Shower question about Canadian hospitals.

Angelofdeth · Dec 7, 2009

Yeah I just wear my stuff until I get to the bedroom, strip naked, than hit to showers. Mind you- the idea of being MRSA+ doesn't bother me so w/e hahaha.

I remember sitting on the bus with DO-DO on my pants before, hahaha.

Guest233447 · Dec 8, 2009

After everything I've learned in only one semester as a nursing student, I must say how astonished I am that anyone would question the statement that wearing scrubs outside the work environment is disgusting.

I, for one, do not appreciate the nurses coming off shift who then wear their scrubs to the grocery store and lean over the fruit,whilst manhandling it all, rubbing their scrubs on everything they touch.

Ick. Maybe a revisitation of basic hygiene and microbiology is in order.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Dec 8, 2009

Although going back many years I was taught that uniforms are not to be worn outside of work unless your job is in the community and you should change before leaving work and although once I left nursing residence and moved to my own place I would drive to and from work but if I had to go anywhere else then I would take a change of clothes and get changed before leaving work and did this for many years and will continue to do so

Fiona59 · Dec 8, 2009

When we are in school we are still idealistic.

There are some jobs where there is very little patient contact. The uniform is more of a symbol. I've wound up after many years in a job where this is the case. After a nightshift, I'll stop off at Safeway because I know I'm clean and my coat is full lenght.

Not everybody in the grocers in scrubs is a nurse. Homecare workers, dental hygenists, vetnurses and techs are all in scrubs and all in the grocery stores. Parovirus anyone???

Guest233447 · Dec 8, 2009

LOL - I realize I'm "idealistic" at this point. Regarding the germs and hygiene practices, it is my intention to stay that way.

It may be true, as you stated above, that not everyone is a nurse. However, it is a very simple thing to bring a change of clothes with you. I do know for a fact that some of the people I have seen squeezing the oranges ARE nurses, and their scrubs HAVE been in contact with patients. One of the girls in my class had her sister graduate last year, several times she has come over to eat dinner at their home with her scrubs still on at the end of a 12 hour shift. Ew. I can only imagine that one of the first things I'll feel like doing at the end of 12 long hours is a nice shower and a change of clothing.

To each their own: but remember to wash all the fruit you buy... you never know who's touched it.

HealthShepherd · Dec 12, 2009

I still don't see how anyone has addressed my main point - is it disgusting, rude, unsafe etc. to work with patients while wearing your scrubs? If not, why do you have higher standards for the grocery store then you do at work?

Let me rephrase a post to further illustrate:

"I must say how astonished I am that anyone would question the statement that wearing scrubs in the work environment is disgusting.

I, for one, do not appreciate the nurses on shift who wear their scrubs to the bedside and lean over the patients ,whilst manhandling them all, rubbing their scrubs on everything they touch."

The norm in my unit is to wear a patient gown backwards over our scrubs whenever we have direct patient contact (i.e., picking a baby up rather than just handling her through the holes in the incubator). And almost all of us wear scrubs and and from work. To me this seems more practical, and more logical, then working with patients in the same clothes for the whole shift but changing to protect the celery. Also, we are not allowed to wear long sleeved shirts, which allows us to scrub higher up the arm and helps avoid touching multiple patients with the same clothes.

The only problem is that you don't have easy access to the pen in your pocket...

Fiona59 · Dec 12, 2009

So are you advocating we strip naked to perform patient care? Shower between rooms?

HealthShepherd · Dec 12, 2009

Mostly, I'm advocating that we not have a double standard between our patients and the rest of the world. If you're clean enough to work with a patient, you're clean enough to interact with the public. Or if we must use double standards, we should be giving the preferential treatment to the patients, not the rest of the world. For example, one person stated above (paraphrase): "wear your scrubs to work if you must, but change before you go home." I think that's backwards - if for some reason you're going to wear your scrubs on one trip but not the other, it would be better to change when you get to work and wear the scrubs home. I'd rather get patient germs on the subway people than get subway people germs on the patients.

In terms of what to do practically to stay clean - please see my post just above. Unfortunately, nudity would be socially inappropriate, and frequent showering would be too time-consuming and hard on our skin integrity (thus leading to more potential for infection). Now, I've never worked outside the NICU, but I remember from a student placement in adult medicine that nurses would gown to do bed baths and pericare, even if the patient wasn't on any kind of precautions. Is this common, or was that a peculiarity of that hospital? As I mentioned above, frequent gowning is part of my unit's culture, but if it's not part of your unit's culture, I can see how it might be problematic. The gowns may not be conveniently accessible, or someone may give you a hard time for creating "unnecessary" laundry.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Dec 12, 2009

I think sometimes common sense has to come into play. If I was making up a bed or cleaning a patient then I would gown up and use the appropriate covering but if I was generally dealing with a patient and minimal contact was being used then I didn't gown up.

I would travel to and from work in uniform but I wouldn't go to the shops, food hall etc in uniform. However in the UK the uniforms in most cases is provided by the employer and they for the most part will have a policy on what they expect the staff to do and what the consequences are if caught not following the policy