[MCOH-EH] Skin Sensitivity Issues to Hospital Laundered Scrubs

[Kris Arnold]

>From experience of something similar though not in the hospital setting,
this may be as simple an issue as inadequacy of the rinse cycle in removing
traces of the chosen detergent.  Cataloguing the complaints and examining
any employees complaining of skin irritation would help with leads as to
possible, usually caustic, skin burns, most often in areas of close
contact/friction.
In order to maintain the integrity of your infection control P&P, you might
explore altering the cleaning process to look for solutions that meet both
needs of infection control and personnel safety.

Kris Arnold, MD, MPH
ArLac Health Services, PC



On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 2:51 PM, Epps, Nancy <nepps at tgh.org> wrote:

>  Our facility is having issues with staff reporting skin sensitivity
> related to wearing hospital laundered scrubs (mandatory for our OR areas).
>
> Some individual managers have allowed staff to launder their scrubs at
> home and carry them in a bag to their work area, to change into them once
> they arrive to their work area.  Our Infection Prevention department has
> issues with the bacterial burden that remains on items laundered at home
> and want to create a new process.
>
>
>
> How do other facilities handle these staff issues?
>
> What procedures does your staff use to launder their scrubs?
>
> Do you allow them to launder them at home and carry them in to change once
> they arrive to their work area?
>
> Does anyone have their Sterile Processing department ‘sterilize’ the home
> laundered scrubs?
>
>
>
> Nancy Epps CMSRN, BSN, OCN
>
> Clinician, Employee Health Services
>
> Tampa General Hospital
>
> Phone (813) 844-8003
>
> Email: *nepps at tgh.org <nepps at tgh.org>*
>
>
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