Stains, Money, and Medicine:
To be successful managing your money, you need a lot of help.
You need to make the money, which requires an education and a job.
You need to be able to keep from spending all your money on things that don’t retain value. Today I want to talk about ways to keep our clothes in shape. To keep us out of the mall, or drooling over that latest Scrub Catalog.
Those of us in the medical field have extra trouble making things we wear last. We are in a high-stain profession. Yes, I said stain, not strain. We are in a high strain profession too, but that’s not what I am writing about today.
We are in a high stain profession. Let me count the ways:
Blood, how many different ways can we get our clothes and shoes stained with blood?
- Starting an IV
- Debriding/cleaning up a laceration-especially those on the scalp or face!
- ER patients can bleed from hundreds of different orifices, some man-made-others more natural.
- Most folks who see a C-section for the first time, are amazed by the blood-letting.
I will stop there, you get the picture.
Medical Stains:
Medics In Action: photo by US Army-Africa
Other sources of stains:
- Emesis/Vomit: (throw-up for you non-medical types)-those kids will get you, but the drunks are waaaaay worse!
- Coffee/tea/cola-how else do you stay awake for those 5 back to back 12 hour shifts, or working a double.
- Betadine: used to disinfect skin or wounds…The more the better!
- Nasal secretions: yes, what else do you do when you have on gloves, and your nose is running. The old shoulder/sleeve wipe technique. Yes I hate the S___word!
- Pus: Some times those abscesses are under a lot of pressure!
- Ink: Document, Document, Document. Of course, in medicine, has to be black!
- Lipstick-(get your mind out of the gutter, I hug my wife on my way to work every day:)
I saw this article about stain removal, and began to wonder about its usefulness for those of us in the medical profession.
Now maybe this article hit my radar today, cause I am doing laundry. Now, I admit I don’t do laundry every day. Not that I am above it. But my wife is out of town for a few days for a business trip. And maybe I “forget” to separate the colors from whites on purpose, so I get banned from the laundry room. (Please don’t tell her!)
List of 9 Stains and Their Remedies:
So here is the list of stains and their remedies according to the article above:
- Blood-hydrogen peroxide-3% or salt
- Tea-Sugar in a paste with warm water
- Red wine-hot water/cream of tartar, alternatively baking soda or salt
- Grass stains-old fashioned white tooth paste and brush
- Oil-shampoo
- Lipstick-white bread made into a ball, then rub away!
- Ring around the collar-shampoo
- Grease spots-cornstarch
- Ink-rubbing alcohol or milk
They don’t mention the vomit, nasal secretions, pus or betadine in this article. For the first three, regular detergent, with a little bleach if possible, should work fine. Although if you don’t think you can put the garment back on without throwing up, you have my permission to throw it away!
For Betadine-alcohol, enzyme cleaners, and peroxide are all touted. But better get it while it’s fresh!
And no, there will be no lipstick stains while the wife is away!
Reader Questions:
Do you have your favorite stain remover? Do you wear that favorite top, or scrub set, cause you love it, even with the stains?
Let us hear your stain story!
Tags: 9 stains and tips for removal, how to remove blood and betadine, stain removal tips, stains and remedies in medicine
I learned the tip for using hydrogen peroxide on blood years ago when I as a hospital corpsman in the Navy. It’s interesting that it’s still the recommended solution.
If it works…..
LOL Dean – I never know what I’m gonna get from this blog! : D
I had zero clue about most of these remedies!
Hey Kim, yes we cover the gamut of ideas and info here at The Millionaire Nurse. Almost anything we do, say, or touch can be related to personal finance…..