Advice for an itchy nurse?

Nurses Uniform/Gear

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I'm having a badge reel problem, and I'm hoping others can offer some advice.

I'm all about cute badge reels. Unfortunately, whenever I wear them on the neck of my scrubs, by the end of 12 hours I tend to break out in an itchy rash along the badge site (kind of like when you wear a cheap necklace for too long). It is especially bad with the belt clip style (top left in photo) compared to the alligator clip style (bottom right in photo) since the metal edge of the belt clip style sticks out and scrapes along the skin.

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Surely I'm not the only nurse who has this problem. Does anybody have a creative solution, or wanna be a nurse entrepreneur and invent one?

Cherokee Infinity has a scrub shirt with a built in badge loop, which I think is genius. However, they only have that option on one style of scrub top, and I haven't been able to find another brand that uses this feature. Seriously, somebody should patent this idea and make a ton of money, or Cherokee should patent it and include it on all of their scrub tops. If not for the narrow pockets on the Cherokee Infinity, I'd switch to this style exclusively.

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So far I've brainstormed the following ideas, but haven't had much luck: covering the metal end that sticks out with tape (the tape tends to fall off), switching to the alligator clip badge reels (which tend to flop over so you can't see the reel), wearing an undershirt, wearing a scrub vest or jacket and attaching the reel to that, sewing badge loops onto my scrubs (daunting, since I have no idea how to work a sewing machine), dropping a huge glob of craft glue on the end and letting it dry to create a make-shift plastic bumper...

What would really help is a small rubber/silicone cap to cover that protruding metal edge...

Any other mind-blowing solutions? Thanks, friends.

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Paint the back with clear nail polish (or glittery/colorful, if it suits your fancy). This is what I have to do when I get a nice necklace pendant that causes my chest to break out because of the cheap metal. It should stay on a good while, it won't be very visible to anybody giving your badge a glance, and it'll keep the metal from touching your skin. It's the best all-purpose solution I've found.

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I've known several nurses that'll attach a safety pin to each of their scrub tops and then hook their badge to that. One even told me she super glues the pin shut so I won't come undone. I've even come across several scrub tops at Goodwill with safety pins still attached.

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Prestige Medical Registered Nurse Heart Badge Pin| Nursing Accessories or you can get something like this, I had one kind of like this before but, lost it.
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I think some of the wonder wink scrubs have a badge loop, and maybe even one style of Koi!

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Excellent ideas. All excellent ideas. Thanks guys ;)

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I work three straight shifts each week--I may try wearing a tegaderm right over the 'irritation zone' for those three days at a time...

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Are you required to use the device?

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I've been having this issue too! Ridiculous.

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