Wearing Scrubs Outside of the Workplace

Skips, MSN, RN · Oct 25, 2016

When I wore scrubs to work, I changed before I went out. I wasn't a fan of wearing them in public, if I could help it. I didn't deal with bodily fluids often (clinic nurse), but I still wanted to change.

Now I change when I get to work and change after! I love not having to wear scrubs to work!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 25, 2016

Ha ha yeah I know!!! Crazy that a factory takes better care of it's staff and building than an nh. But that was me and like I said it was because the nh were just never staffed appropriately and honestly it was part of my compounding distaste and disgust with ltc. (Oh Disclaimer here: the business model, not geriatrics itself).
I hear ya on the fecal incontinence bag. Twice for me...

No, its crazy to be that germaphobic. Unless your immune system is not up to par, a few germs aren't going to hurt you, your family or the person that squeezes the cantelope at Walmart after you did.

ponymom · Oct 31, 2016

No, its crazy to be that germaphobic. Unless your immune system is not up to par, a few germs aren't going to hurt you, your family or the person that squeezes the cantelope at Walmart after you did.

No, you missed the point. It was part of my compounding distaste and disgust with ltc. I was shedding it before I left the nh and leaving it all at work, where it belonged.

I'm not particularly germophobic, after all I'm a farm girl (I do raise my own cantelopes) We tend to have very good immune systems..

Once again, the business model, not geriatric care itself..

RNNPICU, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

I never thought twice about wearing my scrubs home and going grocery shopping. If our scrubs were so contaminated that we posed such a risk to society, we would all be wearing disposable scrubs and would not be allowed to wear them in the building or out. I have even gone to IHOP in my scrubs after a long night. The four of us really enjoyed that breakfast. What about non-bedisde providers who access patient rooms, i.e physicians, consulting services. They do not always wear scrubs, sometimes even suits, coats, ties, etc. They would go to a grocery store and shop. The hospital does not make them change clothes because they were in a hospital.

Scrubs does not dictate dirty. You could get gross things on any article of clothing by just using public transportation!

I will still continue to wear scrubs to grocery store.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 31, 2016

No, you missed the point. It was part of my compounding distaste and disgust with ltc. I was shedding it before I left the nh and leaving it all at work, where it belonged.
I'm not particularly germophobic, after all I'm a farm girl (I do raise my own cantelopes) We tend to have very good immune systems..
Once again, the business model, not geriatric care itself..

You're right. I missed the point.

RiskManager · Nov 1, 2016

Nurses' Scrubs Carry Bad Bacteria | Medpage Today

Uh oh.

not2bblue · Nov 1, 2016

Just to add this, but if your scrubs are being washed in the same washing machine as your regular clothes (even in a separate cycle with bleach between), your washer is likely covered in these gross germs and your regular clothes are contaminated in your home. So are your family's. Plus, unless you are showering prior to changing, these germs are on your body already. (Are you keeping your shoes in your locker and putting these "clean" clothes in there, too?). I haven't heard of the zombie apocalypse occuring yet and I see people in scrubs shopping all the time.

I work in the OR and the reason we keep the hats on all day is to prevent hairs from dropping onto our clothes and potentially being blown around the OR suite into an open incision. If you take the cap off it will allow hairs to fall on you and so they are only removed at the end of the day. The booties should be removed whenever leaving the OR, but the caps stay on. We don't rub our heads on the pt so unsure why someone commented the caps outside the OR are gross...the booties can be very gross and should be removed, but honestly no one covers shoes when going into isolation rooms and they walk around the halls with their shoes on. It is likely the floor on the unit is just as dirty (there isn't blood all over in the OR all the time).

heinz57 · Nov 1, 2016

Just to add this, but if your scrubs are being washed in the same washing machine as your regular clothes (even in a separate cycle with bleach between), your washer is likely covered in these gross germs and your regular clothes are contaminated in your home. So are your family's. Plus, unless you are showering prior to changing, these germs are on your body already. (Are you keeping your shoes in your locker and putting these "clean" clothes in there, too?). I haven't heard of the zombie apocalypse occuring yet and I see people in scrubs shopping all the time.
I work in the OR and the reason we keep the hats on all day is to prevent hairs from dropping onto our clothes and potentially being blown around the OR suite into an open incision. If you take the cap off it will allow hairs to fall on you and so they are only removed at the end of the day. The booties should be removed whenever leaving the OR, but the caps stay on. We don't rub our heads on the pt so unsure why someone commented the caps outside the OR are gross...the booties can be very gross and should be removed, but honestly no one covers shoes when going into isolation rooms and they walk around the halls with their shoes on. It is likely the floor on the unit is just as dirty (there isn't blood all over in the OR all the time).

Some units (NICU, PICU, OR, OB, Oncology, Transplant) provide us with scrubs and some don't. We do have showers in our locker rooms. I do a thorough wash to my elbows before entering the unit and when I leave my shift. Regular hand hygiene during shift. Our shoes are keep on a rack and not in a closed locker. In some units we wear shoe covers. Bedside care providers do not wear white lab coats or at least not in the ICUs. If you get cold, a scrub jacket is provided and is to be laundered by the hospital after each shift.

Whatever I do take scrubs home, they are in a plastic bag. They are washed separately with white vinegar added to the wash. My washer is wiped down with a sani cloth between washes primarily due to the high mold and mildew rate in my area. I would do that even if I didn't wash scrubs occasionally. However, I prefer to use hospital scrubs whenever possible since no home water heater gets as hot as an industrial washer.

If your scrubs are clean without any patient contact, feel free to go to the grocery store. I probably would cringe if you later went to work in a NICU with those scrubs after you bummed around town but I guess many here would differ with that. I just hope most NICUs have their own scrub policy.

I have worked with many different patients in many different units and have also had family members who have been immunosuppressed by cancer and HIV/AIDS. I do no consider my cautious nature to be anything like a "zombie apocalypse". But, I do have enough respect for the diseases and the patients I work with as well as others around me to not go out around food or immune compromised people in scrubs that I have worn in patient rooms which have possible points of contamination. I have actually paid attention to the infection control lectures and the reasoning for some of the necessary precautions taken in the hospital and I try to practice it with a good understanding rather than just "another stupid task" management wants us to do attitude. We are still seeing more resistant strains of bacteria and we are still seeing otherwise healthy people die from infections by something which didn't seem important at the time. For those older nurses who are casting this off as BS, I guess you forget we didn't wear gloves for anything except the really extreme messes in the 60s, 70s and part of the 80s. I bet you do now. Things have changed and so has our knowledge about what we didn't know 20, 30 and 40 years ago.

Healthy living and being respectful of others shouldn't be criticized. Most of it is just commonsense and good hygiene.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2016

Just plain nasty!! I do not want to see anybody in their scrubs in the supermarket