> how ever I do have hands on contact regularly

Then you need to observe the same level of hand hygiene. 
You don't need contact with body fluids to transmit HAIs just skin and don't forget with you touch or hold a patients hand you don't know how particular they have been with their hygiene :)

> so you are telling me the dirt under false nails is different to the dirt under normal nails?

No, its the same old dirt :)

Yes but there is no such thing on the wards as a nail brush for general hand washing. These are an infection control issue and wouldn't be found there. So there is hand washing and there is 'scrubbing up'.

Karen :)

I think my favourite slogan is the printed sheet posted at a patients bed saying 'Before you come any closer to my bed have YOU WASHED YOUR HANDS'. It was a cartoon caricature but said plenty.

Sorry Stooge, no doubt we are on the same side apart from the fact I will still champion the use of these particular nails, and liken them to crowns for teeth or even hair extensions, and you must agree that even in this day and age the use of hats has been outdated, which is probably a similar story.

Karen :)

I am OP...didnt think this would start a war on hygene.

I bouth something that cost about £7.00 that was meant to do the job, it didnt, took it back to the shop. although i loved my SHORT not about the finger French nails i worry that this isnt good for my nails. i do not have the best of nails anyway so prob wont be using again. when i had them they were so hard that it was still poss to use my nailbrush, but tbh i never felt my nails were as clean.

> Yes but there is no such thing on the wards as a nail brush for general hand washing.

Indeed, that was my point.  It would not be practical, so we have short nails in order to use the prescribed method of hand washing for general ward hygiene which is impossible to do if your nails prevent you placing the tips of your fingers in contact with your palms.

>These are an infection control issue

Before people have the heebie jeebie about this I would like to reassure them that when nail brushes are used in hospitals these days they are single use, sterile packaged brushes :)

> and you must agree that even in this day and age the use of hats has been outdated, which is probably a similar story.
>

Not at all.  The wearing of hats on the crown of the head was only ever an adornment.
We do, of course, still wear full head covering hats in high risk areas such as theatre and drug prep areas.
Hair extensions would be OK as long as the hair was pinned up.
This is the problem with the nails.  You cannot reasonably exclude them from ever touching a patient as you could your teeth or hair :)

I use standard acetone, soak the nails for a couple of minutes and then file away the top bit that has softened using an old emery board.  When I get close to the actual nail I tend to soak a little longer and use a cotton wool pad to wipe off the last layer or so of nail.  I do it slow and steady working on one nail at a time so I normally do it whilst watching a film. 

As an engineer I can't wear falsies for work (booo!) and unless I have a do I don't see much point in applying on Friday to remove again 48hours later, just a waste of time and money, but I have about a month off work at the end of August and one thing I am looking forward to is being able to wear my nails again, especially a french manicure silver metalic style that I got.  I've never had a problem picking up dog poo in my nails, their poo is nearly always hard little bullets so just a gentle grasp is enough, certainly doesn't break a hole in the bag but, on the other hand, they make getting grass seeds out of paws much easier!  You do have to adapt how you use your hands, using the front pad of your finger, or a knuckle rather than the tip for different jobs, not just for the dogs, but it doesn't take long to get used to them.  Oh and I have no issues maintaining my own personnal hygiene although I'll admit my loo roll consumption went up the first time I wore them!

On the hygiene thing, I have noticed with my own nails that when they are at or shorter than the length of my fingertips they seem to attract and harmour more dirt than when they are slightly longer.  I know that infection control has specific demands such as being able to access that bit under the end of the nail but, given how much more often I have to wash my hands when the nails are short, could it be possible that in a domestic or non-infection control situation slightly longer nails are actually more hygenic?

> could it be possible that in a domestic or non-infection control situation slightly longer nails are actually more hygenic?

Can't really see it :) You might be able to see the dirt more easily but we don't attract dirt, we come into contact with it, some sticks and it's just a question of how effective we are at then removing it. 
However, there really isn't the same concern in the domestic situation.  It's all your own dirt and you aren't passing it on to other people.

> I find it funny and a tad sad that people say they wouldnt do it as they have given up on themselves

LOL - not sure whether that was directed towards me - did you actually understand my comments as having given up on myself - LOL :) Why would I need false nails anyway ? I've got a happy marriage of 31 years and two healthy, successful children - far more important to me than nice nails :) :)

No not directly at you :-)

I just seem to be doing more to maintain whilst my body it slowly going south !!