Doctors and Nurses, can you share your coming home from work decontamination routine?
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Anonymous
| I’m headed back to work next week in a high-contact, public facing position. My elderly mother lives with us and she has a heart condition. I would love to hear the routines of healthcare workers from the moment they head out the door at work to the moment they finally sit on the couch. I have a general idea of what to do, but having a strict protocol would make me feel a lot better. I live in a single family house, but I don’t have a garage, and I have to walk through the main living/kitchen area to get to the bedroom/bathroom. |
Anonymous
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healthcare worker here. I first minimize what I bring out of the house. My keychain is now only my carkey. Before I leave work I wipe down my badge, pens, phone and key. At my car I wipe down my door handle and steering wheel. I take off my mask in my car, store it in brown paper bag, and then hand sanitizer. i use bleach wipes but don’t toss them out and instead wash and reroll and reuse them.
When I arrive home I take shoes off first in garage, walk to walkway. Then I take off everything except undies. I walk in my house in my undies then toss everything in the washer and wash it with bleach. I walk upstairs not touching any handrails and get straight into shower. Without a garage this may be difficult but at a minimum washing hands, minimizing crap that you bring, and good mask management would be good. HTH |
Anonymous
| I clean hands with hand sanitizer as leaving the hospital. I change when I get home, in my bedroom. Wear washable clothes. I see very few patients most days, outpatient clinic. |
Anonymous
| My husband wears street clothes into hospital, changes into scrubs in his office and leaves his clothes in office, changes back to clothes when done with work. Honestly this is pretty much the same thing that he normally does. He sanitizes his phone regularly |
Anonymous
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Look at this thread on the topic of scrub wear
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/880714.page We have few drs and nurses that DO NOT change out of work clothes when at home. Even sit in their children’s bed without changing... |
Anonymous
| OP, the decontamination stuff is good, but don’t lose sight of the fact that the biggest risk is probably catching it at work and spreading it at home before symptoms. Most people are infected from breathing rather than contaminated objects. |
Anonymous
| Wife goes straight to shower. Clothes to washer (hot water). I sanitize her phone, keys, car, shoes with home made disinfectant. Every.single.day. |
Anonymous
Ooooh that’s me! I’m the bed sitter! I feel so famous... 
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Anonymous
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Slightly different as now doing logistics with no patient contact.
Hand sanitize my hands on drive home. Shoes outside. Upstairs to shower. Clothes in hamper in my bathroom. After shower, run a load of wash. I bring my own pens and lunch in disposable container or if not cloth lunch carrier goes in laundry. Hand wash and air dry face mask. |
Anonymous
| If you wear jewelry particularly any rings including wedding/engagement rings, stop. You can't clean it adequately. |
Anonymous
This. Lysol spray shoes, wash all clothing, shower and anything that goes inside you lysol or other wipe and wipe your car. |
Anonymous
| I’m a daycare worker getting ready to go back. I’m taking notes! I usually change when I get home anyway because I’m covered in snot, slobber, and goodness knows what else, but this is a different ballgame and I’m kinda terrified. |
Anonymous
| My DH works in private practice, not at a hospital, but changes into street clothes (and shoes) after work as does the rest of the staff. Scrubs go into the washing machine at the office. Shoes are left at the office. Makes things easy. |
Anonymous
No...you’re INFAMOUS!! |
Anonymous
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Without knowing what your job is:
Couldn’t you just change at work (after work) and throw the dirty clothes into a bag? Then dump in washer when you get home. You could even leave the bag in the trunk and do a bigger load of work clothes every few days. You could likely just leave shoes at work for work-only use. Wash hands etc of course and you should be good to go. |