getting bodily fluids on scrubs

[sami rognlie]

I am quite a nervous person, especially when it comes to bodily fluids. I believe I got urine on my pant leg when I was cleaning a patient up and I freaked out internally... Is it okay to walk around with a small amount of urine on your scrubs until you go home? Or should you change right away? I used chlorhexidine wipes to clean off my leg, but I honestly am not even 100% any got on me, it just felt wet. I just don't know if it was  best for me to change out of them or not since it was such a small amount.. Do you guys personally change only if you got soaked or even with a tiny amount?

I have anxiety and this doesn't help that I freak out so much.

[CKPM2RN, ASN, EMT-P]

Well you haven't really lived until you've been a field medic and crawled into/onto all said body fluids and excretions on purpose. As a nurse now it takes a bit more that a little piss on my pant hem to get me excited. (Poo and vomit are a change of clothes)  Quick tip: learn how to take off your scrub top without the dirty or wet part touching your face. Seriously practice it, a good skill to have. 

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I was helping a very frail, fragile elderly man and he was unfortunately undressed, and confused and peed on my head.  Fortunately I have very short hair and a quick shampoo in the bathroom made me feel new again.  It's not an easy job we have sometimes.  20 years and I haven't caught anything yet.  

[kp2016]

I always keep a clean set of scrubs in my locker. Honestly it’s mainly that I’m clumsy and have sat on more than 1 cup of juice while doing discharge teaching or exploded a lab vial when I injected too large a volume, to this day I’m not sure how that one happened but under pressure 5mls of blood will make one heck of a mess. 
 

Having a clean change of scrubs available is just easier than spending the rest of the shift in scrubs that are sticky or contaminated.

[macawake, MSN]

On 9/3/2020 at 11:45 PM, Mywords1 said:

If you can smell it, change it.

If it looks like pee or blood, change it. Neatness always matters.

Neatness? I’m sure that many patients appreciate a healthcare provider who doesn’t look like a complete slob. However I think the risk that healthcare workers pose to patients when they wear clothes with possibly viable, infectious pathogens on them, thus acting as potential vectors is a much more pressing concern. 

There’s no way I’d continue working with a patient’s bodily fluids on my scrubs. If my scrubs become contaminated, regardless of the size of the splash/spill/whatever, I change into a clean set before I see another patient or go to the breakroom. Period. It’s primarily for infection control purposes, but also because I don’t particularly fancy walking around with another person’s blood or feces on me.

As a patient I’d also be grossed out if my nurse or physician had stains on their clothes. Not because they didn’t look neat, but because I have no way of knowing if they simply spilled their orange juice on them during lunch or if it’s something more nasty. Being in a hospital, chances are that it’s something icky. And if they don’t care about what nasty stuff they have on their clothes, I’d wonder how much they care about the crap they have on their hands..

OP, I don’t think you need to freak out. But if your employer doesn’t provide and launder your scrubs, I think it’s a good idea as other posters have mentioned, to always have at least one extra set of clean scrubs on hand (including a change of socks and underwear). 

Take care!
 

 

[Subcutaneous]

Have to agree with the above.