Bringin' home more than the bacon....

Published

Specializes in CCU, Geriatrics, Critical Care, Tele.

nurse-home-disease.jpg.d74cfca11ac2abc6371196cee8c261a2.jpg

We are all very careful when we care for patients with communicable diseases. Gown, gloves, full PPE are the norm for caring for these patients. None of us want to take anything home to our families. What precautions do you take for transitioning from work to home? Do you leave your shoes in your garage, your locker at work? Or....do you feel you take adequate precautions at work and don't need to do anything more?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Shoes off at the door and straight to the shower for me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I used to come in through the garage, leave my shoes in the garage, go down the back stairs to the basement stripping everything off and throwing it in the washing machine, then run to the downstairs bathroom and jump in the shower. No way I was going to track the hospital or the nursing home through my house.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I changed at work in the office, standing on a sheet of newspaper. My nursing shoes were never once inside my house, they stayed in a re-purposed catlitter pan in the back of my truck, and I would cavi-wipe them and lysol the cat pan frequently. I changed into them before going into the building and out of them before getting into my vehicle. They were a bit chilly in the winter! In all my years of nursing I never once came home in scrubs or nursing shoes. I had a specific winter coat and hat/gloves and they were kept stuffed in my bag at work, and kept in the cellar at home. I washed my scrubs with Pine-sol. I had my pay direct-deposited so I wouldn't even have to go in and pick it up. I showered and washed my hair immediately upon getting home. Oh, when I removed my scrubs at work, I removed them inside out.

Contrast to now, I work in a hot, sweaty, loud, greasy, dirty plant and I can take a shower after work before I leave, but sometimes, I just go right home (I do change out of my coveralls and work boots, though). I don't feel one hundredth as dirty from this plant as I did in the nursing home (I also make more money, better benefits, and have more breaks, too, but that's another post)

Look I know we get exposed to germs all day long, but I just couldn't go right home without changing at any of the nh I worked at. YMMV.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in EDUCATION;HOMECARE;MATERNAL-CHILD; PSYCH.

I change before going home. I use hand sanitizer in the car, and before entering the house. Inside the house, I indulge in a good shower.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

No special precautions for me. I am quite sure I encounter just as many germs at Walmart as I do as at work, and I certainly don't do a full decontamination routine after shopping. Maybe if I worked with a population high in infectious disease it might be different though.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
No special precautions for me. I am quite sure I encounter just as many germs at Walmart as I do as at work, and I certainly don't do a full decontamination routine after shopping. Maybe if I worked with a population high in infectious disease it might be different though.

Yeah me too.

Just like I have a big dinner after encountering schizophrenic patient digging in her watery stools(all over her face and bedside table) :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in None yet..
I changed at work in the office, standing on a sheet of newspaper. My nursing shoes were never once inside my house, they stayed in a re-purposed catlitter pan in the back of my truck, and I would cavi-wipe them and lysol the cat pan frequently. I changed into them before going into the building and out of them before getting into my vehicle. They were a bit chilly in the winter! In all my years of nursing I never once came home in scrubs or nursing shoes. I had a specific winter coat and hat/gloves and they were kept stuffed in my bag at work, and kept in the cellar at home. I washed my scrubs with Pine-sol. I had my pay direct-deposited so I wouldn't even have to go in and pick it up. I showered and washed my hair immediately upon getting home. Oh, when I removed my scrubs at work, I removed them inside out.

Contrast to now, I work in a hot, sweaty, loud, greasy, dirty plant and I can take a shower after work before I leave, but sometimes, I just go right home (I do change out of my coveralls and work boots, though). I don't feel one hundredth as dirty from this plant as I did in the nursing home (I also make more money, better benefits, and have more breaks, too, but that's another post)

Look I know we get exposed to germs all day long, but I just couldn't go right home without changing at any of the nh I worked at. YMMV.

Wow, I really like your routine and I'm going to adopt it.

I just had my first totally, mind-numbingly exhausting day of CNA work, one of those days when you're frequently out-of-body and asking yourself about your mind, "How do I work this thing?" Urine, feces everywhere (including under resident fingernails), scratching, biting, too-small gloves tearing....

And then I went back for a second day with an even more insane workload.

I realized that as hard as I try, I am bound to slip up somewhere on the path from call light to call light so I need to make a "bright line" between the facility and home. So I'm trudging down to the basement to get me a kitty litter pan and when I go back in a day, I'll be ready the ponymom way.

(Tell me more about that job at the plant?)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in None yet..
Yeah me too.

Just like I have a big dinner after encountering schizophrenic patient digging in her watery stools(all over her face and bedside table) :)

:roflmao: I live in your world! Just when I thought I'd acclimatized, I walked in on a patient with both hands knuckle-deep in his bowel movement. Didn't realize 'til I read your post, kadeemb, that cutting and cleaning his nails might have been the reason I just could not eat anything when I finally got a meal break.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED, Cardiac-step down, tele, med surg.

I keep my work shoes either at work or in the garage in a plastic bag. I never wear them inside my house. Good hand hygiene throghout the day and a good shower before going to bed. Old scrubs off in the house. I take those off the minute I get home. It's true we come into contact with germs in the general population, but with MRSA, EBSL, C-diff, CRE, and others that are hospital related infections I make an bigger effort to prevent spreading them into the community. Drug resistant bacteria are dangerous and I want to keep my loved ones and the community safe from harm, so I try to be very cognizant of infection control. Ideally, I think scrubs and shoes should be provided by the hospital and we would get changed at work and leave the scrubs and shoes at the hospital and they would decontaminate them for us.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

When I worked ICU I would strip in the garage at home and put my scrubs in the laundry right away, my shoes were kept in the garage. When my kids were younger, I would shower before I let them hug me etc. Now we are all adults and no one seems to care!! I agree, with MRSA out in the world, we most likely pick up as many germs at the local WalMart or even with our daily mail as we do in the hospital/nursing home etc. Hand washing is still the best method of prevention!!! I also keep sanitizer in my car, and wipe my hands down before entering home. After 30 plus years of nursing, my family never really got sick from anything I was exposed to at work, so just general precautions seemed to work!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion