The double-dip.

So a few nights ago, I had the pleasure of being floated to another intensive care unit to work. As most nurses know, my latter statement is almost never true... the part about it being a pleasure at least.

I walked into the Medical-Surgical intensive care unit hoping that I would just survive the night. I got a good patient pair assigned to me and went off to keep them alive.

Usually around about 4am or so, I go into the rooms to draw lab work and afterwards I give one "kamikaze" bath.

I walked into one of my patient's rooms (the harder of the two that night) to bathe her, and she immediately starts freaking out. "My GOD! What's wrong with me?! What are you going to do?!"

There I was standing in full personal protective equipment; face mask, gown, gloves, and hat. I'd forgotten to mention that I just wear that gear so that I don't get any spillage onto my nice scrubs. She finally calmed down after I verbally "de-escalated" her fears. A nurse passing by even cracked a joke about how it looked like I was getting ready to take off wearing my "space suit."

While I was getting everything ready, the patient that was about to endure my "hygienic assault" asked why I had a 1 foot high mountain of washcloths sitting next to the basin. I answered her with, "I don't like to double dip."

You know, and I know -- that there are nurses and people (I say this like they're two different entities.. but whatever) alike that like to reuse a wash rag several times in the same wash basin to clean themselves up.

I hate this.

The sole purpose of "getting cleaned up" is precisely what the phrase implies. How, knowing this, is one able to do that if you keep re-cycling the same washcloth over and over in the water that's contaminated with whatever you wiped off the first time? Think about it.

I explained this conspiracy theory to her, and she agreed and even thanked me for not "double dipping" the linen. I'm sure this isn't at all cost effective (at least from a linen standpoint), but it leaves patients clean.

There are two people that I love giving baths with because we all have this same habit -- Elaine and Erin. People, if you want to stay clean and alive you'll come looking for them too. Because I'll be damned if there isn't a single other nurse but the three of us that actually "cleans" people during a bath. Double dipping, in Elaine's words, "is just nasty."