General Forums >> In the News >> How Germ-Free are Scrubs?
How Germ-Free are Scrubs?
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Posted about 1 month ago Recently, the clothing that healthcare providers wear at work has come under scrutiny. We know we have to sterilize equipment, but what about scrubs and lab coats? The British National Health Service recently imposed a "bare below elbows" rule - doctors are not allowed to wear long sleeves or lies because of the possibility that they can easily pick up germs as docs travel from patient to patient. Do you think rules like these are over-the-top, or do they need to be even more strict? Do you wear your scrubs/lab coat/hospital clothing outside of work? Do you take precautions to make sure your clothing is appropriate and safe? A number of studies have found that clothing worn by healthcare providers can carry germs and viruses like Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA. Should more research be done, or should the US implement rules similar to the British NHS immediately? Georgia Price
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| Posted about 1 month ago Definatly an interesting question that made me sit back and think for a minute. I belive that we ( in the U.S.) should impliment this as well. Think about it, all the doctors or anyone who works within a hospital usually, at some point and time goes outside to take a walk during their break and 99% of the time they still have their lab coats on. You see them coming out of bathrooms with them on ( not very sterile). Think about this one, alot of healthcare workers during the winter months wear the thermal long sleeves under their scrubs, with all of the poars that those types of shirts have so many germs could be transfered from patient to patient or even to you or your family. |
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| Posted about 1 month ago I think that as long as we continue to allow our employees to smoke on hospital grounds, then how clean their scrubs were isn't going to matter much, because they won't stay that way for long. I think it's a good thing to have an eye on. Clearly there are risks involved in patient interaction. I think that with proper observance of existing precautions such as proper gownage when entering a contact isolation room, we can be as safe as we're going to really get in an environment specifically designed around sick people. Yes, there is more that we can do, but I think it's more about our behaviors than our clothes. |
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| Posted about 1 month ago I think that we need to stick to the topic of how germ-free our clothing is and leave the topic of employees smoking on hospital grounds outside of the building for another topic... I agree with the "bare below the elbows" idea. There are many different types of germs that could be spread this way, but as long as personnel are scrubbing up when they enter the room and before they leave the room, I think we are being as safe as we can be. One of the main reason that germs are spread the way they are is improper hand-washing and all the "anti-bacterial" products that are out there that are actually helping to produce the "super-germs" that are antibiotic resistant.
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| Posted about 1 month ago Scrubs are never goig to be germ free. We need to think about where we go with the scrubs on. If we leave the OR we need to cover up from the waist up and good clean hand washing. The main problem is not washing hands between patients and carelessness. My husbands port was contaminated because some one probably didn't wash their hands he ended up with a strep bacteria in his blood and was in the hospital for 2 weeks on iv antibiotics after being on chemo for 3 months and later having the port taken out. It was a MESS!
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