Being knowledgeable about the sanitation of your scrubs, and taking preventative measures to keep scrubs clean is key to avoiding the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses.
In a study conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) stated more than 60% of uniforms worn by nurses and doctors who work in hospitals tested positive for dangerous bacteria.
To combat pesky bacteria, we’ve gathered a few scrub cleaning pro tips that will help keep these germs at bay:
Store your scrubs properly.
- When you’re leaving the doctor’s office or hospital, take a moment to change into your normal attire. Remove your scrubs and place them in a sealable plastic bag, a large ziplock bag that can be reused is the way to go. This prevents people in your commute home from being exposed to the bacteria that is hanging out on your scrubs.
Consider getting a ScrubTrak dispenser for your medical facility.
- Hospital grade laundering services provides a thorough, cleaning process that cannot be replicated in home washing machines and ensures scrubs are rid of infectious germs. Through automating the process for receiving and returning scrubs, ScrubTrak assists hospitals in complying with AORN’s recommendation for surgical attire to be laundered by a healthcare laundry facility to avoid the spread of infectious bacteria on scrubs of medical personnel who have patient interaction. By offering dispensing and return units for scrubs, and monitoring compliance through our real-time software system, hospital administrators can confidently comply with AORN. In addition, ScrubTrak’s return units allow for convenient and safe scrub pick-up by laundering staff.
Wash after every wear.
- Although your scrubs may seem clean, perhaps you only worked a 4 hour shift; regardless, your scrubs need to be washed with hot water after every single wear. It is not a matter of personal hygiene, rather about the prevention of nasty bacteria and viruses.
For hospital and medical facility managers, we highly recommend that you check out the ScrubTrak site and features.
