Anatomy lab hygiene

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SugPlum

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I'm trying to figure out if I am doing enough for hygiene while I'm taking anatomy. I started lab last week. When I get home after lab, I shower, paying attention to using plenty of soap and shampoo. I have a separate set of clothing for lab, which I don't wear outside of lab. I'm planning to launder them after every other lab session, or weekly, whichever is more frequent.

In old posts on this topic, I read about putting on Vaseline before putting on gloves. I should also mention that my school provides non-latex gloves, either nitrile or vinyl (can't tell which).

Does anyone have any experiences with fragrances (perfumes) to cover up lingering odors?
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Ok...
I used the same pair of scrubs for the entire course. No washes, buying new scrubs. They're scrubs. It's anatomy lab. They're going to get dirty. That's what they're for. Use nitrile gloves. I didn't need to double glove-I found out quickly that it was a wasteful practice, but it helps give some peace of mind. Also, don't tuck in your shirt into the scrub pants, and you wont have any issues with preserving fluid smells on your clothes.
 
I've found the only thing that really holds smells are my hands. A long shower with extra attention to scrubbing my hands usually takes care of that and any other lingering odor.

Scrubs are scrubs. They're going to smell. Wash 'em when you can't stand to wear 'em in lab.
 
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it's seriously not that serious. you don't need to wash your scrubs after every ("session"): wait you don't have lab every day...i'm envious we have it daily from 2:30 -5:30 and lecture for one hour a day at like 10. but it's not that bad really. also, the main thing is hair and hands...wear a bandana (even if you're a guy) and as far as hands...double glove and you'll be fine.
 
I understand. The smell is somewhat unique. I'm thinking of marketing a cologne based on it. Please note the sarcasm.

After a fun filled day of anatomical exploration, I've found that a hot shower (as hot as I can stand it), plenty of shampoo and lava soap usually gets most of the smell out. I too had a set of scrubs and a lab coat I wore in the lab. The more layers between you and your subject, the better.

I also hate latex gloves. I'm not allergic or anything, just don't like them. I used a nitrile glove in the chemical lab as well as the anatomy lab. Much better results smell-wise. Double gloving also works well.

Soap salts also work well to get rid of the smell. Just make sure you don't have a cut on your hand.
 
I also used the same pair of scrubs the entire class, and never washed them. Relegated a pair of old shoes for lab, and single gloved every day. I did a thorough scrub of the hands/forearms after finishing the dissection for the day but thats about it.

I guess that means I simply preferred to get used to the smell instead of spending a good chunk of my day every day combating it. Never bothered me though, except for once and a while when I'd be eating something with my hands and get a good whiff of formalin.
 
it especially sucks when you're eating chicken... :laugh:
 
If you want to get the smell out of your scrubs, soak them hydrogen peroxide and water before you wash them. (just the cheap stuff that's like $1 a bottle) It will get the smell out if you want to reuse them. 🙂 Peroxide is awesome for smells and stains on just about anything!
 
haha..i think you're fine as to hygiene...
me?... i'd eat during dissection lol... yeahhh
 
I used the same pair of scrubs all semester, and I didn't wash them until the end, at which point the smell came out completely. I also didn't really adjust my shower schedule around lab.
 
Our room had a decent ventilation system so things never got too bad. I just wore latex gloves so I would make sure to wash my hands real good a couple times after lab..... even then I'd sometimes get a little whiff while eating a sandwich or something.
 
Here's my rules for gross anatomy hygiene:

1) Put on gloves (some profs chose not to do this)

2) Do not put dirty gloves in mouth or hair or touch your face (saw many profs do this)
 
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I get splashed probably every other time I'm in lab. No big deal really... and I've used the same pair of scrubs all semester. They are getting pretty rank nowadays, but lab is almost done.
 
Nikki2002 said:
could be the soap used to clean instruments. i wouldn't try this...you might have a little cut on your finger and it will burn like heck
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I did see someone in my lab use the detergent for instruments to wash his hands. I thought that it would be too harsh.
 
rumor: washing hands with lime juice helps.

Double-gloving, soap, lime juice, I've tried everything. Now, I just enjoy my dinner with the mild smell of formalin on my fingers. 😳

http://www.anatomy.wisc.edu/courses/gross/ - I love these videos, and some anatomists don't even wear gloves.
 
ZagDoc said:
I also used the same pair of scrubs the entire class, and never washed them. Relegated a pair of old shoes for lab, and single gloved every day. I did a thorough scrub of the hands/forearms after finishing the dissection for the day but thats about it.

