Chris Reardon

In our hospital, only OB, OR, and CS get to wear hospital-supplied scrubs. The rest of us have to provide our own without any hospital subsidy (but, thanks to some of you who have posted replies, tax deductions will figure in my next encounter with the IRS!). On the postive side, hospital scrubs here are pretty ratty anyway, and the short inseams give guys like me (6'4") the classic "floodpants" look (not cool). So I guess it's OK after all! Here's another angle though--I used to be married to a woman who, as it turned out, suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder coupled with germ phobia, and no matter how careful I was in transferring uniforms from my body to the washing machine, she was always fearful that she might get something from them (or me!) Wouldn't have minded having hospital scrubs in those days!!!

Our ED just received a memo (from a non-ED staff person in a position of quasi-authority)that we are to always restart all pre-hospital IV's after the pt is stabilized, citng a reference to the Intravenous Nursing Society. This despite the fact that we have absolutely no epidemiological data in this facility to indicate there is or ever was a problem with infections. In fact, no nurse I've interviewed here -- and this covers 15 years of experience -- has any recollection of an IV that became an infection problem due to the mere fact that it originated in the field. So, I pose this question to allof you out there: is this rigid policy something that's considered the standard of care everywhere else but here; and if so, how do you reconcile (in the absence of a demonstrable problem specific to your institution) the extra expense to the patient, the pyschological trauma you'd potentially inflict on pt's with a dread of needles, needless pain, etc? I'm serious! We work in a a very rural area, and maybe we're lost in the woods here! What's the truth??? Thanks!