“Oh, I never let my kids hug me until after I have showered and changed out of my uniform.” You’ve all heard that, right? You know you are in a potentially hazardous line of work. Nobody wants MRSA, VRE, C-Diff, or other germs in their homes!
Patients are sicker these days. Germs are more virulent. So I’ve put together 9 easy steps to keep hospital germs out of your car and home.
Its pretty easy, so let’s get started!
First – To avoid ever letting dirty nursing shoes touch the inside of your car or home, get a pair of slip-on shoes, like Crocks Slip-On Fashion Sneakers from Amazon. Always wear your slip-on’s to drive to and from work.
Second – While at home, place your clean nursing shoes inside of a clean plastic bag. And don’t put them on until reaching your parking spot at work. So your nursing shoes will always travel in a bag – whether clean on the way to work, or dirty on the way home.
Third – At the end of your shift, and once you have clocked out, go find an empty bathroom. Take two gallon-sized plastic bags, your antiseptic wipes, plus your bag of street clothes in there with you.
Fourth – Place your badge, stethoscope, and everything from your pockets onto a pile of paper towels. Consider it all contaminated. Wash your hands. Then clean each item carefully with antiseptic wipies and place it all into a clean plastic bag.
Fifth – You show up for work clean. But after a 12-hour shift – none of us wants to consider what is on that uniform. Don’t wear it home! Instead, just strip it off, and stuff it into the plastic ziplock bag.
Sixth – Next wash your hands, arms, face, and neck – and put on some clean street clothes from your clean bag. I highly recommend using bags with ziplock tops for good closure, speed, and ease of use. Save that plastic bag in your pocket for when you get to your car and change shoes.
Seventh – How are you going to safely clean your cell phone? You know you’ve been touching it while at work. Some have been known to put it into a fresh ziplock sandwich bag before every shift – and throw away the dirty plastic bag at day’s end.
BUT, it might be more socially acceptable to consider getting one of the water-resistant phone protectors on the market. Since they are waterproof, they are washable. Here is an example: DandyCase Neon Colors Waterproof Case for all phone types from Amazon. You could wash it down with antiseptic wipies when you are cleaning your other pocket items.
Eighth – Your work bag and ziplock bags, with their contents, could go into something like a washable plastic Rubbermaid Mini Basket from Amazon and placed in the trunk of your car.
Ninth – Once at home, clean your uniform in hot, soapy water, sanitize your shoes, and get your shower. Its always best to kill all germs as soon as you possibly can.
So are you ready? By spending only a few extra minutes, you will have better protected yourself and those you love from potentially dangerous pathogens! What a great way to safeguard your home, your car, your family, and yourself!
Cheers!
