Skirts in the OR

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 11, 2006

Ours have the knit cuff at the bottom. The docs do not.

ChevRN · May 31, 2006

I don't see any problem with women wearing dresses in the OR providing they are wearing pantyhose. They make culottes and walking shorts which go just above the knee, which could be worn with hose, and there would be none of these concerns about 'perineal fallout'. Culottes are more versatile than skirts so are walking shorts.

RNERHOUSESUPOR · May 31, 2006

Many of you may not remember but there used to be scrub dresses that the nurses wore in the OR. They were quite the outfit. It was a wrap around design simular to a scrub gown only they tied in front. It was 20 years ago that I last remember seeing. Some of the OB Nurses were quite attractive in those.

indigo girl · Jun 1, 2006

Many of you may not remember but there used to be scrub dresses that the nurses wore in the OR. They were quite the outfit. It was a wrap around design simular to a scrub gown only they tied in front. It was 20 years ago that I last remember seeing. Some of the OB Nurses were quite attractive in those.

I remember them from my rotations in nursing school. They weren't bad looking, but did not keep you warm, for sure. Mostly, I wore them in OB.

That was a long, long time ago.

psalm, RN · Jun 1, 2006

...we wore scrub dresses in OB and OR, no women were allowed to wear scrub pants in the military hospital I worked in the 70s. But we were required to wear underpants AND pantyhose. We had a lot of vaginitis back then.

RNERHOUSESUPOR · Jun 1, 2006

...we wore scrub dresses in OB and OR, no women were allowed to wear scrub pants in the military hospital I worked in the 70s. But we were required to wear underpants AND pantyhose. We had a lot of vaginitis back then.

Just a little TMI there!!!!!!!!!!

ortess1971 · Jun 3, 2006

Nearly every OR I've worked in had one or more women who, for religious reasons, wore skirts. Scrub dresses are still available and were purchased for their use by the facility.
Perineal fallout? and checking for underwear? :roll
What about all the chest hair exposed by those virile men?
Before you reply, Marie, I noted that it's your facilities policy. Just seems odd to me.

Actually, I've worked in several OR's and none of them allowed OR scrub dresses. Chest hair is covered by scrub tops and AORN states that hair has to be covered. I know I will get flamed for this but I think that a patient has the right to receive the accepted standard of care(per AORN) and religious considerations of an individual are not the priority. Plus, what if you have to do CPR during a case(this has happened at my facility) and have to jump up on the table to do compressions? I had to do this because a patient coded on the cysto table and it is high off the ground. Anyone in a scrub dress would have their fanny hanging out and I would think much "fallout" could occur.

mkmdbm7 · Jun 5, 2006

Ah, I don't think that JCAHO has a standard for scrubs...if you know of this, could you please direct me to this standard??

The AORN is an excellent resource, and they do not recommend home laundered scrubs; however, many hospitals are using this practice with no increase in infection rates and feel that this is a "sacred cow".

We still wear hospital issued, and I personally prefer this, but this is not a manadate everywhere.

I have two OB RN's with a religeous preferance to wear scrub dresses, and I allow them WITHOUT the pants-they do wear hose, and they are not at the field.

I do feel like "perineal fallout" is a sacred cow...after all, wear is the perineal fallout going to fall?? On the floor? I won't be laying my patient on the floor...

:)

Kathy

mkmdbm7 · Jun 5, 2006

If you have to do CPR on an OR patient, perineal fallout will be the least of anyone's concerns...

ortess1971 · Jun 5, 2006

My main point is if you allow one or two people do wear special scrubs etc then you are setting yourself up for allowing more people to start tweaking the standards...You're right, most likely it is a "sacred cow" and has little effect on infection rates. Pretty lousy for the patient though if it does and why would you take that chance? Aorn does have a policy/standard on scrub clothes reducing the amount of skin shed and scrub dresses are thought to fall into this category. Personally, and I'm not into organized religion at all( so this is my 2 cents...) but I would think God would want you to do the best thing by your patient and probably wouldn't care so much whether you're wearing a dress or not. As of now, in most places, scrub dresses are frowned upon. This may change someday but if most people are expected to adhere to the standards of a particular dept then everyone should be expected to...To me, when you are dealing with the health and safety of a patient, religious beliefs of a particular nurse, tech etc are secondary. I'm not posting on this anymore-I've had my shot at expressing my opinion and something tells me this topic may get nasty.:sofahider PS-This may sound mean but, at my hospital at least-OB has terrible aseptic technique, to the point where they are sending people up there to retrain them. I had one nurse bring me suture(opened) from another patient's back table and insist that I use it on mine because"it wasn't used". Another time they didn't put a mayo stand cover on (just piled towels on top of it) because "we don't touch underneath it" I personally would not use OB as a standard for sterile technique, especially since we've gotten more than a few ex-c-section patients with nasty infections(one had to have a hysterectomy) I don't like to go up there anymore to scrub for that reason-you try to explain these things and you get an attitude. The suture lady tried to report me for refusing to use the opened suture(she was trying to save money) but that backfired and she got a nice little lecture on sterile technique by the head of the dept. instead.

OR angel · Jun 9, 2006

Perineal fallout is the reason behind not allowing skirts in our OR. No, it would not be acceptible to wear your own skirt, as all scrubs in the OR must be laundered at the facility where they are used. Danger of bringing in contaminants from the outside.

azhiker96, BSN, RN · Jun 18, 2006

Everyone in our perioperative unit is required to wear the hospital scrubs. That's from pre-op through surgery to pacu. Personally, I wouldn't want to subject my personal clothing to some of the fluids.:barf01: