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SAFETY
to items during removal.
Clean off removed pieces of jewelry with a disinfectant wipe, place them in a plastic
bag, clearly identify whom the items belong to on a piece of tape or label attached to the
bag and keep it with the patient's personal belongings. Don't reinsert jewelry after surgery, unless your staff is specially trained to do so. Patients should return to their profes-
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exp
sional piercers to have that done properly.
see
Treat piercings the same as you'd treat any valuable. Some body jewelry, especially the
atta
gold pieces, is expensive. Some of it may also be sacred to the wearer, having the same
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symbolism a wedding band carries. OSM
disc
Mr. Vidra (vidra@hlthedu.com) is a licensed practical nurse, member of the Association of
Professional Piercers and president of Health Educators, a Cleveland, Ohio-based firm that provides
health and safety education to healthcare professionals and practitioners of the modification industry.
Piercings Mean More Than You Think
scre
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sk all patients if they have any piercings during pre-op phone calls. And never
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assume you know who may or may not be pierced, no matter the patient's age or
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demographic. I'm in my 50s and have multiple modifications, and when I owned a
side
piercing shop, many of my clients were local business leaders, lawyers, doctors and nurses
— not punk rock kids. You never know why a piercing was done, so keep that sensitivity in
mind. Not everyone who wears body jewelry is an attention-seeking radical. Piercing is a way
to mark different times or events in someone's life. Don't freak out or make jokes if you see an
intense modification, and don't ask to touch it. — David Vidra, CLPN, WCC, MA
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form
RESPECT THE ART
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | D E C E M B E R 2012
