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.

[Eirene, ASN, RN]

I go to the grocery store after work. And I don't feel guilty about it. I wash my hands thoroughly before leaving work (like everyone else).

Before I was in healthcare, I didn't think twice about people wearing scrubs in the grocery.

[StrwbryblndRN]

I agree with everyone. I try very hard not to focus on germs. I clean my home, wash my hands, and do all the necessary things. However the germs will be there no matter what. Has always been and will always be a natural part of life. It is when it gets out of hand is where the problem begins.

[MaryAnn_RN]

We are forbidden to go shopping in our uniform at any time. We are 'allowed' to travel to and from work in uniform because the hospital does not provide changing or showering facilities for staff...unless we use the patient showers/bathrooms. I would rather not, thank you very much.

There is an article today about hand hygiene at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7705608.stm

[missjennmb]

I work in a hospital but I see maybe half a dozen patients a day (outpatient), I don't even come into physical contact with anyone who touches patients, and at most, have minimal exposure due to someone on nightshift using my computer/desk to chart at before I come in. My scrubs get the dirtiest from either eating lunch, or brushing up against the sink when I use the bathroom.

Yeah I wear scrubs to do my errands, including eating/shopping/etc. I have two sets of scrubs to wear (one set 2x a week for clinicals, and one set 4x a week for work) Its hard enough to change halfway through the day twice a week because I have to. I don't want to have to change even when I'm not dirty, just to keep someone from worrying about my germs.

I will say though that I always change when I leave the nursing home, because it smells funny and as a result, I generally can tell the smell of it lingers on my clothes and that yucks me out a bit. But I dont get that at the hospital, and the therapists never "smell" of anything when they're around me, so I wouldn't expect that they would change before shopping either.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

I go to the grocery store after work. And I don't feel guilty about it. I wash my hands thoroughly before leaving work (like everyone else).

Before I was in healthcare, I didn't think twice about people wearing scrubs in the grocery.

I not only 'scrub in' before work, but I also 'scrub out'.. I haven't seen anyone else do this but I do a long scrub up to my elbows with the surgicept soap that we use before we go onto the unit. Makes me feel better. :)

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Sorry I do not and never will agree with nurses going shopping in their scrubs I do not care how well you clean your hands your clothes have been in close contact with blood, poop, pus, urine. I know you do not wear aprons when dealing with the majority of pts only the ones we know are in contact isolation, they are not the dangerous ones are they.

So go home and change or shop on your days off. Plus why would you want everybody in a store to know what you do for a living? I cannot imagine anything worse than being asked for help because I am in uniform.

[MB37]

When I was a bartender I was also responsible for cleaning up vomit, and I was around a bar full on unhygienic individuals for an 8 hour shift every day. If I felt like running errands or eating out after work, I did and no one batted an eyelash - but I worked in jeans and a tank top. Now I work in scrubs, and I still stop for whatever I need on the way home. I'm generally too tired after a 12, but I often do stop while wearing scrubs. I'm still in orientation, so I have to go in to the hospital for a class once a week. They require us to wear scrubs when we're in the hospital for anything. We have little patient contact, but we may spend a couple of hours of the class on a unit to work on whatever we're covering in class. I'm a lot more conscious of germs and handwashing now than when I was a bartender, and even if I do stop after a 12 hour shift of patient care I promise I will have thoroughly washed my hands and I refuse to feel guilty about it. Not when many people who DO wear scrubs out haven't had any pt contact, and many other folks who stop after their own jobs have been doing the same types of things that we have all day (babysitters/preschool teachers, anyone?).

[justme1972]

You are exposed to it anyway, whether you know it or not.

Do you really think field workers that need to pee or poop, in some of the produce, run across the field and wash their hands after they go? Or even worse...do you think they LEAVE the field at all?

I keep a solution of cheap lemon juice and water to wash all of my fruits and veggies with when I get them home and then rinse them with water.

I don't buy anything that can't be washed...such as fresh mushrooms b/c all they will do is absorb the water.

Trust me, you are exposed to MUCH WORSE with produce.

[tencat]

Yes, I go shopping and do so in my scrubs. I also work home hospice. I'd worry more about schools where there is no standard for clean and kids carry every germ known to mankind.

[Farmer Jane]

Sure I do, but I'm certainly not "guilty" of it. "Guilty" implies wrongdoing. If my scrubs are so gross that wearing them in public creates an infection risk, I should have changed hours ago.

[DoeRN]

I don't mind going out somewhere and see people with scrubs on. If they are anything like the people I have worked with, had my clinicals with, classmates etc then most are germaphobes like me. Most of the people I work with have good hand hygiene, change scrubs if something gets on them. And some like me to the extent that they carry hand sanitizer with them and use it after touching public items like doorknobs, phones etc. If we are discussing this what about the grocery store workers? I worked in a grocery store when I was young in customer service. I was not a cashier but it was nothing to be a cashier handling money and credit cards I might add, then go help stock food which may have included produce, clean up the salad bar etc you see my point? Do you really think that the people who are handling the food are germaphobes like most healthcare workers I know? IMO nope.

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.

Don't even get me started on how many people I see NOT washing their hands after using a public bathroom. These are more than likely the same people getting upset about healthcare workers wearing scrubs in public.

Sorry to go off on that tangent but I will be darn if someone was to walk up to me and question my being able to go to the grocery store with my scrubs on.

I think that everyone should be washing produce anyway.

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

I read this post before I voted this morning, so while standing in the LONG line to vote I noticed just how many people touched thier noses, scratched thier heads and chewed thier nails....then hit the voting keys.

We are surrounded by germs. As far as wearing my scrubs to the grocery, I typically dont rub my body across the tomatoes...My hands are dirtier from pushing the grocery cart than they are from leaving work where I wash them 110x a night.