I guess that means I simply preferred to get used to the smell instead of spending a good chunk of my day every day combating it. Never bothered me though, except for once and a while when I'd be eating something with my hands and get a good whiff of formalin.
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Same here, nothing is better than a nice sandwich after anatomy lab lol
 
jbl16 said:
Same here, nothing is better than a nice sandwich after anatomy lab lol
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Or a sandwich in anatomy lab...actually, before the first test people were ordering pizza in the lab at night and studying while they ate. It didn't stink too bad at that point though (we were doing arms, legs, and back, and our lab has nice tables with slow suction ventilation to keep the fumes down). But I don't expect to see that again any time soon. Now that we've opened the abdomen up, there are about 5 out of 23 bodies that smell horrible just walking by. I actually hold my breath when I go past a couple of the tables, because they are just nauseating.

I use a clean pair of scrubs every day, since I have lab 5 days a week for 3 hours, so I don't notice too much stench. I just wash them every weekend, and shower every day. I rarely notice the smell once I've showered.
 
ZipsPwn said:
They have a kitchen soap that works well.
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I tried a couple things to get the scent off my hands. By accident, I found that dish soap worked. I had to wash some pots and pans, so after about 10 minutes of scrubbing and soaking my hands in dish soapy water, the scent was completely gone.


How do you people eat in lab? I think if we got caught doing that at my school we would be in mega trouble.
 
The first day of lab I only single gloved (and our school had latex gloves at that time) and the smell did not get off my hands for about three days. My wife about killed me when I came home smelling like I did! Also, our anatomy was blocked over the entire first year, so we HAD to wash our stuff sometimes. I think I may have done that twice, Thanksgiving time and Spring Break time. The laundromat I went to for that (no way was I bringing that skanky stuff home) was none the wiser.....:laugh:
 
nka1985 said:
Now that we've opened the abdomen up, there are about 5 out of 23 bodies that smell horrible just walking by. I actually hold my breath when I go past a couple of the tables, because they are just nauseating.
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On another message board, I read about something called Just a Drop The Personal Bathroom Odor Eliminator. I wonder if that will help with bowel odors in the lab.
 
ZipsPwn said:
I actually walked into a Bath and Body works and asked them how to get the smell of dead body off of my hands. Awkward..
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I have a habit of asking weird **** to complete strangers.

Once I'm actually in gross lab, I'm SO doing this just for the reaction.
 
I put an air freshener in the locker where I keep my scrubs. I think it's helping. Or maybe all my smell receptors have been burned off by the stench around some of the bodies.
 
After a few months you really do stop caring. You get splashed in the face and it doesn't phase you anymore.

Bring nitrile gloves, a couple junky tshirts, scrub bottoms, junky shoes, and a lab coat and that's all you need. Never wash them. Throw it all away when finished with anatomy.

Your hands will smell no matter what you do to stop it unless you just don't touch anything. Get used to it.
 
Is it possible that your brain overexaggerates the smell of formalin, or that the smell is somehow imprinted and even if you don't have any of the chemical on you, you still have some sensation of it? I remember when I worked at a foot clinic for the homeless and the smell of trenchfoot would stay with me for days even though it was impossible that I was somehow carrying it with me. No one else could smell it but I would get random sensations of it throughout the day. Smell flashbacks or something :laugh:
 
Drogba said:
No one else could smell it but I would get random sensations of it throughout the day.
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With anatomy lab it's sort of the opposite -- you won't even notice it in a few days, but everyone around you will. Just embrace it -- it's the smell of first year. ie the sweet smell of being on the road to your desired profession. Don't try to cover it up. Splash it on like cologne each morning, so everyone you encounter knows from a distance that you are a med student. It's much less pretentious than walking around town in your white coat, but has the same effect. 😀
 
During undergrad when I was only randomly exposed to it I would be out and about and something would kick off that sensation.....either a breeze or something would carry some smell and I swore it would smell just like formalin.

Now, after anatomy, I think you kind of do get used to it to some extent. Our lab room had some sort of decent negative ventilation thing going on in the room so it really wasn't that bad. Only the occasional whiff when opening the bag or if you leaning over trying to look in somewhere specific.
 
Law2Doc said:
With anatomy lab it's sort of the opposite -- you won't even notice it in a few days, but everyone around you will. Just embrace it -- it's the smell of first year. ie the sweet smell of being on the road to your desired profession. Don't try to cover it up. Splash it on like cologne each morning, so everyone you encounter knows from a distance that you are a med student. It's much less pretentious than walking around town in your white coat, but has the same effect. 😀
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Thats all and good, but a whiff of that on my hands when I'm eating... :d
 
Depakote said:
Thats all and good, but a whiff of that on my hands when I'm eating... :d
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Lol yeah the very first day of anatomy lab I had to rush to meet my family for a birthday at a restaurant. I had fish and chips and my hands smelled horrible. I tried putting lemon juice on my fingers but it didn't help much.
 
