If YOU were the patient, would you feel comfortable... - Page 4

The linen doesn't squick me out too badly (unless I can still see some leftover stains from the days gone by), but our mattresses... They're supposed to be waterproof, and more than once have I seen blood soak through them!

I figure if Haiti didn't kill me not much else will. But my patients are women who are bleeding postpartum, sometimes with stitches/incisions (an extra portal of infection), and sometimes with sick babies in NICU. I'd rather they not have to share with someone else. Fortunately we went to all-private rooms, so no more worries about it.

I know of a hospital right now that still has 4 to a room........ and when I'm a patient I try very hard NOT to think about who or what have been on those linens and I use my own nightgowns /PJ's. I fish my own IV lines so they can't use that as an excuse to put on a patient gown. I use baby wipes for wash clothes and bathing. At least in my home my Kooties are at least that.....MINE.

The previous post about using disposable cloths for wiping butts and peri care is nice..but unfortunately not sustainable. I work in LTC and we get one shipment a month or so of the disposable cloths and my aides grab as many as they can, some even stash them around the unit so they will have some for later shifts.

But in the end (lol made a funny) we always run out and then its hand cloths for the nasty work...if our laundry has left enough for us in linen service..otherwise it's like being back in the marines...you get 3 squares of tp to wipe..well in my LTC you get 1 washcloth to clean up a huge hot mess that just erupted out of your c-diff pt.

as for anything else at work...cups..toliets...mattreses..I'm not a germaphobe..figure im crawlin with about 95% of what my pts bring in...but I refuse to eat at work (first because I feel guilty if a pt see's me eating fast food or home cooked food while they are slurping down mech soft meat that looks like grey baby food- and 2nd because work doesnt leave me with much of an appetite until I get home).

I am fortunate to be male and have great bowel control and can "stand" for the other...how some women can hover over a toilet I still think is a gymnastic feat i could never master.

My kids still think I hate them some days because I come home and won't let them touch me until I strip outta the scrubs and shower...and it is an ultimate crime in my household for my kids to touch my workshoes...just one tale of what I walk thru, step in, and get splashed on them has traumatized them enough they wont go near any of my shoes

I just don't let myself think about it too much or I will GO INSANE!!!!

Similar for hotels - you have NO idea what kind of person slept in the bed before you and people usually ALWAYS have sexual relations in bed too! But what can you do! Oy vey!

This is still the case at a lot of VA facilities. Thank GOODNESS the military hospitals have made even semi-private rooms into private rooms. I still visit some ole' school hospitals that have semi's and non's (non private being 4 people to a room).

I've been a patient several times. I don't think about it... Now, someone mentioned the bathroom... I will take a shower with flip-flops on and in my undies. I ask my family to spray it with bleach about 30 mins before I want to take a shower. Housekeeping NEVER seem to "clean" the showers... they are never in the bathrooms long enough to "clean" the shower... and that is one thing that freaks me out (to the point that whenever we'd move to a new apt -military, so happened a lot- I would have to bleach the tub every day for a month before I would feel comfortable taking a bath in it -I'd shower, but no bath- and I *NEVER* take a bath at anyone's house, not even my mom's).

~Demy

I dont know what kind of mattresses my facility has then....but i would doubt they are 100% waterproof. The liquid does not just roll off of them....it leaves stains. It feels like a vinyl/plastic type of material on top but all i can say is they stain and the liquid sets in on them before "drying".......yuck!!! The housekeepers use bleach wipes on them, thats the only way I know that they are cleaned!

A few years ago, I visited my sister in L&D after the birth of her daughter. She was in the exact same room I had been in 3 years earlier when I had my son. Her 2 year old daughter was playing on the floor. I almost puked....because when I was the patient in that room, I left a huge puddle of blood in that very spot, along with a bloody trail into the bathroom where I almost passed out arter barfing on my Nurse's shoes. EWWWW. How many pp women have bled on that floor? I demanded that my little niece get up and stay off of that floor!!

I like that idea ....that is a perfect idea