Would this bother you at all?

[kitten18]

No, it would not occur to me to be worried.

:iagree:

[TeenagerMom]

I am a CNA and work in a hospital. 99% of the time I do not change scrubs before I go anywhere/do anything. If I have been exposed to anything particularly yucky, I change clothes in my laundry room outside of my house.

 

In hospitals, patients with truly worrying things are in isolation and we gown up so nothing is on our scrubs.

[amy g.]

No. Not at all.

[annandatje]

Maybe I am just being silly but I am a bit of a germaphobe. Would it bother you if your SIL, a nurse, (or anybody) had worked a full shift in a hospital (hands on with patients) and then came over to your in-laws house to visit while you were there with your dd (5) and she still had her scrubs on and was hugging your dd and holding her? She lives 5 minutes from my in-laws, I don't understand why she couldn't just go home and change first.

 

No, it would not bother me in the least.

[countrygal]

ew! I am an RN, and I don't even take my shoes into my house.... I always yake off my clothes and immediately take a shower. But I had co-workers that climb into bed without showering after a shift...... :001_unsure:

[RanchGirl]

Yes. My RN mil always changed as soon as she got home, before touching the kids.

[Impish]

Nope.

 

I used to work in health care, and unless I was splattered w/fluid, I wouldn't change as soon as I got home either.

[freeindeed]

No, it wouldn't bother me, but my dh is a nurse.:)

He does take off his shoes and wash his hands as soon as he walks in the door.

[mom2scouts]

I wouldn't think anything about it. I'm not a germaphobe and we rarely get sick.

[misidawnrn]

I am a horrible "grossophobe" and it wouldn't gross me out. I am a nurse and don't change my scrubs until bed. I DO change my scrubs at work if I get soiled. (we have ugly light green scrubs but I have taken a few sets home because the hospital laundry soap makes me itch so I launder my own)

 

I wash my hands a lot and I really do perform gel in/gel out when in contact with patients.

[TranquilMind]

Maybe I am just being silly but I am a bit of a germaphobe. Would it bother you if your SIL, a nurse, (or anybody) had worked a full shift in a hospital (hands on with patients) and then came over to your in-laws house to visit while you were there with your dd (5) and she still had her scrubs on and was hugging your dd and holding her? She lives 5 minutes from my in-laws, I don't understand why she couldn't just go home and change first.

 

Yes! I disinfect everything that comes into my house. Packages, bookbags, people! (I'm kidding, a little), but I'd totally not want someone just off shift at a hospital to come in without showering first. :iagree:

[TranquilMind]

 

I wash my hands a lot and I really do perform gel in/gel out when in contact with patients.

 

But that just doesn't cut it. If you reach across a patient, your scrubs hang down onto the patient. You probably handle all kinds of disgusting things all day that get on your scrubs (unless you are doing office work or something). If a patient sneezes on you or bodily fluids come into contact with you, it's on your scrubs.

 

I'd go from bagging my clothes outside of the house directly to the shower if I was a medical person. But that's me. There is a reason I chose not to attend medical school; I can't handle the gross factor (or blood!).

[TranquilMind]

ew! I am an RN, and I don't even take my shoes into my house.... I always yake off my clothes and immediately take a shower. But I had co-workers that climb into bed without showering after a shift...... :001_unsure:

 

You and I must be related. I wouldn't even take my shoes inside. I know what lurks in hospitals.

[TranquilMind]

I would have said no, but after reading this, I will change my answer. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

 

EWWWW (vomit!).

 

My Mom got c. diff once as a nice parting gift from the hospital.

 

I cannot BELIEVE that people actually rewear scrubs without washing them every single day. Hospitals should totally still disinfect them!

[TranquilMind]

No, wouldn't worry me at all. My dad is a surgeon and came home from work sometimes in scrubs that he hadn't gotten dirty.

 

But I am NOT a germaphobe.

 

My husband is not a germaphobe. His germ theory is, "Germs die when they come into contact with me!"

 

The man has missed only one half day of work because he wasn't feeling well in 25 years. He must be onto something!

[trlt]

Thanks for all your responses. She does work in direct contact with sick people. She doesn't take her shoes off. I think it bothers me a lot because I know that she isn't necessarily the cleanest person in the world so who knows if she would change out of her scrubs even if a particular situation warranted it, you know? I think it just irritates me even more because MIL mentioned that she seems to only wear them over after work when we are there. Seriously, why? *sigh*

[GoVanGogh]

I'm really surprised at the number of people in the medical profession that posted here saying it didn't both them. I'm trying to sort this out...

 

We had a premature baby nearly 11 years ago. He went into respiratory distress at birth, plus had a heart murmur and was being monitored for CP. We had to scrub up and don a gown to see him. When we could finally hold him, we were told to wear clothes straight from home - nothing we had worn out in public, even though we had a gown between our clothes and him.

When he was discharged from NICU, we were told to change clothes as soon as we got home after every single trip out.

When DS was older and mobile, we were told to change his clothes after every outing.

We weren't told this once or twice, but by every.single.medical person we saw the first five years of his life. As with most premature babies, that is a long list of specialists - neonatologist, pediatrician, cardiologist, pulminologist, surgeons, etc. They all gave DH and I strong lectures about picking up germs if our shirt touched the front of a water fountain, grocery cart, etc. They told us the two best ways to keep DS healthy: Wash your hands/arms up to elbows every time you get home and change your clothes, especially your shirt as that touches so many surfaces to pick up germs.

 

Yet many in the medical profession on this post say it isn't a big deal to not change out of scrubs?

Has it just changed that much in the past 5-11 years? Or do medical people not practice what they preach? Did we just have paranoid doctors?

 

I know premature babies are a whole 'nother case than normal, healthy children. Still. Seems to be a world of difference.

[kroe1]

Suzanne, yes, immunocompromised and premature babies and those with chronic medical conditions fit into another category. Healthy people with intact skin do not catch diseases from nurse clothing. There has been several studies which have verified this even though very gross things can be cultured from physician and nurse lab coats.

 

One is much more likely to get an infection in a room full of daycare children on a winter's day than hugging a nurse.

:)

[melissad2]

Suzanne, yes, immunocompromised and premature babies and those with chronic medical conditions fit into another category. Healthy people with intact skin do not catch diseases from nurse clothing. There has been several studies which have verified this even though very gross things can be cultured from physician and nurse lab coats.

 

One is much more likely to get an infection in a room full of daycare children on a winter's day than hugging a nurse.

:)

:iagree:

Most germs don't survive that long once in contact with the air. If someone has a resistant bacteria they are on specific precautions and we gown and glove before going into the room. I mean have we become so germophobic that the recommendations are going to be that we change scrubs and shower between taking care of each patient? I have never "caught" anything other than the common cold from the hospital and I've caught more of those from my kids than anyone else! I firmly believe that we are creating these super germs with all of the hand sanitizer we use in this country. NICU babies and those with compromised immune systems are a totally different case, but the average healthy person has nothing to worry about.

[FaithManor]

Interesting, at the three ER's dd's EMS services, there are men's and women's locker rooms. Scrubs are provided by the hospital and scrubs MUST come off and be left for laundering. There are tons of clean scrubs kept around and people change often. DD carries an extra medic uniform in case she's been exposed to something really contagious. If she has been bled on or the hospital knows for sure she's brought in a patient with something alarmingly contagious (which she has and it makes my face do this :001_huh:), she is given clean scrubs to change into and housekeeping will take her uniform right on the spot and launder it while she and her partner write reports and disinfect the rig. They've got commercial washer and dryers just off the locker rooms and can power wash and dry her uniform in less than 45 minutes. Most of the nurses coming into or leaving the ER are in street clothes. A few will be in what appear to be freshly laundered scrubs because they look spotless and unrumpled which leads me to believe they changed before they left given the 12 hr. shifts. One of the hospitals has a level1 trauma center and it's mega busy, so I can't imagine 12 hr. scrubs looking that good, but I could be wrong. Maybe some people do leave in their dirty scrubs.

 

I guess because she changes and puts on either street clothes or a clean uniform and then places her "used" uniform in a linen laundry bag - which goes into the washing machine along with the uniform - I never thought about it too much and thought this was common procedure. But, of course, as a medic, she sees patients in what can only be defined as many times NASTY environments and so maybe her risk of transmitting something is greater and thus more rules.

 

I once made a pediatrician take his coat, tie, and shirt off and don a scrub top. He had been in the room next door and the child in there sounded like he or she was coughing up a hairball. He then trotted in to see my infant and promptly started leaning over my child (no tie tack by the way so I could only imagine where his tie had been all day). He was not AMUSED! I really didn't care, truly. If you've been in the medical profession that long, you should know your stupid tie is a petri dish (doubt they get dry cleaned every time he wore them). On top of which, if you've been having the kid next door (who as it turns out had VIRAL PNEUMONIA - heard the mother telling someone in the hallway) cough all over you and it's VIRAL, seriously, you need to clean up...how can you not know this.

 

So, I told him he could change or we could leave. He got mad and did a quick change. As it turns out, it was not likely to be a compatible doctor/parent/patient relationship and we ended up choosing a different physician. :D

 

I guess since dd is so fastidious about disease transmission, I have to vote that I would prefer a vote to clean scrubs before hugging all over everyone.

