Patients’ Perceptions of Patient Care Providers With Tattoos and/or Body Piercings

Abstract

Nursing administrators should develop and/or evaluate policies regarding patient care providers with visible tattoos and/or body piercings.

An observational study of patients’ attitudes to tattoos and piercings on their physicians: the ART study

“…The survey tool was developed utilising previously validated Press-Ganey questions (©2018 Press Ganey Associates, Inc, South Bend, Indiana, USA) as well as provider characteristics described in the Tattoo and Body Piercing Patient Research Study Questionnaire, including caring, confidence, reliability, attentiveness, cooperativeness, professionalism, efficiency and approachability 8. Rather than using their survey instrument, which explicitly queries about perceived differences in characteristics based on body art, we coupled characteristics to a five point Likert scale with narrative anchors to facilitate patient blinding (see online supplementary file 1).…”

“…In studies with written descriptions or study photographs of providers with non-traditional facial piercings or earrings (in men), respondents generally have ranked these items as being unprofessional or undesirable 5–8. A photograph based study addressing patient attitudes to tattooed healthcare providers found that tattooed providers were not perceived as more caring, confident, reliable, attentive, cooperative, professional, efficient or approachable than their non-tattooed counterparts, and that tattooed women were perceived as less professional than tattooed males 8. A study from the nursing literature also reports that exposed tattoos among nurses may adversely affect the nurse–patient relationship 9.…”

The tattooed doctor: An exploration of the perceptions of medical students and medical school staff

“…Recently, an understanding of the patient perception of tattooed healthcare providers has been sought (Westerfield et al, 2012;Johnson et al, 2015). These studies have shown that patients have reduced confidence and trust in healthcare providers who are tattooed, affirming the assumptions of the students and staff here.…”

Nurses and body art

“…One study that evaluated patients' perceptions of patient-care providers with visible body art found that women healthcare providers with tattoos were perceived as less professional than male healthcare providers with similar tattoos. 6 In the study, 150 adult patients were shown photos of male and female care providers wearing uniforms. Some had visible tattoos and body piercings and some didn't.…”