Wearing scrubs home??

[Rn2bKatie]

Im just wondering if anyone has a standard practice of changing their scrubs before going home? Or if changing clothes would help with germ transfer?

[Corvette Guy]

I wear my scrubs home. I wear them to the grocery strore too. When I get home my shoes go under the bed. I read this thread and it seems silly to me. I live in a city where people use the streets as a toilet and spit everywhere. People here are cracked out and methed out and filthy gross nasty. We touch door handles, money etc. Give me a break with the scrubs: if you eat in a restaurant... Must I go on?

Maybe you should move to another city that is not so filthy?

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

I am a school nurse and I wear scrubs each day too.

I do not have a problem wearing my scrubs home. If I have any visible

soiling on them, I will change into a spare set of scrubs that I keep on hand at work. When I worked the hospital, I was careful to wash my work clothes seperately. We have to be conscious about what we have been around, but I would not go to the extreme measures that some do. I mean, come on...do we need to get naked and decontaminate our hair, body,etc...out in the garage each and every day before we enter our homes ? What about your husband's work clothes.. also your kids who have been in school all day long ?

[Lesli61]

There is a short article in the new issue of Nursing 2006 about this. The CDC does not ID scrubs as a 'significant source' of infectious pathogens, and it's perfectly OK to wash them along with the rest of the laundry at home (unless there is an obvious spill of body fluids). It seems that the dilution in the laundry tub coupled with the dryer heat is sufficient. Just don't go hugging anyone until you change. I still won't wear my shoes inside, though. Not after seeing maintenence in an elevator with a dripping biohazard bag! (Ugh)

[Corvette Guy]

Similar Thread reply

[patsyNJ2006]

so, this brings me to ask-- how do you wash your scrubs? Bleach on the whites, but how much? and how do you disinfect colored scrubs?

[Corvette Guy]

so, this brings me to ask-- how do you wash your scrubs? Bleach on the whites, but how much? and how do you disinfect colored scrubs?

LOL, Madigan Army Medical Center launders my scrubs.

However, my wife washes her scrubs at home. All her scrubs are either dark blue, or light blue. Therefore, no need for bleach [used on whites]. She washes them in the warm/cold temperature wash setting and washes her scrubs seperately from the rest of her clothes.