So, do doctors wear wedding rings?

[Auspicious]

All the time? Does it depend on specialty? Are there rules about it or is it a matter of preference? What's the deal?

[Phoebe]

My DH wears a wedding ring, except for when he goes to work. There is no jewelry allowed in the NICU now and during his fellowship. Something about it being unsterile. They do a lot of procedures so he uses his hands a lot.

Many nurses and female residents were checking him out when he first arrived and trying to find out if he was single.

Jennifer

[mommax3]

My husband wears his all the time except when he operates. He slides it on to his watch band during surgeries and leaves it with the rest of his stuff.

Sally

[DCJenn]

Mine wears his all the time- except when sleeping or the rare occasion of manual labor. He is rarely in an area of the hospital that requires him to scrub anymore.

Our rings are an open weave band and although I love them, (he picked them out) they are a huge pain when it comes to lotions and soaps. I wear mine all the time though.

I don't wear my engagement ring except for nights out. I had it restyled so it's more of a "cocktail ring" these days anyway. I don't wear it to work because I (like others in the healthcare world) run the risk of scratching people with my rings.

Jenn

[twinsmom]

My DH wears his all the time, but he isn't doing surgeries yet (he won't start surgeries for a few years...). He does take it off if he is lifting weights so that it doesn't get scratched up, but makes sure to put it around his watch. We had one episode of him tying it to the drawstrings of the shorts he was wearing, and then forgetting to take it off before turning it in at the facility (it was a campus facility, rental gym shorts only allowed). After a couple of hours and sorting through a bunch of sweaty shorts in the laundry shute, I think he learned his lesson of keeping track of it... .
I'm not sure what he'll do when he starts surgeries - I hadn't really thought about it before this thread... hmmm... somthing to think about I guess.

Jen B.

[SueC]

My dh wears his all the time when he is out of the house. At home we both frequently take them off. As far as I know it hasn't been a problem in the ICU or when doing procedures.

[Flynn]

My DH wears his all the time with the exception being when he's scrubbed in. I'm not sure what he does with it when he's in surgery but he's almost lost it a number of times.

I think it's personal preference but I like that he wears his ring as does he. I wear mine all the time -- engagement ring too --- unless I'm pregnant (like now!) and my hands are a bit puffy (groan). We put a lot of time and effort into what kind of rings we wanted and wearing them is something we both enjoy!

[migirl]

My DH wears his all the time except in the operating room; as someone else mentioned, rings and watches are not allowed because they're not sterile. So he ties his - rather, uh, expensive watch - and his wedding band onto the drawstring of his scrub bottoms. I deeply disapprove of this practice because he could lose both his watch and his ring so easily, but he continues to do it. A couple of the other residents have lost their rings after taking them off in the OR; I told my DH that if he ever loses his that way that he shouldn't bother coming home.

[BonBon]

Kevin wears his all the time, even in the OR. I guess since he's in anesthesia it doesn't matter about sterility. The only time he takes it off is to shower and to absent-mindedly play with it. He knows if he ever loses it while toying with it he is in BIG trouble!!

My husband wears his all the time. I don't think he's ever had to take it off for work purposes. He actually lost his original wedding ring 8O on a canoeing trip once and felt so bad about it that after we got him another one, he wasn't about to let it off his finger.

Once his brother asked him (with me present) "Am I supposed to wear my wedding ring all the time?" to which I replied, "No, as long as it's okay for your wife to not wear hers either." There was a bit of silence before he replied, "Yea, I'll be wearing it."

[Meenah]

My husband wears his all of the time. I wear my wedding band , but I usually do not wear my engagement ring to the hospital, because it scratches patients, gets dirty, etc. . The surgeons in our hospital take theirs off for surgery (and tie them to their scrub pants!!!).
Luanne

I'm not even engaged yet (fingers crossed for this coming year) and I want my boyfriend to wear some sort of ring to signify he's committed. I don't want those female med students thinking he's single and available. Their biological clocks are just ticking away and they're looking.

Nurses and female residents, I'll have to battle later.

DH actually lost 3 wedding rings during residency. He has managed to keep this one for over 3 years. I think during residency he was doing more proceedures in the ER and was always taking it off and forgetting where he left it. He still does proceedures but is not anal about taking it off.

[Liz2254]

I'm hoping to get my engagement ring this year, too, although with 3rd year just starting up I'm thinking I may have to find some more patience. He did take a little break from studying for step 1 to look for some rings and even asked me what I like so that's a good sign, right? Not that I have any sort of deadline on it or anything. My friend put it best when she told me about the protagonist in high Fidelity. When he proposed he said he wanted to get married so he could just stop thinking about it and move on with the rest of his life. How true. Unromantic, but true.

We already wear what are essentially wedding bands on our right hands. I'm sure it keeps the girls wondering if he's married or not. I don't know how he'll handle it if he has to take it off... but he's pretty attached to it (he picked out the titanium bands) and I know he'd be upset if he lost it.

Mike wears his most all the time, unless he's doing heavy work outside--it's shiny white gold with three diamonds channel-set in it, so it never interferes with his gloves. I'm the one who doesn't wear mine very much--especially in the summer when my fingers swell!