It sounds like one of the new classes at my lad’s med school is designed for teaching students how to do some of these things if I understood him correctly when he was sharing what the options were. It’s not a course my guy will be taking - he’s doing an online radiology one instead - but most of the students are in it.
The proposed program would be a hands-on, boot on the ground service program, not a online class.
I agree. I just think they lined the class up so there’s less “how to” to teach if it gets approved. They’ve been looking for ways to use med school students.
My kid would do this if her school was doing it. They aren’t…yet.
I can’t understand why anyone entering the field of medicine now wouldn’t want to contribute to helping in this crisis in some way.
Regarding wearing of scrubs-I bring a fresh set home, change into them for a 7 am shift after a shower. Clean clothing is in my bag and I carefully change into that after work, being careful with hand washing. Toss scrubs in the hospital return bin, gel hands. Get clean scrubs, insert in bag. Walk down stairs touching nothing. Return home, shower and toss that clothing that has been worn for half an hour into my special laundry basket. Next day, repeat. Some might get a coffee on the way to work in clean scrubs. I hope no one is wearing them home from a hospital with covid patients these days and anyone with a brain would not.
Regarding scrubs. I work in home care. I wear one set of scrubs per day. I wear the same set of scrubs from one house to the next. Before, I would stop and use the restroom at fast food places, libraries, pharmacies, etc. Now, there are only a few places to stop such as pharmacies, in my scrubs. If possible, I will use the restroom at a patient’s home. However, these restrooms are not always the cleanest, some would rather you not use theirs.
I have to admit, I definitely think twice now about stopping somewhere. The last thing I need is to be attacked. We can stop at the hospital but I am usually miles away.
I am trying to drink less, hopefully I won’t have to stop. I wear my scrubs home and change right away. There is no place for me to change before heading home.
There is absolutely no way to check if your scrubs are fresh or have come out of a busy ER where someone just died of a communicable disease. Just like reusable bags are not welcomed now in grocery stores, regardless of whether they were freshly washed or not. When I worked in chemistry labs, every company had a policy of NO lab coats in the office areas, even freshly laundered ones. Same reason. Please change into your fresh street clothes when you go outside.
I agree with @BunsenBurner
I’m also surprised you are wearing the same scrubs with multiple clients in their homes on the same day. I know…it’s an inconvenience to change…but we are all experiencing a lot of inconveniences right now.
Frankly, if your client would prefer you not use their bathroom and you are having trouble finding “pit stops” during the day, I would nicely tell that client that you cannot help them during the crisis and explain why. Maybe those clients haven’t thought through the situation and would be happy to let you use their facilities.
So, I should change my scrubs between each patient and home? Where should I change, in my car? Healthcare workers who work in hospitals are not changing their clothes between each patient. How about cashiers at the grocery stores, pharmacies? Restaurants? They come into contact with way more people than I do. I see 4-6 patients a day. I am no longer sitting down while at the house and I distance myself as much as possible. I am not taking my computer into homes anymore. We ask family members to leave the room if possible.
I wear masks and gloves with each patient. We reuse our masks for the whole day, not changing it between patients. If I am ever asked to work with someone who is pending or positive for covid-19, I will be given a gown to wear and a n95 mask.
We are screening our patients and their household before each visit. We are taking our own temperature twice a day.
If and when the CDC or my boss recommends that we change clothes between each patient, that is when I will start doing it. And as for the bathroom, I am lucky if I have one patient with a clean bathroom, and I will schedule that person in the middle of day if possible. And limit what I drink. Or I could just start wearing regular clothes, then no one would know that I am a healthcare worker. I am not required to wear scrubs and not all home care workers wear scrubs. I wear them because they are so comfy!
I understand about not changing between patients in normal times…but these aren’t normal times.
And it does sound like the precautions you are taking are excellent. As they can be.
I also do hope you find a bathroom solution. Any chance your employer will provide you with sanitizing wipes so you can at least try to make a bathroom suitable for use? Worth asking.
Thank you for continuing to provide this essential health care. I know around here, there is some difficulty finding providers to even do this.
@hawkbird, it sounds as though you are taking as many precautions as prudently possible while working with your 4-6 clients. It’s not realistic to ask a HHCW to have 4-6 changes of clothes with nowhere to change but their car or the client’s home w/o risking cross contamination while taking off dirty/putting on clean clothes anyway. And, providing a surgical-type gown for use at each client’s home would expend precious PPE that is needed for use with Covid/RO Covid patients and for scrubs/surgeons in the OR doing emergency surgeries. The exception would be if you were caring for a Covid/RO Covid client - then you would most likely be given PPE and that client would be done last on your daily schedule.
As a RN working in a hospital, I can most assuredly say that we are more exposed due to the number of patients and staff we come in contact with during a routine shift. I work in Open Heart Surgery and unless we are doing a case where the patient is highly infective with MRSA, Covid/RO Covid, etc, we do not change our scrubs in between cases. This is also the case on the floors where HCWs do not change their scrubs in between patient rooms and, when isolation precautions are in place, PPE is worn over scrubs.
I worry about patients and staff who are silent spreaders or have mild symptoms but can’t get tested. And, like many hospitals, we do not have a quick POC test for admissions to our facility. We’ve had the 45 minute test for awhile now but no cartridges for it - not sure how that even happened! So risk of exposure for hospital patients (and staff) is greater than in the home health care setting.
I disagree that these aren’t normal times. They’re difficult times, yes. But every right you give up due to special circumstances is a right you won’t get back.
I don’t think changing clothing in the restroom of clients would necessarily help, though. Or, I’m not picturing how it would help without possibly cross contaminating client’s bathrooms quite a bit and making things worse that way.
Yeah, I think you should, or change in the garage or bathroom of your client’s houses. If you’re in home care, you’re serving a vulnerable population and you should do what you can to avoid spreading the virus.
I don’t think “Cross-contaminating clients” is a right that home health care workers ever had or should have.
Can I respectfully ask that @hawkbird be treated with kindness and respect? She could be that person who comes into your parents house to help them. These healthcare professionals are going through an extremely difficult and stressful time.
It’s easy for me in my healthy clean home to think about how things should go. It’s not so easy to execute.
Thank you @hawkbird for telling us how things are out there. I feel for you trying not to drink so you don’t have to use a bathroom. I’m really sorry.
I’ve had relatives who have done home health visits. It’s a really hard job in conditions that most can’t imagine.
I think people not in healthcare are having completely unrealistic expectations for an in home provider to change her outfit 6 times a day WHEN SHE DOES NOT EVEN HAVE A PLACE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! Yet, she still goes to work each day to provide what care she can to her clients. I applaud you, Hawkbird!!! Thank you for going into these homes and giving your clients the help they need despite personal risks to yourself.
@hawkbird, should first and foremost follow her health care employer guidelines assuming they are a reputable provider company!
I will say if you have not done home visiting through health care or education you cannot judge (or in some cases fathom) the home situations home health care workers have to be present in!
I just keep repeating to myself that @hawkbird does not see many bathrooms clean enough to even want to use them, ewwww. I am sorry that so many HHC situations are so gross.