how many of you go to the grocery store after working with patients?

[ilmbg]

I noticed the thread that asked about showering after you came home from work....I saw a high percentage of you mention that you didn't want to bring germs/cruddy things into the home.

Then how can there be so many people with scrubs (sometimes name badges), that can go into a grocery store and into the produce section and lean over the fruit/vegetables, handle some until finding the perfect piece?

I have asked this before- it just doesn't make sense to me. And before someone gets on their high-horse, I am aware that some of these people may be on their way TO work. Even if you are a station clerk, you are exposed to dirty crud. A worker in a doc's office also.

I see so many people in scrubs at the produce section... Maybe it doesn't bother you, but I feel they are not being conscientious.

[shelly304]

I change into street clothes, without fail, everyday after I finish my shift. It is just my personal choice. Yes, the general public is probably more germ-laden than we would like to think. But knowing what I come in contact with each day, procedures I perform, and assist with, I could not stay in work scrubs and ride home with myself!!! YUK! JMO.

[canuk_chick]

I've lived for the past year with numerous waitresses. I can't count the amount of times that they go to work coughing hacking nauseous etc etc etc. They are not allowed to call in sick and are serving food. At least when I go to the grocery store I know that I can wash all my food myself whereas at a restaraunt who knows what the staff are passing onto us...

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

oh, i rush right home (nearly an hour trip) after my 12 hour shift and sterilize my body with antibacterial soap and then put on a fresh, clean outfit to run to the grocery store and shop for that one last thing i need for dinner. (or breakfast as the case may be.) i carry cavi-wipes with me so that i can thoroughly wipe down that grocery cart even though i know that nobody who has used it in the past week has changed a diaper, taken out their garbage, picked their nose or coughed up a lugie without washing their hands for at least 20 seconds immediately afterward.

i whip out my non-latex gloves to handle the produce because they grow that stuff in dirt, you know! and farm workers aren't necessarily the cleanest or most hygienic of people. not like student nurses who have learned all about hand hygiene!

i try not to handle all that nasty, dirty money before i take my groceries home, because you never know where that has been! and with all those precautions, i still had to get a flu shot this year.

nah! count me among those who shop on the way home from work, then carefully wash my produce before eating it.

[twistedpupchaser]

The other day after performing a procedure I took my gloves off and was about to wash my hands when I was interrupted by a family member. There I was standing with unwashed hands and I couldn't concentrate, I had to beg forgiveness and wash my hands because there was a physical sensation of being dirty....my gloves had not broken, I just hadn't washed my hands.

That said I sometimes, (rarely) stop at the shop on the way home from work. I collected shopping trollies (carts for you guys in the US) as a young bloke and my hands would be black after an hour due to the filth on them. My boss at the time advised everyone working there to expect GI upset, (his words were a bit more colourfull) for the first few months, after that your immune system gets used to it. Remembering those days I know that I am one of the cleanest people in the local shops.

[Xbox Live Addict]

I have seen my fair share of nastiness while working in a patient care setting. I was helping to clean a super obese patient and we found a sandwich under her breast. Had another patient who had fecal stains and not just a couple of dots in her underwear and she was a well off patient.

:yeahthat:

I've seen my share of nasty undies in patient care, and these people were probably pictures of proper decorum in public.

Anyway, I see a lot of totally gross people, men and women both, out in the general public. They're filthy and they stink. I bathe daily, wear fresh clothes daily, and wash my hands frequently over the course of the day, so I don't feel guilty about running errands after work, not one bit. I've gone to clubs dressed in scrubs. I've never been hassled over it. I personally don't care if people see me in scrubs and think I'm a nurse, a doctor, a respiratory therapist, or an escaped psychiatric patient.

[missjennmb]

My concern isn't my scrubs, it's my NAME TAG!!!

I have forgotten to take that sucker off and whoah! The crazy things people will say to you or ask you is insane!

Germs are the least of our problems!

I am one who has to stop otw home from work for formula. Its $9 a can less at the Walmart near my work, and I live an hr away (and am working 4 days a week and going to school 4 days a week full time). I just don't have time to go home, change, go back out, go back home, change again into my pj's and still have time to kiss my kids goodnight and say hi to my hubby before I literally fall onto my bed and pass out.

I have stopped taking my tag off before I go in to Walmart though... because when I went in without my tag, everyone and i mean EVERYONE thought I worked there. sigh I had dozens of people asking me where things were and never figured it out until someone told me they appreciated my help and they wished more people working there were so helpful. (and we dont even WEAR walmart colors lol)

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

I am probably cleaner after leaving work than a lot of people in the general population, at least I know my hands have been washed and sanitized to high heaven, have theirs???

[pielęgniarka, RN]

Yeah, I'll go to the grocery store in scrubs sometimes. I do not rub my feet on the food products and try not to roll all over the fresh produce. I wash all fruits and veggies. I worry more about the germs I pick up from the produce than what I might have leftover on myself after work.

[TrickieTam]

I go after work all the time. After working a 12-16 hour night shift I am exhausted and see no future in venturing out again. I know once I get home I will have to walk the dog, feed the cat, take a shower, get something to eat (if I have the strength), and sleep for at least 8 hours. So yes, I go shopping after work.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

I have to add a bit to a previous post regarding farm fields. I'm a city girl who transplanted to the country a few years back. Everyone around here has septic systems that obviously need to be pumped out. By law every two years it gets pumped or you get a fine. So, you pay almost $200 to have the truck come and pump your tank out. The truck then proceeds down the street to one of the big farms and sprays it out onto the fields.

Friends of mine own a business dealing with the portable outdoor potties, and they do the same thing, only they hire workers to walk through the fields picking out tampons and condoms (how would you like that job!).

So, me going to the grocery store after work in my scrubs doesn't seem nearly as gross as what I learned when I moved out of the city.

[DoeRN]

I have to add a bit to a previous post regarding farm fields. I'm a city girl who transplanted to the country a few years back. Everyone around here has septic systems that obviously need to be pumped out. By law every two years it gets pumped or you get a fine. So, you pay almost $200 to have the truck come and pump your tank out. The truck then proceeds down the street to one of the big farms and sprays it out onto the fields.

Friends of mine own a business dealing with the portable outdoor potties, and they do the same thing, only they hire workers to walk through the fields picking out tampons and condoms (how would you like that job!).

So, me going to the grocery store after work in my scrubs doesn't seem nearly as gross as what I learned when I moved out of the city.

All I have to say is . There is another website that I belong to that has a barf smiley I wish we did here. I don't feel like looking up the HTML code for it.

Ok I became unlazy and looked it up and can't get it to work.

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

yeah, i'll go to the grocery store in scrubs sometimes. i do not rub my feet on the food products and try not to roll all over the fresh produce. i wash all fruits and veggies. i worry more about the germs i pick up from the produce than what i might have leftover on myself after work.

lmao!!!