Keeping everything sanitary

[Adams_Mommy_07]

I was just wondering what everyone does to keep the unit sanitary (at least from bringing things from the outside). Do you wear the yellow gowns over your clothes? Are special scrubs used? Or do you bring them from home and dress at the hospital? Or dress at home? It just seems to me that these babies would be so suseptible to microbes that I would just want to wear new clothes each day pulled from air tight bags!!

[MandaAnda]

We come into the hospital in our own clothes, change in the locker room (which is seperated from the unit by two doors) into scrubs provided for us ("theatre blues"), and we're not allowed to bring handbags or coats onto the unit. Parents/visitors also have a few lockers where they can lock away their bags and coats. Visitors must use the alcohol hand gel before entering the corridor and then wash their hands before entering the actual nurseries.

[prmenrs, RN]

We wear our own scrubs in from home. The parents wash their hands before entering the unit. Anything that touches the floor gets tossed (exc the parents LOL). Lots of handwashing and sanitizing gel in the unit. Anyone that visits the unit must be healthy. Siblings are allowed to visit IF their immunizations are up to date, and they are not sick. (We have a ??aire and a reference table to check the immunizations) In the winter (flu/RSV season) we restrict visitors to just parents.

I'm not a big fan of "hocus-pocus" infection control practices, but I do believe in keeping the environment clean, and not exposing the babies to sick visitors.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

We wear scrubs from home, no cover gowns, parents don't have to observe Contact Isolation unless they have multiples, no restrictions on children, don't even ask if they've had their shots. If someone is coughing/sneezing, we offer them a mask, and half the time they claim allergies.

It's a bit of a mess.

[NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN]

We come to the hospital in street clothes and change into our OWN scrubs, but they are never to be worn outside. We are not provided scrubs.

We do a surgical scrub for 3 minutes at the start of our shift.

We are not allowed to wear ANY watches or rings. That means we are also not allowed to wear ANY wedding bands, not even a plain one.

Only siblings are allowed to visit (as far as children go) and they must not be sick. They also have to be over age 3.

ALL visitors have to do a surgical scrub in also and they wear yellow gowns over their street clothes, so that the opening of the gown is on their back.