A nurse is going to be constantly exposed to harsh soaps and hand sanitizers in addition to excess water. Keeping this in mind, the ideal nail coating would be solvent resistant. Most hard gels are less likely to be affected by the overexposure to a wet environment. You may notice that the natural nails and surrounding skin are also constantly dry. This can be helped with a high-quality oil containing a penetrating ingredient like jojoba or squalene used several times a day. For the skin itself, a cream designed for dry feet is going to be more effective than most hand creams. Keeping the natural nails conditioned with the oil while wearing the hard gels will make lifting less likely.
— Holly Schippers, NAILS FingerNailFixer blogger and CND educator (www.nailsmag.com/fingernailfixer)