’s) education,” he said.

Arnold said that she views the policy at Missouri Southern as a form of discrimination.

“It’s like saying someone with a huge wart on their face couldn’t apply because it would be too distracting,” she said. “It’s in the handbook ... anything that causes undue distraction.”

Arnold, the MSSU junior, said she hasn’t given up on her plans to become a nurse.

“I had a baby almost two years ago and had to have surgery,” she said. “I couldn’t have made it without the nurses. I just thought, ‘What a neat job to do and be able to help somebody almost every day.’”

Arnold said that after finishing the core classes that are required for entrance into nursing school, she plans to transfer to PSU next year.

Shadwick said she has a meeting set for later this month with an administrator in the nursing department to plead her case.

“It probably won’t help me,” she said. “But if it helps somebody else to be able to get a career, then it’s worth it.”

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