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“Oh, I never let my kids hug me until after I’ve showered and changed out of my uniform.” You all have heard that, right? You know you are in a potentially dangerous line of work. No one wants MRSA, VRE, C-Diff, or other germs in their homes!

Patients are sick these days. The germs are more virulent. So I’ve put together 9 easy steps to keep hospital germs out of your car and home.

It’s pretty easy, so let’s get started!

First: To keep dirty nursing shoes from touching the inside of your car or home, buy a pair of slip-on shoes, like Amazon’s Crocks Slip-On Fashion Sneakers. Always wear your slip-on’s to drive to and from work.

Second: While you’re home, place your clean nursing shoes inside a clean plastic bag. And don’t put them on until you get to your parking spot at work. So your nursing shoes will always travel in a bag, whether they’re clean on the way to work or dirty on the way home.

Third: At the end of your shift, and once you’ve clocked out, go find an empty bathroom. Take with you two gallon-sized plastic bags, your antiseptic wipes, and your bag of street clothes.

Fourth: Lay your badge, stethoscope, and everything from your pockets on top of a stack of paper towels. Consider it all contaminated. Wash your hands. Then clean each item carefully with antiseptic wipes and place everything in a clean plastic bag.

Fifth – You show up clean to work. But after a 12-hour shift, none of us want to consider what’s in that uniform. Don’t take it home! Instead, just remove it and put it in the zip-top plastic bag.

Sixth: Next, wash your hands, arms, face and neck, and put on clean street clothes from your clean bag. I highly recommend using bags with ziplock lids for good closure, speed, and ease of use. Keep that plastic bag in your pocket for when you get to your car and change your shoes.

Seventh – How are you going to safely clean your cell phone? You know you’ve been touching it at work. Some have been known to put it in a new zip-top sandwich bag before each shift and throw away the dirty plastic bag at the end of the day.

BUT, it might be more socially acceptable to consider getting one of the waterproof phone protectors on the market. Since they are waterproof, they are washable. Here’s an example: DandyCase Neon Colors Waterproof Case for all types of Amazon phones. You can wash it with antiseptic wipes when you are cleaning your other pocket items.

Eighth: your work bag and ziplock bags, with their contents, could go in something like a mini washable plastic Rubbermaid basket from Amazon and be placed in the trunk of your car.

Ninth – Once home, clean your uniform with hot soapy water, disinfect your shoes and shower. It is always better to kill all germs as soon as possible.

So are you ready? By spending just a few extra minutes, you will have better protected yourself and your loved ones from potentially dangerous pathogens! What a great way to protect your home, car, family, and yourself!

Health!