Hospital Scrubs on the Subway?

..and how many people wearing scrubs are nurses?? Around here, its also techs, vets, vet techs, day care workers, CNA's, MA's..etc. They are also popular gardening gear here in the warmer months.

If a New Yorker is worried about germs, I can think of a bunch of demographics that I'd be more concerned about than health care professionals.

I don't worry too much about it. If my scrubs get truly filthy I change them. Maybe they've got some germs but it's not like I make a practice of rubbing up against people--that would get me arrested.

Closed for staff review.

The Journal of Clinical Microbiology printed an interesting study of this topic. As far as the reader comment about displeasurable aesthetics of scrubs worn in public . . . what about those who proudly wear ripped-up sweats and t-shirts with profane messages as they go about their shopping or dining out.

What worries me is when I see someone in a chef coat in public. Are they leaving work or heading there?

http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/38/2/724

While I can appreciate the concerns posted here, I think that we should be possibly more worried about "germs" from people in regular clothing. These individuals can go into the hospital to visit sick relatives, while touching everything in sight, most do not wash their hands after contact with the patient. Plus, a lot of visitors seem to feel as if contact isolation precautions do not apply to them. At least when I see a fellow healthcare professional I know that this person has at the very least been trained in proper handwashing technique.

My hospitals official policy is that scrubs are changed to street clothes before leaving the hospital on units requiring scrubs (critical care, OR, PACU). The hospital provided the scrubs and laundered them.The policy was rarely inforced. It became universally ignored when scrubs became a fasion statement not a protective garment necessary to your area of practice. With Wallmart selling "Mickey Mouse" character scrubs and every nurse in the hospital wearing scrubs the difference between "scrubs" and a nursing uniform has dissolved. When I worked a floor I would don my uniform (whites) before I left home-and of course would wear them back home. If I had an errand to run I would on occasion wear my uniform into the bank or whatever. I hope most nurses can use common sense with thier uniform-scrubs or whites. If you have good reason to suspect your uniform has become a vector for transmission of a pathogen then launder your uniform before you go out in public. If you work in an area that requires a hightened level of precaution then change at work. Personaly I can't imagine a time when I don't have anything more flattering or appropriate than a pair of scrubs to wear to the store!- Plus they are a bit thin and cold- I'll take a nice pair of wool blend slacks and a roomy cardigan sweater over my hospital supplied jammies any day. But then again I live in Ohio- a frozen tundra 9mos out of the year.

i have never seen any documentation that health care workers have sicker children or other family members than your run of the mill worker

how long does a germ live on fabric, i see nurses, etc in uniform when ever i go shopping, renew drivers licenses etc

be clean but don't let it rule your lives

I happen to work in the OR and I very much agree with the other posts. First of all how do you know that the scrubs that people wear aren't clean. I wear my personal scrubs to work and the change into hospital scrubs while I am in the OR. If I get really soiled, there is a shower in the locker room of the OR. After work I change back into to my personal scrubs to go home, and yes sometimes I stop by the grocery store. It is not like I am wearing them out on a Saturday night or something. I think there are plenty of people who wear old sweaty workout clothes that's worse then me and my clean scrubs. And if someone were to stop me on the streets and to inquire about the cleaness of my scrubs, I would be more then willing to educate them.

People freaking out over those wearing scrubs and spreading germs also have to remember that most doctors don't wear scrubs, they wear suits and ties, dresses, pant suits, etc.

So the next time that person is freaking out over the person in "tell tale" scrubs out and about just might want to take a look at that man or woman picking out apples in the grocery store..leaning over, clothing touching the fruit...that person just may be a doctor who did rounds in the hospital not too many hours ago...(just sayin)

that is so true