Anatomy Lab Digs?

[DVMorBust]

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So, what's everyone's plan? I've heard everything from 'buy some pairs of scrubs, rotate, and burn them at the end of the year' to 'just wear a lab coat'.

I mean, I don't want to be the weenie in the scrubs, but I was looking forward to the bonfire at the end.

What's everyone's plan? Have your schools told you? Is there a usual routine among students there?

 

[kef148]

For my dissection class this semester, a bunch of people (myself included) started out with scrubs, but then we realized it wasn't really necessary unless you were really messy. In the end, we were all just wearing a lab coat over our regular clothes. Your clothes will smell though, so if you don't want your clothes to smell like the lab after school you should probably just wear scrubs.

 

[DVMorBust]

For my dissection class this semester, a bunch of people (myself included) started out with scrubs, but then we realized it wasn't really necessary unless you were really messy. In the end, we were all just wearing a lab coat over our regular clothes. Your clothes will smell though, so if you don't want your clothes to smell like the lab after school you should probably just wear scrubs.

OK - now I have this mental image of 'that guy' who leaves lab with some intestine stuck to the seat of his pants, but no one wants to tell him...like a much worse version of the TP in the pants.

 

[cateyes]

The majority of our class wore scrubs to lab every day, and just kept the same pair in our lockers, rotating them out each quarter (or not). There were some that had specific non scrubby clothes that they wore just for lab, and (very few) that just wore lab coats over their normal clothes.

 

[bclover]

It was all over the board with our class - scrubs, jeans & t-shirt - just nothing really 'nice'. Always wear a lab coat and if you wash/bleach it often enough even it will survive (I did this before each exam). There's no way to avoid the odor following you after class as it permeates your hair, etc., but it can be mitigated by changing clothes.

Another thing to consider are your shoes - for two reasons. You will spill 'juices' on them and you are on your feet for hours. For large animal dissection most wore the same rubber boots we used for palpations in the clinic. For small animal dissection athletic shoes are fine, (remember the spillage, though), and several wore rubber/plastic clogs - just not the ones with holes and having a back strap or a closed back is safer, too. (You can slip in lab when things get wet. - not to mention the sharp tools we play with.) Of course, it goes without saying, follow whatever your school recommends...

 

[DVMorBust]

For the SA 'juices', something like these: http://www.muckbootcompany.com/products/DLY-333E? I've got a pair from work (sterile lab shoes), and they're super comfortable.

 

[bclover]

DVMorBust, I would think those would work fine.

 

[rugbychick16]

Most of our class just put lab coats or scrub tops over their normal clothes. Some changed into scrubs for messy days (like in the horse abdomen) but not that many. You end up being in the lab so much its a pain to change every time, and you still want to shower when you get home no matter what you were wearing.

My lab coat is so nasty. I should try that bonfire idea...

 

[sumstorm]

NCSU encourages (?) scrubs for lab. I already grabbed a couple of cheap ones in the requisite Ciel Blue.

There are disposable lab coats as well, and they are relatively inexpensive. Come in Ciel Blue and I have heard good things about them (they are not a paper material...rather a lined cloth?) but haven't tried them myself.

I have muck boots from marine mammal necropsy, and I have used disposable coveralls (which I am told are similar to the disposable lab coats) which were sold 10 to a pack for ....~$35? Marine mammal necropsies tend to be very messy and stinky with rot/bloat, so it was well worth it to me, and did help keep odor suppressed. I was considering trying the disposable lab coats...but can't decide if it is worth while or not.

 

[lailanni]

Most people here wear scrubs or at least a lab coat. Some people go in regular clothes but I think they're in the minority. I'd wear either full scrubs or a top over jeans. For SA I had a seperate set of shoes and for LA I got tall rubber boots (which I really appreciated). Three words: puddles of insides.

If you're going to get just one thing, I'd really push for the shoes. You don't want to track anatomy lab all over the floor of your home. Or maybe you do...not everyone has the same standards 😉

And if you're like me, you'll want to tie your hair back. I don't like cadaver juice on my hair.

The initial gross factor wears off and before the end of the year you'll probably have pizza in one hand and body parts in the other and think nothing of it.

 

[svendenhowser]

Everyone in my year just wears a lab coat over the top of normal clothes. I don't think anyone wore scrubs at all. My lab coat is 4yrs old now and perfectly fine, just had regular washes (once a week during heavy anatomy weeks, but now it's almost once a semester as its mainly all parasite/micro pracs which you don't really get dirty in) and lives in my locker. We have to wear overalls for PM's and live animal pracs, so that saves the lab coat a little.

