Flint Hills Technical College

INFORMATION REGARDING BOARD AGENDA ITEM

TO:	Board of Trustees
DATE:	07/10/2023
PREPARED & SUBMITTED BY:	Nicole Freeland, Nursing Instructor
SUBJECT:	Nursing Handbook Changes

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Requested Changes to Student Nursing Handbook:

Page 29: Clinical and/or Lab Guidelines: A. Uniforms

Remove Navy and Burgundy colored undershirt as an option to be worn under uniform top
Remove Navy and Burgundy colored lab jackets allowed to be worn over the student uniform in the clinical and/or lab area.

Rational: Removing Navy and Burgundy colors from the dress code will decrease the likelihood or mis-identification of nursing students as facility staff members. NRH RNs currently wear navy blue uniforms and are easily identified by patients and other staff in this manner. NRH Environmental Services staff currently wear burgundy and are easily identified by patients and other staff in this manner.

Eliminating these colors from the FHTC student nurse dress code policy would therefore decrease the potential for HIPAA related information being inappropriately and inadvertently shared with nursing students. As well as decreasing the potential for critical patient information being relayed to nursing students vs. nursing staff of facility. Please see American Nurse: What works: Implementing an evidence-based nursing dress code to enhance professional image article and NRH Dress Code Policy.

Page 34: Clinical and/or Lab Guidelines: G. Classroom, Clinical and/or Lab Behavior Guidelines: 6^th bullet point

Change from Tattoos must be covered to maintain a professional appearance to Tattoos are permitted with the exception of no visible tattoos on the face or neck, and as long as the tattoo is of good taste, not obscene, pornographic, abusive, slanderous, defamatory, harassing, vulgar, depictive of gang-signs, and/or offensive. The FHTC Nursing Faculty reserves the right to determine if a tattoo is inappropriate in nature and must be covered by clothing or makeup.

Rational: 30% of all Americans have at least one tattoo. Currently, there is no rule concerning tattoos on nurses by the American Nursing Association (ANA). Presently, there are no federal laws that prohibit discrimination concerning body art.

Currently, NRH does not require covering of minimal and appropriate tattoos, while Holiday Resort does not enforce any dress code policy regarding the restriction of tattoos. Furthermore, many current FHTC Nurse Faculty have tattoos that may or may not be covered while at our clinical partner sites.

According to the Student Nursing Handbook the student may be sent home and counted as absent from clinical and/or lab if you are not prepared for clinical and/or lab. Absence from the course results in a 0 for both the days assignments and competencies, and is applied towards the Nursing Student Absence Policy for the course. 3 Absences in any course results in the student being dropped from the course and will require to reapply for admission to the Nursing Program.

In an honest attempt for faculty to lead by example, and in the best interest of the students retention and success within the Practical Nursing Program, the faculty kindly request that the current policy be updated to remain current with our clinical partners guidelines.

RECOMMENDATION:

FHTC Board of Trustees

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