I have bben wondering if there is now a rule that persons who work in the medical field, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. can wear their uniforms in the streets, on the buses and on the trains.
Aren't they required to wear regular clothes to work and then change to their uniforms and change back after they have completed their tour of duty?
Every day you see white uniforms, blue uniforms [scrubs] in the post office, in the stores, in the banks, in restaurants, on the streets. That kind of behavior is unsanitary."
I happen to agree, what do you guys think? I admit, I've been guilty of this as a student, after following the lead of my health care profession colleagues. But I realize I was wrong in doing so, & I'm willing to change. I always see scrubs on the trains, and we were taught in school to change once we get to the hospital & when we leave. Why do many of us do it? I believe we can do better as health care professionals.
So will Doctors be required to change clothes when they visit their patients? How about family members and friends?
Heck we can't even get families to keep their babies from crawling on the floor of the rooms with MRSA all over it. Scrubs in public are probably the least of people's worries since so many diseases are community acquired.
Anybody check out the handle of your grocery cart lately? How about an office keyboard? They're crawling with evil bacteria.
But then our society has gotten extremely bacteria-phobe to the point where I know parents who won't let their kids play on the floor in their own homes.
OMG, who in their right mind would allow a baby to crawl on a floor in a hospital or any public building? That is so nasty! When she was that small, I held her no matter how much my arms wanted to break or how much she was screaming to be let down.
I am a total believer in evidenced-based practice. Therefore, let the research guide the debate. Show me evidence one way or the other that wearing our scrubs to/from work increases the risk of infection from either the patient to the community or from the community to the patient, and then I'll leave my scrubs at the hospital. Until then, I'll keep wearing my scrubs to church. Amen.
Believe it or not we wear scrubs from home and into the operating room now. New data has come out, which supports that it's acceptable to wear "properly cleaned" scrubs into the operating room. At first there were alot of unhappy staff, especially the old school staff, but our director showed us data that supported the change.
End result is: Who knows where we pick germs up, but I promise when I go to the grocery store after work I will not roll the produce up and down my body anymore.
I want to coment on the wearing scrubs to work or in the public discussion. I live in Florida and all I see is women and men wearing scrubs everywhere. The nurses are not the only ones wearing scrubs now, a lot of different professions are now wearing scrubs. It has been very difficult to tell the difference between the cleaning staff and the nurse.Very confusing for patients I am sure.
You should only wear the hospital scrubs at the hospital or where you work. Not in the public. The fancy scrubs would be OK because those are your work clothes. The hosp. scrubs are meant for your department-wear them only there. Thank You.
Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
When my institution provides my scrubs and a place for me to change into/out of them, I'll be happy to comply. Until then, I'll wear them to work and to the grocery store, etc. And I'll try my best not to rub my germy self all over the strangers I meet there. :trout:
I have this great mental picture of a nurse running up to me in the grocery store and rubbing against me like a cat! :chuckle
...And yes I think most of our illnesses are from Walmart shopping carts! I keep intending to wipe the handle with a disinfecting wipe during shopping trips. I noticed last time I was in Kroger they provide a container of wipes and a bucket to toss your dirty wipe. I think Walmart should institute this policy!!
Yeah, but all you get is a dry paper towel to dry your hands after the package of raw chicken breasts leaks all over your hands. My suggestion of having the wipes in the meat department fell on deaf ears!
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg- Risk Mgmt.
When I am in scrubs, I feel like everyone knows I am a nurse. Aside from the infection control issues, well covered here, I think what ever I do in scrubs reflects back on nursing in general. Therefore, I try never to wear scrubs if I am stopping for a bottle of wine. And I would never go out for a drink or to dinner while wearing them. No to say I have any energy for any of those things after 12 hours in the ICU.
BSNtobe2009
946 Posts
OMG, who in their right mind would allow a baby to crawl on a floor in a hospital or any public building? That is so nasty! When she was that small, I held her no matter how much my arms wanted to break or how much she was screaming to be let down.
NASTY!