wearing perfume to work

Warpster · Dec 2, 2005

It used to be funny to work in a teaching hospital. All the new docs would arrive in July, well groomed and doused in after shave and cologne. By the end of the first week, they were all scent free and in scrubs, having been puked on by every post op patient they encountered.

There's a reason not to wear perfume on surgical wards, and most people who work there learn it very quickly.

rambisisking · Dec 2, 2005

When one is negatively affected by these chemicals, there is no such thing as a little bit. Would it be alright if I smoked "just a little bit " in your home or in your office or in your face. Of course it wouldn't, and for many of us just a little bit can not only be anoying, it can be life threatening. I spent many years being taken to the ER until the people I worked with started to understand that fact. Having a nurse who cannot breathe does create a problem for the rest of the staff, and even then I would hear, whispers, Don't use that she doesn't like the smell-----The Smell-----

I'll let you in on a little secret, some of these things we love the smell of, that's like saying diabetics don't like the taste of sugar.

It hurts us and that is the only reason necessary to change your thinking about it. People will come to my house bathed in it and tell me that they didn't put any on its just on their clothes...Jeez...My furnature reeks of it for days. And to Gillians, your perfume can hurt someone just as much in a nice 9-5 office as it can in a hospital, no matter what your 'DOCS' require. I can't believe the selfishness of so many people that really don't give this any merrit. I want to smell nice, so the %$#% with you. I have asked nurses that were caring for me to leave the room and not to come back. The night I had my son...God, an OB nurse, wouldn't you think they would know that. Why would you ever want to make your patient say, look I'd rather do this alone than have you here because you are making me very sick and I really don't want my baby born in the ER, thank you

I don't smoke at work for the same reason, why should my patients have to put up with smoke on me just because it doesn't bother me. and that's another thing....I can't tell you how many times people say to me that they cant understand how I could be bothered by a litle bit of cologne when I smoke. Duh....If I am allergic to one and not the other what is so hard to understand? please explain that to me.... In any case they always feel it should be left up to their judgement whether I should be physically affected by a certain chemical........ Sorry this got to be a rant...I'll end.

Someday-C.R.N.A. · Dec 2, 2005

As a patient, I can say that I am not generally in a health care setting to sniff the Nurse or Doc. A light fragrance may not bother me, but will it bother a patient in the next room? Sooner or later, it almost definitely will bother somebody.

While at the Doc's office recently, the Doc used a bit of 'foul' language while in the room with me. He was being friendly and trying to make me feel more comfortable, and he did a pretty good job. Do you think he would go to the next room and drop the 'F bomb' on a child or elderly patient? Probably not. My point here is that the Doc can change his word usage from room to room to fit the need. Perfume or cologne isn't so easy to change.

As a future Nurse, I don't plan to wear cologne to work. I don't think that I should exude any odor, be it "pretty", "manly", or otherwise......Regardless of policy loopholes.

genhen · Dec 2, 2005

"Constipated people don't give a crap"?

Now that is funny. After making a long, serious post about wrongful termination in another thread, I need to laugh. Thanks Marie.

OK, I'm a male-nursing student. That is not any connection to breast feeding. Sorry, I digress.

First of all, patients who are post surgery alot of the time have nausea. To get a whiff of "hey guy, look at me!" might send them over the edge in which they will require an emesis basin.

Secondly, why are people putting this stuff on? Are they looking for a good man in the work setting? I just think it's funny that women feel a need to do it. It's so superficial and appearance based. Granted, people should not be slobs. But, who the person is on the inside is more important. Ditch the juice and have a pleasant conversation with someone.

Peace

Genhen

1st Semester Student Nurse

Grinding my way to finals in two weeks.

"I have got a quote yet....but I'm thinking

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 2, 2005

Secondly, why are people putting this stuff on? Are they looking for a good man in the work setting? I just think it's funny that women feel a need to do it. It's so superficial and appearance based.

Actually, where i work, it's the MEN that are bad about it. I'd love to tell a few that it's call COLOGNE, not MARINADE.

(has nothing to do with lookign for a date at work)

ragingmomster, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 2, 2005

Just a quick anecdote, about 8 months ago a phlebotomist walked through the floor (post-op) wearing some kind of cologne that threw me into a full blown asthma attack. That had never happened to me before. Thank goodness the RT was on the floor with a pocketful of albuterol. The phleb was sent home to shower and told not to wear it to work again. Love my nurse manager!

sjrn85 · Dec 3, 2005

"Constipated people don't give a crap"?
Now that is funny. After making a long, serious post about wrongful termination in another thread, I need to laugh. Thanks Marie.
OK, I'm a male-nursing student. That is not any connection to breast feeding. Sorry, I digress.
First of all, patients who are post surgery alot of the time have nausea. To get a whiff of "hey guy, look at me!" might send them over the edge in which they will require an emesis basin.
Secondly, why are people putting this stuff on? Are they looking for a good man in the work setting? I just think it's funny that women feel a need to do it. It's so superficial and appearance based. Granted, people should not be slobs. But, who the person is on the inside is more important. Ditch the juice and have a pleasant conversation with someone.
Peace
Genhen
1st Semester Student Nurse
Grinding my way to finals in two weeks.
"I have got a quote yet....but I'm thinking

Wow...why did you gear your post toward women only? And what on earth did the comment about breastfeeding mean? :uhoh21:

angelladyclaire · Dec 3, 2005

I'm not sure what our official policy is, I just know that nursing administration encourages us not to wear strong scents. There is a running joke on my floor though about the a.m. pharmacy guy who restocks our med room... you can smell him coming from a mile away. It's not a bad scent in and of itself, but you can literally smell him for five minutes after he's left our med room and it's about a 10x10 area. You'll walk by wondering if your morning po's are going to be there and know before you reach the door. It's disgusting. I can't imagine if this guy worked direct patient care.

Rnannie94 · Dec 3, 2005

"Constipated people don't give a crap"?
Now that is funny. After making a long, serious post about wrongful termination in another thread, I need to laugh. Thanks Marie.
OK, I'm a male-nursing student. That is not any connection to breast feeding. Sorry, I digress.
First of all, patients who are post surgery alot of the time have nausea. To get a whiff of "hey guy, look at me!" might send them over the edge in which they will require an emesis basin.
Secondly, why are people putting this stuff on? Are they looking for a good man in the work setting? I just think it's funny that women feel a need to do it. It's so superficial and appearance based. Granted, people should not be slobs. But, who the person is on the inside is more important. Ditch the juice and have a pleasant conversation with someone.
Peace
Genhen
1st Semester Student Nurse
Grinding my way to finals in two weeks.
"I have got a quote yet....but I'm thinking

The biggest offender where I work is a doctor that is male, not female. He comes to make rounds reeking of some of the worst smelling cologne! I can smell him from down the hall and I have an instant migraine. I refuse to make rounds with him because of this, and thankfully, my co-workers are able to step up for me and go with him (tho, truthfully, he often ends up making rounds alone). The smell is so bad that stepping into an elevator that he had recently rode is enough to make a person ill. Considering the number of women I work with, I can name only one other person that wore an obnoxious scent, and she quickly quit wearing it when she found out it made me sick.

pricklypear · Dec 3, 2005

Reading all this stuff, and recalling how stupid people seem as they walk by training an almost visible cloud of "scent" reminds me of something I heard a long time ago. I can't remember where, but it seems like it was someone big in the perfume industry who said that scent is meant to be an intimate experience. Technically, it's supposed to be worn in amounts (and places:rolleyes:) that only the person you are dancing (ahem, or whatever) with can detect it.

On that note, I have to say there is one doc at my hospital who wears something so yummy that we all just want to follow him out the door. You can't smell it unless you're standing right next to him. It seems to make me say some really stupid things.:imbar

jh479352 · Dec 3, 2005

Actually, where i work, it's the MEN that are bad about it. I'd love to tell a few that it's call COLOGNE, not MARINADE.
(has nothing to do with lookign for a date at work)

Some of my clients have the most perfume on but I don't think they are included in the No Perfume rule which is absent minded.

Resqrn28115 · Dec 4, 2005

All the hospitals I have worked at; P/P's say no perfume or colonge. But most use it anyway (I have in the past). I was recently a pt in ICU and the sells that used to be OK were totally nauseating :bluecry1: .

I will refrain in the future.:wink2: