Wearing scrubs home??

kersti · May 27, 2006

I guess that we are lucky here in Germany- every hospital provides scrubs- each and every worker gets their own locker(with key) to keep valuables, clothes, a snack, drink in. What do you all do with your valuables? Is there a place to lock up/keep your street shoes or change of clothes or whatever?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 27, 2006

Why can't we all just get along?

I simply have difficulty backing down when I believe the tone of someone else's posts are pushy, authorative, bossy, and sarcastic.

weirdRN, RN · May 27, 2006

I simply have difficulty backing down when I believe the tone of someone else's posts are pushy, authorative, bossy, and sarcastic.

What would happen if instead of getting pusy, authoritative, bossy and sarcastic, You took a deep breath and asked yourself how important it really is in the big scheme of your life, shrugged and let it slide off? You are young enough (and single to boot) that you could have cool hobby to do on your time off, something besides get offended over a post on a bulletin board.

No matter what anyone says here, we are all free to choose how to live our lives. No one has the right to tell us what to do, unless we sign papers giving them that right.

I think that hospital employers would be helping prevent the spread of infectious diseases to the public at large, and taking care of the employee's mental health by providing uniforms. I have about a dozen sets of uniforms, all solids, and every one of them cost $$ that I could have used for other things. And the time I spend washing and ironing each week could be better spent with a good book and a glass of wine or reading to the kids down at the local library on Tuesday mornings.

I always go straight home and shower. No side trips for me.

scrmblr · May 27, 2006

I will only wear scrubs to the store BEFORE my shift. I have (so far) managed to be able to go straight home after a shift. my scrubs go into the washer or in a plastic bag on the floor and my body goes right into the shower.

As a nursing student, we were all so excited to actually WEAR our scubs! I think it was an ego boost to go into a store in actual SCRUBS:roll However, our instructor reminded us that not only are we sharing germs in the community, we are also advertising that we are in the medical profession. If someone in front of us in the grocery store had a big MI/passed out/whatever the entire store would take one look at us (in our scrubs) and expect us to be prepared

king of codes · May 27, 2006

I'm still sitting in mine, yes I went to Wallgreens too and now I'm sitting here thinking....yuck!

When I first started ICU, nothing left the hospital, then it was carry a bag back and forth(which goes in my front hall closet now), then no more hospital supplied scrubs, and yes we now shop and stop off for breakfast (occasionally the bar after work). Next I stopped leaving the scrubs in the basement or garage, the heck with it, change in the bathroom (now my scrubs have contaminated another closet and all the laundry and the same bin that I put "clean clothes in" .

and if you really want to be distressed, I have been known on ocassion to fall asleep on the couch, fully dressed in my scrubs, sans shoes.

No one else is admitting it so I WILL. Crazy, that I can be so anal at work and throw it out the door, while walking out the door. You've just given me another CQI project to get the hospital to reinstitute thier scrub policy;

after I've stopped lecturing the kids about their lack of handwashing, while i'm sitting at the kitchen table in my scrubs from the night before:chair:

guitly! And in need of a hazmat team!

beautifulb · May 27, 2006

I'm still sitting in mine, yes I went to Wallgreens too and now I'm sitting here thinking....yuck!
When I first started ICU, nothing left the hospital, then it was carry a bag back and forth(which goes in my front hall closet now), then no more hospital supplied scrubs, and yes we now shop and stop off for breakfast (occasionally the bar after work). Next I stopped leaving the scrubs in the basement or garage, the heck with it, change in the bathroom (now my scrubs have contaminated another closet and all the laundry and the same bin that I put "clean clothes in" .
and if you really want to be distressed, I have been known on ocassion to fall asleep on the couch, fully dressed in my scrubs, sans shoes.
No one else is admitting it so I WILL. Crazy, that I can be so anal at work and throw it out the door, while walking out the door. You've just given me another CQI project to get the hospital to reinstitute thier scrub policy;
after I've stopped lecturing the kids about their lack of handwashing, while i'm sitting at the kitchen table in my scrubs from the night before:chair:
guitly! And in need of a hazmat team!

Yes!! Me too. I generally will go home wearing the same scrubs that I have worked in and sometimes lounge around in them for a little bit or take them off and throw them in the hamper. I don't have designated hamper bags for my work clothes and I don't do a wash everyday on a single set of scrubs. I have done errands after work wearing my scrubs and occasionally we will all get together after work wearing those scrubs.

I have never had anyone come up to me while I have been out wearing my scrubs and there has never been an outbreak of any illness that may have been on my scrubs. My family is all healthy. We will get the common colds but that is about it.

What do you guys do when you go to the cafeteria? Do you all cover up in gowns or change out of your scrubs? Can you imagine all the germs that are there?

Just my 2 cents.

Katnip, RN · May 27, 2006

Considering all the microbes out there-remember the news show that swabbed grocery cart handles?-I doubt you're spreading very much.

It's a fact that MRSA is now very common in the community as well as Tb, all kids of viral illness, etc. I doubt you're going to be spreading a whole lot to anybody off your scrubs unless you rush up to someone and smear yourself over their faces.:rotfl: Those bugs aren't just going to jump from your clothes to the nose, mouth, or open sores of a person six feet away from you.

DorkyStudentNurse · May 27, 2006

I wear my scrubs home but I strip down as soon as I get in the door and wash them right away. I don't wear my nursing shoes home or wear them anywhere besides the hospital.

I was a new nursing student last year and I can attest to the excitement of wearing scrubs and being so proud that you want to show everyone. I've gone into a store before my shift but never after (even though I really wanted to!). The hospital where we are doing our clinical rotations doesn't give us much at all to store our things, which is part of the reason that I wear my scrubs home. It's just a room with a little platform to put your shoes on and a hanger for your coat. No secure locker or place to store extra clothing.

JSRN81 · May 27, 2006

My shoes don't go into my house...but the rest of my stuff does. Our hospital does not provide scrubs, nor do they provide a place to change and keep your belongings.

On the same token...I'm hoping that other hospitals have a protocol in place regarding isolation. Anything that is potentially virulent, or easily spead and can cause infection is generally on some sort of precaution. If you are visabily soiled, then yeah, you need to get out of your scubs at the hospital...but otherwise the chance of you bringing home something contagious is slim. Like I said, my shoes come off before I go into the house, because they DO go into an isolation room without being covered and you don't know what ends up on the floor.

However, unless I know I was exposed to something terribly virulent or I got visibly soiled, I go home in my scrubs. I don't crawl in my bed with them on, and I go home and shower, but otherwise, I don't worry about it.

Now that I am in a position that I don't wear scrubs everyday, I still do not have any qualms about wearing my dress clothes into a room if I need to. They come home on me too...

JS

Lisa CCU RN, RN · May 27, 2006

I will only wear scrubs to the store BEFORE my shift. I have (so far) managed to be able to go straight home after a shift. my scrubs go into the washer or in a plastic bag on the floor and my body goes right into the shower.
As a nursing student, we were all so excited to actually WEAR our scubs! I think it was an ego boost to go into a store in actual SCRUBS:roll However, our instructor reminded us that not only are we sharing germs in the community, we are also advertising that we are in the medical profession. If someone in front of us in the grocery store had a big MI/passed out/whatever the entire store would take one look at us (in our scrubs) and expect us to be prepared

Not really. I know day care workers and housekeepers who wear scrubs.

hospitalstaph · May 27, 2006

I will only wear scrubs to the store BEFORE my shift. I have (so far) managed to be able to go straight home after a shift. my scrubs go into the washer or in a plastic bag on the floor and my body goes right into the shower.
As a nursing student, we were all so excited to actually WEAR our scubs! I think it was an ego boost to go into a store in actual SCRUBS:roll However, our instructor reminded us that not only are we sharing germs in the community, we are also advertising that we are in the medical profession. If someone in front of us in the grocery store had a big MI/passed out/whatever the entire store would take one look at us (in our scrubs) and expect us to be prepared

Well, I guess my fun days of putting on my scrubs, lab coat, steth, and Rockers and watching TV are almost over:( I start clinicals in one week. I gotta tell ya, I feel so important watching Grey's Anatomy in my uniform:chuckle

T

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 28, 2006

You are young enough (and single to boot) that you could have cool hobby to do on your time off, something besides get offended over a post on a bulletin board.

As a matter of fact, I just arrived home after working a 16-hour shift (6am to 10pm). Long work hours do not leave much time for 'cool hobbies'.