I know this is a dumb question but we were having a discussion about this at work. I wear clean Crocs but tend to get asked about every day to remove my shoes in at least one house.
Some people I work with are offended and some don't care. I don't care as long as the house is clean, but walking along hardwoods with my white socks always gets them dirty, and thus ashamed of them at the next "please remove shoes" visit.
Probably won't get any replies but was just wondering what other people thought of this..
Major OSHA and workman's comp issue. If something happens, ie you slip on the floor b/c you are only wearing socks, you drop something on your foot, etc, you probably won't be covered under workman's comp if you are injured. At least that is what we are told by our employee health nurses.
I guess it totally depends on the case. If you will be doing really messy things definitly keep them on. It the house is not filthy and you won't be doing too much of anything then it might be OK to take them off. I guess you have to utilize your judgement based on the situation you are in.
I find just the opposite...when I trudge through the yard with no walk way and see the pt has a beautiful carpet, I remove my slip on shoes. I am often told I do not have to remove my shoes. I insist! Now, the home who has wood floors with a Hep C pt in a w/c bleeding all over the floor is a shoe-cover protection story. I use my best judgement if it is safe. So far, so good.
PS One of the other nurses knelt down to draw blood and when she got up, cat urine covered her knees! Luckily she was close to home and could go change clothes. YUK!!!!!!!! I guess remaining in shoes is a good idea!!!
PS One of the other nurses knelt down to draw blood and when she got up, cat urine covered her knees! Luckily she was close to home and could go change clothes. YUK!!!!!!!! I guess remaining in shoes is a good idea!!!
It is always best to carry a spare uniform in a plastic bad in the trunk of your car for these situations. Two of my current cases have asked me not to wear my street shoes in their house. One of them doesn't have a particularly clean floor, the other home is very clean. I bought a pair of hard soled slippers for one home and another pair of house shoes for the other. Our nursing supervisor told the client that we had to wear shoes for safety reasons and the family doesn't insist. I just go along with them out of courtesy.
I would also like to add to this post that I must wear orthotics in my shoes that make it necessary for me to safely walk, and to have to remove my shoes would place me at risk for not only occupational injury but for further problems with safely walking, not to mention having to have my patients see these orthotics. This can also be embarrassing and can make your patients question your ablities, which is an awful experience(if they see your orthotice). I have also learned, due to the these difficulties with my feet that our feet are precious, we only get 2 of them and they keep us up and moving and able to do what we do, so we should protect them!! We do not really know what is on the floors of our patients homes. We all took microbiology, and thus should know better than to reference a "clean looking" home or carpet.
With all of this having been said, I do mostly visit nursing where I see multiple patients in a day and I am in and out of several homes daily. But in the past I did work with clients as an LPN where I stayed with pediatric patients for most of the day, and would have to sit with the patients in a play area on the floor, so I would bring an extra pair of slippers for homes like those, to wear when I was walking around the childs play area, and t I would make sure that my employer was aware of this and of the reasoning behind it, ie infection control for the patient. Most of these clients were pediatric and a more relaxed environment was allowed anyway. So this worked for this particular type of nursing. But as far as adult patients who are being seen by the nurse,. you can offer to vaccuum the carpet if you track in dirt, but be professional and love your feet, keep the shoes on!!
PS. I just did break my toe and had to have an ORIF (hahaha) and have been out of work for about 2 months, so sorry about the "love your feet" rant, but really, we need to love our feet. When they are not well, it is not good!!
Others may feel differently than I do. It just urks me that someone would really have the nerve to ask that shoes be removed for a person coming to their home to provide professional services. I would bet that if doctors made house calls, they would be allowed to keep the shoes on.
I disagree. I moved into a place in January, and the lineman refused to remove his boots before entering. I needed phone service, so I let him in. He tracked mud and slush all over the carpet.
When the cable guy came to install my cable TV, he asked before entering my apartment, because he said he had got his boots dirty. I found two plastic bags and he put them over his boots and kept my newly cleaned carpets clean. I was appreciative that he brought up the subject himself. I complemented him on being thoughtful and he said something like being asked to keep dirty shoes off the floors of many places, so he found it easier to take care of the problem before being told he couldn't come into the premises.
I generally don't mind. I live/work in Western NY and a lot of people live in areas where you have to walk up gravel or dirt driveways and the way the weather is here (lots of rain and snow) we may track in a lot of snow and mud so out of consideration I will usually take off the shoes especially if they have a light colored carpet. I had one this week tell me it was OK and I just wiped them as well as I could and I noticed my shoes left marks on their carpet, they didn't say anything but I felt awful!
I have worked homecare for 5 years now and can only think of one time someone actually had a problem with my shoes. I do not show up at the door with dirty shoes, am always checking to be sure I stay on cement,sidewalks ect...This has been no big deal for me, and I have been in hundred of homes.
I am also super vigilant about where I walk, so as to not track mud or anything into a patients home and will offer to vaccuum up any mess made...and I have also carried extra shoes with me on muddy icky days...
nursechris1
104 Posts
Major OSHA and workman's comp issue. If something happens, ie you slip on the floor b/c you are only wearing socks, you drop something on your foot, etc, you probably won't be covered under workman's comp if you are injured. At least that is what we are told by our employee health nurses.