Question about perfume/cologne

[Despareux]

I love to wear perfume, but I know some people are very sensitive to certain scents. I noticed that when I've been in doctor's offices or at the hospital, I rarely smelled perfumes/colognes. So is wearing perfume out of the question for me when I start my clinicals?

[Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN]

so what if she spelled perfume as parfume? give her a break!

bathing, deodorant and wearing clean clothes keep you from smelling bad.

what about your above statement-you missed the comma after deodorant. i hope that was a typo!

that wasn't wrong. the meaning was clear, so the use of the comma there was optional.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Sorry duplicate post. Please see my post below.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Please save the perfume, cologne and highly scented lotions and hair products for home and date night. There are people who react violently to scents of any sort. I work with one of them. Nothing is worse for a patient than being trapped in a room with a nurse who is covered in perfume/strong scents. They are sick and it can make them nauseous or even have breathing issues such as asthma attacks or in severe cases, anaphylaxis. I am sure no one here wants to be responsible for such a situation. All the hospitals at which I worked had policies against clinical staff wearing perfume and cologne for good reason.

I personally get migraines from strong perfume and it's horrible when a visitor or non-clinical employee comes to our unit with perfume on. I react pretty badly and it ruins my day.

Just as an aside; spelling and grammar errors happen. Please, think of how you sound when you correct someone else and be kind. It will keep things civil and on topic. Thanks.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I always always have parfume on. Thank God our school is okay with it. Nobody needs to smell other peoples body odor etc. However, we are not allowed to chew gum and that's hard too.

When I have clinicals I use parfumes made for summer they are light ...I use strong scents only when I go out.

Deodorant and bathing are sufficient. Please think of your coworkers and patients. For people like me, strong scents can trigger asthma attacks and migraines. It's not fair to them. Thanks.

[raianne]

When I was being taken back to my room after my biopsy surgery, a woman wearing perfume got on the elevator with us, and it took everything I had not to throw up...if she would have been on the elevator with us for a few more seconds, I would have.

Also, please don't ever wear perfume if you're going to be around oncology patients. Chemo can make you incredibly sensitive to smells, and I also had anticipatory nausea. Even things that wouldn't normally bother me, like barely scented hand lotion, became horrible nausea-inducing smells during and after chemo. The smell of the hand sanitizer that the nurses used made me sick too. I would say it's best to forgo perfume and scented products at work, for the sake of your patients.

[LouisVRN, RN]

I agree with all the other posters who say leave anything heavily scented at home. The one exception is sometimes I have to shower immediately before work due to childcare inconveniences and I always have people comment on the smell of my shampoo, but I really try to shower in the morning so it is not as potent.

I remember being on transatlantic flights and they would bring around warm lemon scented rags. Well plane rides tend to make me feel a bit under the weather anyway, but all I had to do was see those come and :sofahider

[nursinger]

never mind.

[sharpeimom]

i agree. no scents at work. an in-law of my cousin works for a major conglomerate as a chemist. he has said that it takes many more chemicals to produce an unscented product than one that is considered

to be lightly scented or powder scented or baby powder scented. i used a baby powder scented deodorant, powder scented baby soap, and baby shampoo for the years was physically able to work and

my husband used to say i had absolutely no discernible odor before i left for work.

i saved my scented products for off duty hours.

[cmonkey]

so what if she spelled perfume as parfume? give her a break!

bathing, deodorant and wearing clean clothes keep you from smelling bad.

what about your above statement-you missed the comma after deodorant. i hope that was a typo!

using a serial comma isn't a right/wrong form of punctuation, alas. it's strictly a style issue, and as long as one is consistent, it's kosher either way. it's a good idea in legal work, though.

but perfume on a hospital employee/student? no, thanks. just because you can't smell it on yourself doesn't mean others can't. in fact, the general rule for perfume application used to be, "if you can smell it on yourself, you're wearing too much." so when someone nips into the bathroom to spritz another dose on, it's just making it worse for everyone else.

don't. do it. please.

[chloecatrn]

I always always have parfume on. Thank God our school is okay with it. Nobody needs to smell other peoples body odor etc. However, we are not allowed to chew gum and that's hard too. When I have clinicals I use parfumes made for summer they are light ...I use strong scents only when I go out.

Showers take care of body odor. Perfume does not. Perfume, in a baby with reactive airway disease, can trigger a bronchospasm and cause need for intubation. It can certainly throw me into status asthmaticus... people have done that just standing beside me at the bus stop. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT wear perfume in a hospital setting. Your patients do not have the ability to walk away from you, and they are certainly going to be too polite to tell you that they can't breathe because of your perfume.

Signed,

A Severe Asthma Sufferer

[kids]

and they are certainly going to be too polite to tell you that they can't breathe because of your perfume.

I disagree, when hospitalized I've never hesitated to request a different nurse if I have the misfortune of getting one who uses perfume or too many scented products. My politeness tends to go right out the window when dealing with thoughtless people.

I work for a hospital with a clearly worded 'scent-free' policy and posters to that effect, nurses have been sent home.

[Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN]

I disagree, when hospitalized I've never hesitated to request a different nurse if I have the misfortune of getting one who uses perfume or too many scented products. My politeness tends to go right out the window when dealing with thoughtless people.

Unfortunately, when you realize your assigned caregiver has slathered on scented stuff, damage has already been done. (You in the previous sentence is general you...not you, the poster I quoted, in particular.)

For some of us, it only takes a short whiff. I think it's incredibly thoughtless to wear all the perfume and scented stuff, too. I think I'd rather have people smoke in my room than bombard me with spray-on stink, even though smoke gives me asthma attacks, too. Smoke doesn't hit me as hard as a whiff of certain scents, where my lungs just seem to clamp tight and my skin breaks out immediately upon the presence of those scents. My reaction at times needs to be medicated with some unpleasant medications, you scent-wearing people. Even if you leave the room, your stench lingers and still does damage. Please keep your scents, as best as you can, out of any caregiving situation in which you go. It's not cool to make me sick because you think you bathed inadequately.