I was reading the paper this morning, and this topic was mentioned in teh "Ask Marilyn" column. The question and answer was this
"A question has been bothering me since I moved to a city that is home to some of the finest hospitals in the world. When I use public transportation, I see people wearing scrub suits to work. Is this acceptable? I had thought employees were supposed to change into scrubs provided at the hospital in order to leave outside germs at the door"-
and her answer
"You're right. I've noticed the same phenomenon in other cities, too. If those people are hospital employees they are endangering patients and should be reported to hospital authorities. Another growing problem is scrubs being stolen and word in other places, such as the subway, to convey an impression of respectability. Anyone seen wearing scrubs outside an appropriate environment should be regarded with caution"
What do you think?
WHen i was a student, so recently, we had to wear our scrubs into the hospital, we were told not to change at the hospital. Here I saw the OB nurses and OR nurses were the only ones who had uniforms provided to them to change into at the hospital.
I am not really sure how anyone would know if we were contaminated or not by wearing scrubs in public. I am the Medical Support Assistant on a dialysis unit and I have bought my own cute scrubs out of catalogs/stores
and I have dined in my scrubs after work or ran errands in them. I have the same designated area in my scrubs as I do when I wear my dress clothes to work. No one can tell the difference! I mean, if folks are running around with blood spatter or mucous spots on their scrubs, then I would definitely agree that NO one should be wearing them outside of their job but if they are clean/neatly pressed and fresh, I really do not see the problem. I have worn mine to dinner, to run errands, walk the park or visit a friend and so far, so good!
I have read several studies that mention shoe covers and scrubs, etc.... AORN has had one such study that showed that the level of germs on the floors were not any different with or without shoe covers. The OR and special "caution" areas i.e. ICU, NICU
You know who I look at with great caution? The store employees.
I firmly believe that the grocery-store worker who doesn't wash hands properly is spreading more germs than I possibly could.
Ever been to the cash register and have a cashier with a cold handle all of your food items, then give you change?
One of our local TV stations did a feature where they swabbed grocery cart handles and then did cultures. YUCK YUCK YUCK. Made me want to take gloves on my next visit to Food Lion.
You name it, it was on there - staph, flu, various body fluids - ICK.
Not that I really expected much less from the general public, though - sad to say...
Not long ago, I was working as a pharmacy tech in a CVS. I had some woman - at the height of flu season when no one over the age of seven and under the age of 60, with few exceptions, was getting vaccinated - LICK HER FINGER and COUNT OUT HER MONEY. I did not let her put the money in my hand and I picked the bills up off the counter from the opposite side of where her licked fingers had touched them. She got sort of nasty with me and I asked her, "Have you had a flu shot?" Of course, she said no, and I told her "Neither have I. And I don't know if you are carrying flu or not."
I do think wearing your work scrubs around town after you get off from work is poor infection control practice. But we all have to make the obligatory stop for milk, etc sometimes. Maybe at least take off your scrub jacket that you wore all shift before you hit Walmart.
And if you know you've had Mr. MRSA patient that shift, just go home and change.
You have to admit, the statements she made were not only inaccurate, but very harsh and condecending. Came close to making all of us who wear our scrubs to and from work look like irresponsible idiots and possibly criminals! I just hope that the majority of the people who read it have the common sense to see it as pretty silly.
Given what I observe of the general public on a normal, daily basis, I would have to say that I hope you're not holding your breath.
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
Given what I observe of the general public on a normal, daily basis, I would have to say that I hope you're not holding your breath.
You're probably right! Given the public's "I read it in a magazine so it must be true" attitude sometimes.
BTW, to everybody who has tried to email Marilyn and been bounced back - I wrote to the editor of Parade and didn't get bounced. Marilyn will probably see the error of her ways and start deleting anyway!
I too believe we should not wear our scrubs to different public places if they are soiled or if we have taken care of MRSA patients during our shift. But to get back to what really bothers me is this woman, who has a column in most newspapers, assumed wrongly about every nurse changing at their work destination. Should she not have investigated this further than her own desk before she started writing with the poison ink? We nurses are looked at with trust from our patients, she has chiseled away some of that trust without even caring, and over something she obviously knows nothing about. I read her column that day and was amazed, I wondered if anyone else would read it and get as upset as I did.
OK I know that. I believe it is not necessary to change your scrubs. I think you must have misunderstood my statement. Scrub changing is a joke and unnecessary.
Not all hospitals provide scrubs to their nursing staff; nor are there change rooms available at most places of work!
Obviously, this columnist didn't do research before suggesting that the public aire on the side of caution when viewing healthcare workers wearing scrubs in public. Unless it's the OR where a healthcare worker works or another environment where sterility is necessary, it is okay to wear scrubs to work. Most units in hospitals do not provide scrubs!
I too wear in my own scrubs to work. Scrubs are not provided to us, unless our clothes get soiled then we are permitted to wear hospital scrubs. I was really surprised when I took a job at this hospital that we were wearing our own scrubs in. We don't even change before going into the OR!! But they said that studies did not show any increase in infection which is why they allow this.
The hospital that I had previously worked at did provide us scrubs and we changed in and out of them before and after work. Heck I remember a time when I first started at my previous job that we even had to wear a lab coat before walking off the unit. (This was a mother/baby unit) But as time went on the rules changed and we didn't have to cover ourselves up. Then we were allowed to bring in our own scrub jackets.... I guess in a way I can see this. I mean after all we have visitors coming in holding the babies. But that is a little different on a Mom/Baby unit vs. Labor and Delivery. I still can't believe that we don't have to change before going into the OR!!
(hope this post makes some sense.....I'm sleep deprived after working a 12 night!!!)
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carolinapooh, BSN, RN
3,577 Posts
We did in my General Bio class! EEEWWWW!!!