SURGICAL HEAD COVERINGS!!!

So lets talk head coverings.  This has always been a big subject of debate at my facility.  According to the AORN Recommendations (21012), "hair coverings should cover facial hair, sideburns, and the nape of the neck" (p. 130). 

Ok that sounds valid enough.  Here is where the debate comes in:
Skullcaps are not recommended because they do not completely cover the wearer's hair and skin; they fail to cover the side hair above and in front of the ear and the hair on the nape of the neck.

  

Many people, men mostly, have a problem with this.  Here is a video of a surgeon who makes a point of why it is difficult to wear the bouffant style hat.  

 

 

I understand the concept that the skullcaps do not cover all the hair, but do the bouffant style caps control all the hair either?  Here are two pictures of a nurse, on with what her hair is like natural, and what her hair is like after wearing a bouffant style hat for several hours (I actually took the pictures in reverse, her hair in the hat then asked her to take it off).  How is the bouffant any better at keeping hair covered then the bouffant?

 

The final recommendation by AORN regarding surgical hats is that personal, reusable head coverings are acceptable if they are covered with a single-use disposable head covering or if they are laundered daily in the health care-accredited laundry facility.  There are so many OR staff that is sad about this.  We all look the same day in and day out.  The reusable personal head coverings made us feel unique.

We all understand this practice but we still don't like it. 

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