It's against our occupational health and safety regulations to wear no protective clothing (e.g. lab coat/srubs) and non-closed in shoes.

 

[chris03333]

So, what's everyone's plan? I've heard everything from 'buy some pairs of scrubs, rotate, and burn them at the end of the year' to 'just wear a lab coat'.

I mean, I don't want to be the weenie in the scrubs, but I was looking forward to the bonfire at the end.

What's everyone's plan? Have your schools told you? Is there a usual routine among students there?

Advice: wear anything you don't mind smelling like formalin (for me that means anything I don't mind throwing away)

and wear something comfortable

and have an extra change always available for the unexpected...

 

[r00]

Am I the only person on the planet who LOVES wearing his scrubs? I will probably wear scrubs every day - lab or not - just because I think they are really comfortable. At least a scrub top over jeans...

 

[Electrophile]

Almost everyone in our class wore scrubs plus lab coat just about every day. A few did just lab coats. Just buy some cheapies from Wal-Mart or freebies from the various companies and rotate through. I don't like being a walking advertisement for the drug companies, but as long as I need something to be slopped on, I don't really care. I used an old pair of athletic shoes and I think most people did something similar, but some wear the Crocs without the holes or muck boots. Whatever is comfortable as you'll be doing it for several hours a day.

Oh yeah, buy a bottle of Febreeze and store it in your locker! I took my clothes home once or twice a week to wash them, usually on Fridays for sure, but on the Monday where I'd come in and be like "awww, man...I forgot!" and the scrubs & lab coat had been sitting all weekend, it'd come in very handy. And don't buy a nice $40-50 lab coat. Waste of money. Try to get a used one if possible or a cheapy $20ish one if you must go new.

 

[sumstorm]

Almost everyone in our class wore scrubs plus lab coat just about every day. A few did just lab coats. Just buy some cheapies from Wal-Mart or freebies from the various companies and rotate through. I don't like being a walking advertisement for the drug companies, but as long as I need something to be slopped on, I don't really care.

Check with your school; NCSU insists on ciel for students (at least that is what I have been told.) If you need to deoderize, from the marine mammal necropsies, mix a slurry of baking soda and water, and soak, then wash. Baking soda won't do anything to the washing machine, generally doesn't damage clothes, and is a great deoderizer.

 

[1CellNtheSea]

Everyone in my class started off wearing scrubs under the lab coats but eventually got lazy and just wore their school clothes under the coat. (Lab coats were mandatory in our lab). Personally, I would keep scrubs in my locker and change before class and take them home to wash every week or so. I kept some walmart boots in my locker too. Everyone wore whatever scrubs they wanted, be it the ones they told us to get to the scrubs embroidered with the place they used to work at. Our prof would let us know when it would be a messy day and to make sure and wear appropriate clothing. I didn't burn anything. I bleached the heck out of my white coat and my scrubs have aired out and lost the smell (which I thought would never go away!). I spent some money on the scrubs and coat and didn't want to just go burning them!

Nothing to stress out about, that's for sure.

 

[chris03333]

Maybe I just really hated the anatomy lab smell, but there was no way in hell I was going to take my anatomy clothes home...I took them to a laundry mat..........

 

[sumstorm]

Maybe I just really hated the anatomy lab smell, but there was no way in hell I was going to take my anatomy clothes home...I took them to a laundry mat..........

LOL. When I came off the boats, my husband would meet me at the door with a giant contractor's trash bag. I would strip just inside the door, putting everything in the bag, and head to the shower with my wet gear. While I took a shower and scrubbed myself and my gear down, he took my laundry to the wash and fold. The ladies knew what I did for work, and were very sympathetic and cheerfully washed my clothes in some industrial cleaners that worked VERY well. Now, while it sounds disgusting, on boats you don't change clothes. So, you wear the same clothes for 2-4 weeks at a time, round the clock (stripping only the outer layer or two and your socks to sleep.) And on the north atlantic, you layer. So undergarments under long johns, under shorts and a t-shirt (keeps core warmer), under thin sweats under water-resistant clothes (similar to ski pant/jackets.) While on deck, we also wore oilers. Obviously, by the end of the trip and thousands of tissue samples later, plus typically at least one necropsy (besides marine mammals, we necropsied sea turtles, sea birds, some sharks, and some other fish....if they came up dead...if alive, tissue sample, tag, and back overboard.) Combine the odor of fish and death with diesel, and it is a miracle that my husband ever married me!

So, maybe I need to find a wash and fold....