Wrist watches...what are the pros and cons?

Nurses Uniform/Gear

Published

Hi all,

I am seeking advice on the pros and cons of wearing a wrist watch while on duty. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dan

Specializes in PP, Pediatrics, Home Health.

I usually wear a rubber wrist watch.I wash it and wipe it down with alcohol at the end of my shift and then leave it it my locker at work.I don't know how I would cope without my watch.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Nsg QA.
I NEVER wear a watch. Just the thought of it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I usually wash my hands up to my elbows, and I can't do that with a watch on. My hubby used to laugh at me for this behavior, so one day I took a swab of my watch (worn for exactly 24 hours while on duty), put it on a plate of agar, let it incubate for 48 hours and WHAMMO! More bacteria than you care to imagine. It was gross. I put some of the bacteria on slides to see exactly what was growing, and all of the natural flora showed, as expected. But surprisingly, after doing an acid fast staining of the bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis also showed up. I do not remember any of my patients having this, so that was sort of an enigma to me. However, I will never EVER wear a watch again!

I will be washing my watch tonight! Now I'm grossed out.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

nope and never, because the gloves don't go that far up and when were knee or wrist deep in the voodoo that we do, the watch gets hit. If we cultured watched, many would change practice on what lied under the straps of the watch.

In our ICU we have wall clocks in each room as well as the monitor, so my example may not fit the masses, but even the neck or clip watches hit the bed and are contaminated. Just like my rings. Anyone that wears rings to work... have lab culture it and just see.....

work is a nasty place, my work has no place in my home. don't start me on the shoes that never make it past the front door, but others touch them to move them to get at other shoes. Had to fix that too... Yuck!

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Specializes in Cardiac, Acute Stroke Unit, Surgical.

I trained in the dark ages of "hospital training" (not really so long ago in Australia......about 30 years). Back then there was never an option! You HAD to have a nurses fob watch. Wrist watches were banned on duty.

Since then, times have changed and most hospitals allow wrist watches. However, I can't live without my fob. On the rare occaision that I have had to wear a wrist watch to work (when the fob was broken or had a flat battery), I felt SO uncomfortable. (And because I usually wear a fob, I only have a good wrist watch so who wants to wear that to work!)

I love my fob!

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I NEVER wear a watch. Just the thought of it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I usually wash my hands up to my elbows, and I can't do that with a watch on. My hubby used to laugh at me for this behavior, so one day I took a swab of my watch (worn for exactly 24 hours while on duty), put it on a plate of agar, let it incubate for 48 hours and WHAMMO! More bacteria than you care to imagine. It was gross. I put some of the bacteria on slides to see exactly what was growing, and all of the natural flora showed, as expected. But surprisingly, after doing an acid fast staining of the bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis also showed up. I do not remember any of my patients having this, so that was sort of an enigma to me. However, I will never EVER wear a watch again!

I want to hear what your hubby said after you showed him the results!

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i feel naked without my wrist watch. Mine is waterproof, has a metal band and is just ever so slightly loose on my wrist so I can scrub under there when washing my hands. Usually at some point of my day i wipe it down with alcohol or a sani wipe - whatever is in reach.

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We wear fob watches, wrist watches not allowed. I can think of no cons, but if we need to do a pulse or resp rate, the watch is right there.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Moved to Nursing Gear forum :)

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I NEVER wear a watch. Just the thought of it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I usually wash my hands up to my elbows, and I can't do that with a watch on. My hubby used to laugh at me for this behavior, so one day I took a swab of my watch (worn for exactly 24 hours while on duty), put it on a plate of agar, let it incubate for 48 hours and WHAMMO! More bacteria than you care to imagine. It was gross. I put some of the bacteria on slides to see exactly what was growing, and all of the natural flora showed, as expected. But surprisingly, after doing an acid fast staining of the bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis also showed up. I do not remember any of my patients having this, so that was sort of an enigma to me. However, I will never EVER wear a watch again!

I was just wondering how you knew that the acid-fast bacteria were Mycobacterium tuberculosis instead of just another species of Mycobacteria. If you only performed an acid-fast test, it could have been a non-pathogenic species of Mycobacteria such as Mycobacterium smegmatis. Still kinda gross, but not as dangerous. :lol2:

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I still have a waterproof Timex from the 80's that you wind. It is only for work and has been scrubbed many times and wiped off, pushed up my arm for some things, and removed for others. I don't know how you use a watch dangling off your uniform. It would seem very weird and awkward to me. Not saying that my watch is not dirty, but I strive to protect it, and really anything above the glove is considered contaminated anyway. Don't you wish gloves were longer???

My shoes go in a box away from my other shoes. Now THEY gross me out.

I never wear rings to work. I do not want my rings full of germs and I always wonder about the gals who wear their diamonds- doesn't it tear the gloves???

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Specializes in FNP.

My husband gave me the watch I'm wearing now for my 20th wedding anniversary, and I have never taken it off. Not once in all these years. It is weatherproof. I wash it when i wash my hands.

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.
I NEVER wear a watch. Just the thought of it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I usually wash my hands up to my elbows, and I can't do that with a watch on. My hubby used to laugh at me for this behavior, so one day I took a swab of my watch (worn for exactly 24 hours while on duty), put it on a plate of agar, let it incubate for 48 hours and WHAMMO! More bacteria than you care to imagine. It was gross. I put some of the bacteria on slides to see exactly what was growing, and all of the natural flora showed, as expected. But surprisingly, after doing an acid fast staining of the bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis also showed up. I do not remember any of my patients having this, so that was sort of an enigma to me. However, I will never EVER wear a watch again!

Did you do any control swabs of your skin when you ran this "experiment"? I would have swabbed both the skin immediately distal to where you wear the watch, as well as the skin on the opposite arm where you would wear the watch. How much of the stuff you grew on the agar plate is stuff you had on you anyway, even with your hand washing?

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