Should doctors wear their scrubs to wal mart?

this has been concerning me for some time - when i worked as a podiatrist in the uk, we were not allowed to wear our white coats or scrub suits outside of the hospital, we had to remove them and put them in the laundry, i see doctors/surgeons/nurses all the time in the usa out in their lunch hour, eating food at lubys and shopping at wal mart, rubbing against all the dirt and germs then going back to work in the operating room. with mrsa and other infectious diseases rife, surely this should be pointed out and stopped.

there was this surgeon - he had surgeon on his name badge - he actually had his plastic overshoes and plastic hat on at the post office - b4 loudly proclaming so everyone could hear - "i just had to run out of surgery to mail this thats how important it is hah hah hah" it was proven in the uk where i worked that diseases were carried on our clothing from outside of the workplace into our workplace, and so we were not allowed to wear own clothing to work, and definatley not scubs outside of work, "not enough time to change" didnt come into it, it was the rule/law and we were given time to follow it

I worked in a few labs and no, you could not wear your lab coat outside. Why a doctor or any trained medical staff would do this is beyond my grasp. You know the more book sense you have the dumber you are about common sense things. I am thinking it is not doctors and just other hospital workers. Really, a doctor at walmart???? I doubt that too.

there are crazy women that actually wear those as blouses, i have this in-law...

i agree with you it should be stopped i would tell some one who made the rule :) i wouldent want that docter that went to wal mart in his doctore clothes eeww ;)

Yes this is a problem that a lot of people do, I know at my clinic they had to remind the nurses not to wear their scrubs outside of work. Not sure why people do it, maybe to show off that they have the position they do.

Not necessarily because they may not acually be out on their "lunch hour". It may be middle of the day and seem to be a lunch hour, but maybe for them it's after work and they are going home after eating or shopping and placing their scrubs in the laundry.

Also, a person in scrubs does not necessarily indicate that they are a doctor. People in other professions can purchase scrubs at places like wal-mart and uniform supply stores. Many people elect to do so because scrubs are so very comfortable that some people prefer them over sweat pants and hoodies.

Therefore it would be kind of hard to restrict people from wearing scrubs into stores to prevent germs from making it back into the operating room because not all people wearing scrubs work in a hospital of any kind.

Also, when in an operating room a surgeon places steril covers over their shoes, scrubs, and head to prevent germs from spreading. I assure you, plenty of precautions are taken.

Hope this all makes sense. :-)

Hi Allison! Something you may not realize is that many people in regular and veterinary medicine wear scrubs to work so they don't soil they own clothes! This could be anyone from the receptionist all the way up to surgeon and everything in-between. You have no idea who these people are, what they do and where they do it. Most doctors don't wear scrubs outside of the operating theater no matter what you see on TV and they normally haven't the time to shop, let alone at Wal-Mart! You can rest assured that anyone wearing scrubs outside of a hospital either doesn't need to change them or will when they have to.

i don't see any reason for doctors to not wear their scrubs outside of the hospital,after all doctors and nurses are very careful not to spread germs.

I'd be more worried about all the germs and diseases the the doctors are carrying into Walmart. It's funny that you mention Walmart. Every time I go there, I'd swear that all the nut cases from the local insane assylum had escaped! Either that or Walmart is having a Fat convention. Why are there so many fat people in Walmart. And why do fat people use those electric carts. They should get off thier buts and walk!

I wouldn't automatically assume that those doctors and nurses are walking into the OR in the same scrubs they wore to Walmart. When I was a nursing student doing clinical rotations, we had our own scrubs that we wore for low-risk routine care (eg. getting dementia patients to change into their pajamas), but for the OR, we changed OUT of our own scrubs into OR scrubs. The OR scrubs never left the hospital and went straight to the laundry.

Edited to add: oh yeah, that person above reminded me of something: I still have scrubs left over from my student nurse days that I wear as pajamas because they are so comfortable. Sometimes I wear them to the store.

Sometimes there just isn't enough time to change. Whether you are off or at lunch there isn't enough time in 24 hours to concern yourself with changing for the sake of being germ-free. There are germs everywhere, even in the hospital, and in the locker that you store your scrubs in, or the sink you touched, or the air you are breathing, and that nurse you just brushed by. Granted, we take a degree of precaution...but still. We live in a bacteria infested world. The hospital is no medium of germless perfection.

Routine care scrubs are pretty much worn like regular clothes. It is a chance for health care professionals to prevent from ruining their own clothes and not necessarily to prevent the spread of germs. As a PT, we actually had to wear our OWN clothes...we pleaded to let them allow us to wear scrubs. Our clothes don't get regularly ruined, but it's easier to change into another pair of scrubs rather than getting a new sweater if you get blood on it.

When working with patients with infectious diseases, we wear personal protective equipment such as a gown, gloves and masks...therefore our scrubs never come into contact with these germs...they are removed immediately upon leaving the room.

The former nursing student is right about the OR srubs...OR personell actually need to put on clean gowns when the LEAVE the OR so their SCRUBS do not get contaminated.

Believe me, the routine scrubs healthcare professionals wear get no dirtier than a physican who walks into a room in his street clothes. Yet, in either case, I woudn't go picking up little babies or something until I've changed!

However, visibly or knowingly soiled garments should be removed immediately.