Scrub-nicking

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Here's an interesting wee tidbit for you guys. (I think scrub-nicking was alluded to at least once on the board in the past few months.)

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

 

 

Hospitals get tough on scrubs poachers

Last Updated Thu, 29 Jan 2004 18:31:58

 

EDMONTON - Canadian hospitals hope to save thousands of health-care dollars by stopping people from poaching their popular scrubs.

 

Doctors and nurses wear the unflattering outfits, also called greens, when they walk hospital hallways. The problem is, the wardrobe is walking out the door. Medical staff are sometimes short of greens or they didn't have the proper size.

 

It all started when popular TV dramas like ER turned scrubs into a fashion statement. Scrubs are cool and comfortable, but the poaching is expensive.

 

Compared to serious health-care issues like too few nurses, lengthy waiting lists and the rising costs of new drugs and treatments, hospitals can act on scrub poaching.

 

In Edmonton's Capital Health Region, vanishing scrubs cost $25,000 a year. It has appealed to the conscience of scrub poachers by declaring a general amnesty.

 

"It is a hot issue for the public and it's something we can do something about," said Wendy Hill of the Edmonton Health Authority.

 

Recycling containers were placed in key areas around the city in the hopes poachers will return their ill-gotten gains.

 

But few people are rushing to return their stolen scrubs, forcing cities to get creative in their cost-cutting.

 

Edmonton uses $80,000 vending machines that record how many sets of scrubs each employee has taken and how many come back.

 

In Halifax, $30,000 worth of bar codes are attached to all of the scrubs in the system. "The last person that scans out would be the person who is responsible for them to be returned," said Carolyn Brown of QEII Health Sciences Centre.

 

In Fredricton, the theft is a crime. Any unauthorized person seen in greens will be prosecuted. At $30 per set of greens, hospitals are apologizing for getting tough on scrub poaching.

[Guest turtle]

25,000$ a year in one city alone...that's crazy!

[Guest 007]

Here in Kingston, there was a notice in the paper a while back asking everyone who had KGH scrubs to return them and informing the public that as of X date, it would be illegal to wear KGH scrubs in Kingston if you weren't a hospital employee. I think there is a fine if you're caught with them.

[Guest QM6]

That's right, people are seeing red over missing greens here in Kingston. This was a critical issue last summer when surgeries started getting delayed and cancelled 'cause there wasn't enough scrubs for the staff (you can follow the news on our class message board). The hospital launched a pretty well-done campaign called "The Naked Truth" (here's one of their posters), and in the end the hospital got a fair amount of scrubs back, and losses have since gone down tremendously.