dirty scruabs

Nurses General Nursing

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Would someone share with me what is the proper hygiene reguarding dirty scrubs after a shift, especially for those who care for the elderly in nursing homes. Do you change before you go home, or do you where the scrubs home and them change? Please inform, I have a friend who stops by my home after a shift, without changing, and I can't help but wonder how many germs she is carrying around.

I wear mine to and from work and don't really go anyplace else in them. I can't wait to get them off at home once I've worked a shift. Same for the shoes.

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

I'm sure I'm no germier than the people I see at the grocery store wiping their nose and then touching the cart...ewwww.

I KNOW how many times I've washed my hands...can't say the same for the general public.

Besides.....I'm picking up a head of lettuce, not wallowing in the display.

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It may be different in your area, but the town I'm in basically every LTC patient we get in the hospital has MRSA.

MRSA in the nares. Wash your hands if you get their snot on them.

Basically, every human being in the western world has MRSA.

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We did a study because it seemed that way too, but actually it turned out that "only" 33% of LTC patients were colonized with MRSA. A dreadful number indeed, but not as bad as we feared.

In one facility? The chart I've pasted here is from the CDC 2005 showing the rate of antibiotic resistant infections in US nursing homes--the percent of infections (it calculates as approximately 1.7%), while higher than in the general population, is significantly lower than 33%.

http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/healthcare/ltc.htm

I've strolled through the MRSA discussion before on this board, and I seem to be one of only a few that DOESN'T believe that a huge portion of the HCP or LTC populations have MRSA. That's NOT to say that it isn't a problem--obviously it is. According to CDC "While 25% to 30% of the population is colonized with staph, approximately 1% is colonized with MRSA" http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html

If 1% of the general population is colonized--but 1.7% of the LTC population is colonized--then it is 70% more likely for a person in LTC to have MRSA than an average American.

I know this thread is about wearing hospital clothes out in the public, so here's my take on that--I am entirely public transportation reliant. I wear my scrubs on a train or bus BEFORE seeing my patients who are likely to be immunocompromised. I kind of have a problem w/ this, but the reason I do it is partly because, well, everyone else does, and it's a huge PITA to change my clothes when I first get to work (we don't have lockers, or a decent space to change in). The "everyone else does" doesn't mean I believe in following lemmings off a cliff--only that I don't believe that my making the effort to change clothes (in a public bathroom--which is also probably not a good idea) would actually make a difference.

As far as spreading MRSA--I just autoclave my hands before leaving work.

(kidding :) )

-Kan

ps. In no way am I trying to say anyone is wrong about the rate of MRSA colonization. There are definitely times when the contact precaution protocols are used way more than 1.7% of the time at my hospital (acute care)--and I would imagine that an incidence rate of 33% at some facilities, or higher rates in certain areas, are not uncommon. But I think that's from areas of more acute outbreak than the actual endemic rate. I could be wrong. Definitely wouldn't be the first time :smiletea2:

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One more thing--perhaps the table I posted above is just showing "infection incidence" and not "colonization incidence"

hmmm....anyone know?

Happy merry year, by the way

:)

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Specializes in LTC.
I walk into my house, put my shoes in the shoe rack with all the other shoes, and just toss my scrubs in with the other dirty laundry. I wash them with the regular laundry and on regular cycle.

The people at the mall probably have just as much dirty germs as the people I work with. I'm not really concerned with it in the least. Seriously.

My husband works at a hospital too. He's walking through all the departments. He doens't strip bare naked when he comes home either.

Sometimes people are so germphobic!

Oh, and I almost never get sick.

TY, Cardiac! IMHO it's partly this huge germophobia (which has resulted in the invention of antibacterial soaps, wipes, and cleaners) that has contributed to resistant bugs. If we don't give our immune systems a good workout (and please, before anybody flames me, I'm talking about "normal" healthy people) they will "atrophy" just like muscles that don't get used.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I work on a pst surgical floor, we do get MRSA patients but not a lot as compared to other floors. I really worry more about my shoes and hands than my scrubs. When I first started as an Aide 5 years ago, I wouldn't even wear my scrubs into the house. Now I will wear my scrubs in but they do come off right away if i was taking care of isolation patients. Most of our patients are "clean" Every patient that comes into our hospital gets screened for MRSA (nose swab)

In nursing school I had an instructor that forbid any of use to wear our uniforms in public places. Like if she saw anyone in the grocery store or something after clinical she got mad.

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Specializes in Trauma acute surgery, surgical ICU, PACU.

I try not to be too germ-phobic.

I don't wear my scrubs anywhere other than work, I throw them in the wash (yes, the regular household laundry) when I get home. I don't put too much emphasis on it.

I used to know a guy who kept is scrub top in the locker at work, and would just put the same scrub top on over his t-shirt the next day. Like, it's not a painting smock - eeeew!

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I peel off my scrubs first thing when I get home and wash them with the regular wash.

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Specializes in Peds.

In nursing school I had an instructor that forbid any of use to wear our uniforms in public places. Like if she saw anyone in the grocery store or something after clinical she got mad.

Is it only me that finds that a little ridiculous? Since when would a teacher EVER think they had the right to forbid something outside of class that wasn't directly connected to the school, such as scrubs with the school name clearly showing. That's absolutely none of her business what you do outside of class and I'm surprised she had the audacity to actually get mad at someone for it. Sheesh.

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That was the rule in our program as well. Also had a VP of nursing who made the decree that anyone caught out in public with hospital-issued scrubs would be fired on the spot. Actually did so to a nurse who'd come into work in her own scrubs but had to change into hospital scrubs d/t an exposure, then stopped at a store on her way home. VP happened to be there, and fired the nurse not allowing her to explain the situation. Thankfully that nutcase (the VP) was eventually forced out.

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In nursing school I had an instructor that forbid any of use to wear our uniforms in public places. Like if she saw anyone in the grocery store or something after clinical she got mad.

The only thing our instructor said was that she didn't want to see anyone going into a bar wearing their student white scrubs.

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