 

OH, dd wears boots to work. She leaves these on the back porch and has a spray bottle of disinfectant that she spritzs the boots with before tossing them into the car.

 

It's a good thing the winter coats, spring jackets, and sweaters they provide are military grade. She washes them everyday in the winter. My boys' Lands End coats, while good quality, would not look like that with 20 washes per month.

 

Faith

[cin]

To me, it would completly depend on what kind of nurse she is.

 

This is what I was thinking. Is she on the orthopedic floor? Not too many germs there. Well, aside from the normal stuff. Also, scrubs are available at the hospital if there is an accident of some sort involving fluids, so depending on the floor, she has no more germs than she would working in an office all day. Maybe even less!

[*Michelle*]

It would absolutely bother me. When I was a practicing RN, I stripped down in the garage and carried my scrubs straight to their own bin in the laundry room. I kept sani-wipes in the car to wipe down the steering wheel and seat. I did not stop into places on the way home from work. It still skeeves me out to see people in scrubs out and about.

[GoVanGogh]

Suzanne, yes, immunocompromised and premature babies and those with chronic medical conditions fit into another category. Healthy people with intact skin do not catch diseases from nurse clothing. There has been several studies which have verified this even though very gross things can be cultured from physician and nurse lab coats.

I get that. Really, I do. But I still think it is risky to those without healthy immune systems that medical professionals walk around in used scrubs.

 

Scrubs are provided by the hospital and scrubs MUST come off and be left for laundering. There are tons of clean scrubs kept around and people change often. DD carries an extra medic uniform in case she's been exposed to something really contagious.

When I was looking for on-line articles yesterday, a number of sites mentioned that many hospitals and medical facilities stopped offering free scrubs/laundry due to the economy. This supposedly wasn't an issue a decade ago when clean scrubs were offered.

[brehon]

Suzanne, yes, immunocompromised and premature babies and those with chronic medical conditions fit into another category. Healthy people with intact skin do not catch diseases from nurse clothing. There has been several studies which have verified this even though very gross things can be cultured from physician and nurse lab coats.

 

One is much more likely to get an infection in a room full of daycare children on a winter's day than hugging a nurse.

:)

 

:iagree:

Most germs don't survive that long once in contact with the air. If someone has a resistant bacteria they are on specific precautions and we gown and glove before going into the room. I mean have we become so germophobic that the recommendations are going to be that we change scrubs and shower between taking care of each patient? I have never "caught" anything other than the common cold from the hospital and I've caught more of those from my kids than anyone else! I firmly believe that we are creating these super germs with all of the hand sanitizer we use in this country. NICU babies and those with compromised immune systems are a totally different case, but the average healthy person has nothing to worry about.

 

The bolded above are very important. Everyone in my system just went through mandatory infection control (re)training at the "request" of the county's HR department. Again and again, the training videos emphasized that healthy people with intact skin who practiced basic hand washing procedures (i.e., not necessarily with antibacterial soap) and basic safety techniques (i.e., gloves when dealing with bodily fluids) do NOT have an increased risk of catching or transmitting most infectious diseases, including airborne ones. If I know I have a patient with a certain type of infectious disease I have isolation kits in the ambulance I can use and have before.

 

Interesting, at the three ER's dd's EMS services, there are men's and women's locker rooms. Scrubs are provided by the hospital and scrubs MUST come off and be left for laundering. There are tons of clean scrubs kept around and people change often. DD carries an extra medic uniform in case she's been exposed to something really contagious. If she has been bled on or the hospital knows for sure she's brought in a patient with something alarmingly contagious (which she has and it makes my face do this :001_huh:), she is given clean scrubs to change into and housekeeping will take her uniform right on the spot and launder it while she and her partner write reports and disinfect the rig. They've got commercial washer and dryers just off the locker rooms and can power wash and dry her uniform in less than 45 minutes. Most of the nurses coming into or leaving the ER are in street clothes. A few will be in what appear to be freshly laundered scrubs because they look spotless and unrumpled which leads me to believe they changed before they left given the 12 hr. shifts. One of the hospitals has a level1 trauma center and it's mega busy, so I can't imagine 12 hr. scrubs looking that good, but I could be wrong. Maybe some people do leave in their dirty scrubs.

 

I routinely transport to 8 area hospitals in 2 counties depending on patient/family choice and specific patient conditions. NONE of them have these amenities available for paramedics. We're also not able to stay at a hospital after dropping off a patient for longer than 20 minutes unless we're decontaminating the unit. If I become grossly contaminated w/blood, etc I may be lucky to get a paper scrub "shirt", no bottoms, to wear until I get back to the station.

