What do you wash your scrubs with?

[chickapea]

Just wondering. I have been washing mine in whatever laundry detergent I have either on warm or hot. Not all detergents contain bleach though and I'm worried because I took care of someone with c. diff the other day. I wore gloves, gown and washed my hands plenty. I really don't want to bring that little bugger home! I'm planning on getting some detergent with bleach and keeping it on hand for all of my work clothes from now on. :wink2:

[MotivatedOne]

I just use Gain Joyful expressions...Apple Mango Tango :-) I have a question for you though, do you wash your scrubs separate from your other clothes or every thing all together?

[CNACaroline726]

I use regular Tide detergent. I usually wash my scrubs separate from my other clothes, especially when I did my clinicals at a long-term acute care facility. A lot of the patients have resistant streptococcus bacteria and they are on several antibiotics. I have a thing with germs, so I didn't want to clean the scrubs with my regular clothes. :)

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

I don't know; my boyfriend does the laundry

[chickapea]

I wash my scrubs alone. Since bleach is the only thing that kills c. diff and MRSA though and you don't always know when you're being exposed to those germs, I'm going to use detergents that contain bleach for my scrubs.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

I use Dreft and color-safe bleach alternative. I only use hot water on my all-white scrubs b/c hot water just destroys the fabric of my colored scrubs after a while.

[Girl Scout]

I Woolite my scrubs most of the time.

A little bit of bleach and scalding water makes a good first soak and rinse. Then I go on about the soap and cold water scrubbing and soaking, which I tend to do for a couple of hours instead of the few minutes the bottle says to do. Then a cold water rinse, wring it out, and hang it up to dry.

Use non-porous gloves when handling bleach and soaking your germy scrubs, and safety glasses if you've got 'em, because you never know what's on the scrubs and what's going to splash in your eyes.

Otherwise, if I'm at the laundry down the road, I toss them in, set everything on hot/hot, and use "All" detergent.

[NewEnglandRN, RN]

Tide with Downey.

Always separate from my other clothes.

[dedream]

I use oxiclean and any detergent with bleach alternative (anything on sale really) I usually strip upon entry to the house and bag my scrubs until laundry day. When I work on a unit with high C-diff volume I soak my scrubs in water and peroxide ( it really whitens my whites and make my colors pop) Man I sound like a commercial...lol

[Dorali, BSN, LPN, RN]

My grandma has been an LPN for years and told me to wash my scrubs together because they will last longer.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Unless you wear white, bleach will ruin your scrubs and fade them to Kingdom come.

Understand that clothing is not skin...c-diff survives (in small numbers) from washing at low temperatures, such as cold water.

Warm or hot should do the trick.

[chickapea]

Sorry I meant to say detergents that contain color safe bleach. :) To the poster who strips down and bags your clothes for laundry day, I strip down too upon entry and throw my clothes in the wash and jump in the shower. I just love feeling clean and relaxed after a long shift.