I don’t know how the bio / infection control specialists in the room are going to feel about this little bit of advice, but I learned this many years ago and I don’t seem to throw away nearly as many uniforms as I did before I added this trick to my repertoire.
So you run that bloody call and you walk out of the hospital room and survey the damage. Blood on your pants. Blood on your uniform shirt. Blood in your hair…how did that get there?
It’s major bio-cleanup time.
The shirt comes off. Next it’s a good scrub of the arms, hands, face. (Hair?) The pants will have to stay for now. But wait! Before you bag that uniform shirt up, grab the hydrogen peroxide out of the back of the rig and pour it on every blood stain. Hit the pants too. Pour it right on.
I’ve found that if I can keep peroxide on the blood stains until they hit the washing machine, most stains will disappear completely. I have noticed some minor fading of the color on my blue uniform shirts where I’ve applied the peroxide, but never the pants. Voila. Blood gone and one less uniform requisition form to fill out.
Now go wash your hair. (Not with peroxide.)
What about you?: Do you have any good bio cleanup advice? What’s your favorite cleanup trick?