 

I guess because she changes and puts on either street clothes or a clean uniform and then places her "used" uniform in a linen laundry bag - which goes into the washing machine along with the uniform - I never thought about it too much and thought this was common procedure. But, of course, as a medic, she sees patients in what can only be defined as many times NASTY environments and so maybe her risk of transmitting something is greater and thus more rules.

 

I suspect it's more common in states which actively and specifically follow OSHA regulations and procedures. My state does not. I imagine I see and interact with people in the same types of nasty environments. ;) Again with basic precautions there is no increased risk for transmitting most diseases. Of course, there's nothing wrong with coming into work in civies and changing into one's uniform, then changing back when the shift is over. I have several colleagues who do just that.

 

<snip>

 

I guess since dd is so fastidious about disease transmission, I have to vote that I would prefer a vote to clean scrubs before hugging all over everyone.

 

OH, dd wears boots to work. She leaves these on the back porch and has a spray bottle of disinfectant that she spritzs the boots with before tossing them into the car.

 

Eh. After 15 years and heaven knows how many pairs of boots I just spray w/Lysol every so often or if I know I've stepped in some smooge. [That's a technical term, dontja know.]

 

Faith

 

Everyone has different levels of tolerance for these things. I don't believe there's a hard and fast for every situation answer. I am very healthy and rarely miss work because of illness.

[momtokea]

Yes, it would bother me and I am not a germophobe. My dh is a dentist and he does not wear his scrubs outside his office. He changes into them at work and changes out of them before coming home. He brings them home in a bag to be washed and they go straight to the laundry room. There is all kinds of saliva and splatter on them that you can't even see.

[melissad2]

Scrubs are not provided by my hospital for the general nursing staff and if ours get soiled at work we are own our own to get clean ones. Only the OR staff get scrubs from the hospital.

[J-rap]

Gosh, this never bothered me before; it never even occurred to me! Now that you have brought it to my attention, I guess it WOULD bother me, assuming those are the same scrubs she wore at work.

[jackson'smama]

i am a nurse. yes. that would bother me immensely. when i worked med-surg type units, i took clothes and shoes off in the mud room and put them immediately in the wash (my shoes are rubber). now that i'm postpartum and nursery, my scrubs and shoes stay at the hospital but i shower as soon as i get home because i feel like my arms must be dirty. maybe i'm a little over the top, but it's what i do.

Edited August 27, 2012 by jackson'smama

[MamaJ & BabyK]

My Mom was a nurse, she would not let us touch her till she showered and changed. As a Mom it would really gross me out if someone wanted to hug my dd in the same clothes from a shift. :ohmy:

[Alice]

It wouldn’t bother me at all. I’m a pediatrician. I never change my clothes or worry about it before coming home and seeing/hugging my kids. They are remarkably healthy and rarely get sick. I believe part of that is because I am not a germaphobe. I think we all need a certain amount of low level exposure to bacteria to have good healthy immune systems.

 

Scrubs were designed to be worn in surgery or in the hospital only. Medical people who wear them in the ER or in the OR or NICU/other ICU settings are usually changing at work before they get there and then changing again. That’s more to protect the vulnerable patients in the hospital rather than out of the hospital. In all the hospitals where I’ve ever worked any patient with even a remote chance of having something more infectious is placed on isolation, which means the medical people are wearing protective gowns/gloves and sometimes masks before going in. It also means that all equipment has to either be single-use or wiped down between patients. There are some tests that if I order them the patient goes on automatic isolation even if I think it’s a very remote chance the patient has that illness, or even if it doesn’t really make sense (a newborn being tested for meningitis goes on isolation even though the type of meningitis the newborn is likely to have is not one that would be readily transmittable to other patients.)

 

It’s obviously different if you are immunocompromised or have a chronic illness. But for the rest of us, you are probably exposed to way more germs in your ordinary daily life than from a hug from a nurse relative. :)

http://www.livescience.com/16787-germs-everyday-surfaces-infographic.html

[Retired]

another nurse and the scrub issue depends on where you work

 

when my children were young, i worked with a high population of infectious disease (yes we isolated and stuff) but I just didn't want my young children exposed to to much. I would clean up before touching the kids. I also changed my scrubs several times a shift just do to the volume of body fluids I was exposed too. I had patients that were in lay terms rotting to death and the wounds were left open and we did some god awful wound cleaning techniques back then. THANK goodness for the new ways.

 

I work e/r now and yes exposed to all type of junk but I typically come home and shower/change immediately mainly not because of the scrubs but just being at work for 12 hours and a 2 hour commute. I just feel dirty LOL

 

I can tell you my children have never had the flu or a flu shot and rarely colds or any type of sickness They are now 15 and 19. My DH believe they have some great immunity being exposed to all that junk i brought home ;) and worked in while pregnant. I always wondered.