Drogba said:
Is it possible that your brain overexaggerates the smell of formalin, or that the smell is somehow imprinted and even if you don't have any of the chemical on you, you still have some sensation of it? I remember when I worked at a foot clinic for the homeless and the smell of trenchfoot would stay with me for days even though it was impossible that I was somehow carrying it with me. No one else could smell it but I would get random sensations of it throughout the day. Smell flashbacks or something :laugh:
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I've been wondering about this. I get a whiff of something rank that I encountered many hours and several showers prior.

Do particles get trapped in your nose hairs and mucus before breaking free and finding a receptor days later, or is it an olfactory flashback?
 
ghostfoot said:
I've been wondering about this. I get a whiff of something rank that I encountered many hours and several showers prior.

Do particles get trapped in your nose hairs and mucus before breaking free and finding a receptor days later, or is it an olfactory flashback?
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I think I get flashbacks. I never notice it on my skin, as long as I wash up well after I take off my gloves. I only really notice the smell in lab. I did, however, have 2-3 times when I opened up my Rohan (with all the lovely dissected cadaver pics) and could swear that I smelled the preservatives from lab-but I have NEVER taken my Rohan to lab before.
 
Something that works for smelly hockey glove hands is to cover them with foam shaving cream for a few minutes. I assume this would work after anatomy lab too.
 
bring a surgical mask for bone-cutting days. the last thing you want is to inhale that thick vapor of cadaver dust. ugh.
 
There is a swimmer's shampoo that works great to take the smell off of your skin, hands and hair. Get yourself one of those poof-lathery thingys and use the shampoo as a body wash. It works really well.

If I remember correctly the shampoo is ultraswim but I figure any anti-chlorine shampoo will work just as well.
 
Not many things phase me... but I have to say the smell of cadaveric bone dust was quite sickening.
 
Instatewaiter said:
There is a swimmer's shampoo that works great to take the smell off of your skin, hands and hair. Get yourself one of those poof-lathery thingys and use the shampoo as a body wash. It works really well.

If I remember correctly the shampoo is ultraswim but I figure any anti-chlorine shampoo will work just as well.
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Anti-chlorine shampoo has sodium thiosulfate. The other one I know about is one from Kiehl's, a much more expensive one than Ultraswim.
 
I wouldn't really worry about it until you have to scoop the **** out of your cadaver's colon and abdominal cavity with a plastic spoon.
 
SomeDoc said:
Not many things phase me... but I have to say the smell of cadaveric bone dust was quite sickening.
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The bone saw was my favorite part of anatomy!


Anyway, as for smells, I use tea tree oil shampoo/body wash after lab and Vaseline under my gloves and I am good to go. The tea tree oil stuff is the only thing I have found to work the first time, everytime.
 
SugPlum said:
Anti-chlorine shampoo has sodium thiosulfate. The other one I know about is one from Kiehl's, a much more expensive one than Ultraswim.
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Sn2 reaction, the chlorine replacing the sulfate ion?
 
I dunno about other schools in korea. but... this is what we do. well some of us...






we buy surgical masks, latex gloves.... same as others.

oh some of the girls hate the smell so they put some toilet paper inside the masks and spray them with some rossssy cologne.


and for those weak eyes ppl, literally, watery eyed ppl

we get some swimming goggles. for the protection of our eyes from formalin.


first the profs disproved but... someone previously had an eye surgery so he neeeded the goggles. so... ended up everyone buying goggles for our sessions. lol
 
necrotic brain said:
you sound like one of those wankers that loves to announce it to the rest of the general population that you're a med student and soon gonna be a doctor. couldn't you just have avoided saying 'dead body' ?! 🙄
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yeah, but it's even more fun to say dead body without giving any context... :meanie:

anyway, that soap does work pretty well.
 
I'll second the swimming goggle idea, too bad I didn't think it up when I was an M1. I could not stand being in neuroanatomy lab (the brains were soaked in it) for more than 10 seconds without having my eyes stinging and tears welling. It made studying super hard and I failed the lab exam. 😳

madeyedhl said:
I dunno about other schools in korea. but... this is what we do. well some of us...
and for those weak eyes ppl, literally, watery eyed ppl

we get some swimming goggles. for the protection of our eyes from formalin.


first the profs disproved but... someone previously had an eye surgery so he neeeded the goggles. so... ended up everyone buying goggles for our sessions. lol
Click to expand...
 
A few weeks ago I was eating chicken tenders and fries with my hands and I noticed I still had the faint smell of formalin on my hands. I didn't care though, at that point I was so used to the smell and I was also hungry for some chicken tenders. Ah yes, I think back to the days where I was scared to open up a cadaver's head, and now I'm plunging my arm into the tank to fix a broken pulley or resting my arms on the cadaver to get a better angle and I think nothing of it.
 
I don't spend my day worrying about the smell. I don't adjust my shower or laundry schedule around lab either. In fact, I head on straight to the library after lab to consolidate what I just learned, go home at midnight or later and get some sleep ready for the next day. And then repeat. 😉
 
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