Cleaning Watch for Clinical

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I've quickly becoming a germaphobic after listening to all the rationale about why you should never wear your scrubs out of a clinical setting, ever wear nail polish, or even rings during patient care, etc. With that said, I'm struggling to find a solution to clean my watch. I have a nice stainless steel stretchy band, and while it's awesome for clinicals, I shudder at the thought of how many creepy crawlies are living within the stretchy pieces.

Since I can't really put it in the dishwasher (yep, I actually considered it), and you can't really bleach stainless steel without ruining the finish... I need ideas. Preferably ideas that don't have me stretching the entire band out just to clean in between it with Q-tips... believe me, I've done that too, and it takes too long. How do you keep your watch clean?

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I use a watch that is a clip on. (kind of like a belt clip that you see some keep their keys on) when I need it I unclip it from my belt loop. Cost me $10 at Walmart. When it breaks I will just get another. Easy to clean and not on my wrist. (I hate wearing wristwatches)

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Specializes in ED, trauma.

I use the wipes at the hospital, I grab one, wipe my watch down with it and put it in my pants pocket - since that's the "no touch" zone during clinicals.

I also keep a watch STRICTLY for clinical, so it keeps whatever funk on it from week to week if it was missed during my hospital grade wipe-down.

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

I use a fob watch -- I pin it to my scrub top, then affix my ID badge to that. I can see it without touching it, so germies are kept to a minimum. And they cost less than $4/each on ebay including shipping (I've snagged them for ~$2.25 before).

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