The Infection Control Consulting Services (ICCS) team has been asked on multiple occasions whether organizations should allow staff members to take their scrubs home and wash them. To answer this question, we think it's best to look to the guidelines from the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN).

To summarize, AORN recommends that after each daily use, scrub attire should be laundered at a healthcare-accredited laundry facility, by the organizations themselves and following state regulatory requirements, or by the organizations themselves and following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines if no state requirements exist.

AORN also includes guidance about how staff should launder scrubs at home if an organization goes that route. These guidelines are available to current AORN members.

ICCS recommends organizations query their accreditation agency about standards concerning scrub laundering and try to determine whether their state's department of health makes scrub laundering an area of focus.

With all of that said, ICCS is not in favor of home-laundered scrubs. Among the reasons why: How will the organization control the laundering? Who will monitor the process in individual homes? Organizations must ultimately decide whether to permit home-laundered scrubs and develop a policy that reflects their decision.