Should health care workers wear perfume?

[Imnotfeelingwell]

NC as potentially outing
The title says it all.
ive had several stays in hospital this past year and the number of health care workers who wear incredibly powerful perfume is so high. The last person to visit took my obs about 20 mins ago and her perfume which smells awful to me is still lingering.
if you are an ill patient wrestling nausea the last thing you need is to be enveloped with a fugue of chemicals. I don’t suffer from asthma or allergies etc but I can’t imagine it’s much fun for people who do.
I have had remarkable care from these workers and am in awe of the work they do. My complaint is purely about fragrance.
AIBU - they should be able to wear fragrance
AINBU - they should not be allowed to wear fragrance.

I hate really strong smells too, and can imagine when you're really unwell it's much worse. Hope you feel better soon OP and can back in the fresh air.

It's possibly to hide the fact they've just been outside smoking on their break. They know some patients prefer the perfume to stale cigarette smoke.

It may be unpleasant but I don't think you can ban healthcare workers from wearing perfume.

Some perfumes are so strong and give me a headache especially on the tube.

When we were student nurses we were not allowed to wear perfume on wards!

I wish this was the case now!

I’m wondering if I could reduce the anti nausea drugs if the staff laid off the perfume .

I felt sick from a doctor who obviously wasn’t wearing deodrant, and him flapping his arms around in short sleeved scrubs was awful.

How long ago was that? I trained in the 80's (the time of very heavy perfumes) and there were no rules about perfume. I can imagine I left a trail behind me 😳I worked with girls who used to respray in breaks, because they were worried about smelling sweaty, when close to patients.
That said, YANBU OP. Though it's a good job I've retired, as I wear perfume, even if I'm on my own in the house - and have done every day since the 80's. It's automatic, like putting knickers on.

Same in the 90’s. Plain deodorant no strong perfume.

I'm the pretty certain the NHS expenditure on Patients being prescribed antiemetics because of ward staff wearing perfume is next to zero.

@FarmGirl78 - I don't think that's OP's key argument, to be fair...

It’s probably better than them smelling of sweat after a long, physical shift of running round helping patients. I work around some pretty bad smells sometimes so always make sure I smell nice to mask it a bit. If I start struggling I purposely try to smell myself rather then what’s in front of me.

YANBU - As a patient, I have received explicit instructions NOT to wear perfume to medical appoints as it may upset other patients.

Given this, doctors and nurses shouldn't wear it either.

I’m with you op! I’m a nurse but most of my patients have sensory issues and can become completely overwhelmed by strong scents. The amount of support workers that just don’t get it!

My opinion is that hospital staff shouldn't wear perfume. I also think that hospitals should let in a lot more fresh air than they do, but then I sleep with my bedroom windows open even in winter.

Personally if I know I'm going to be working with someone who is likely to be sensitive to smell I'll avoid perfume (I think for work freshly washed clothes is the way forward)

Perfume does not cover up the smell of cigarettes at all, it just adds to the odour. And likewise with the minty breath. Minty, perfumy cigarette smoker I smell you coming!

I know my thoughts on this are unpopular though

I'm a nurse and never wear perfume for this very reason...I don't want to make my patients feel worse than they already do!

In my Trust it's part of the uniform policy not to wear perfume. Having said that, I can imagine that ward nurses or HCAs on a long shift turning patients etc might get anxious that they smell sweaty and overcompensate with a spray of something in the changing room! It'd be reasonable for you to give feedback, so staff can be reminded.

I’d prefer it. We see a lot of healthcare professionals at home and I’d infinitely rather perfume than the strong smell of smoke many bring into the house.

God there's one perfume in particular that's fairly popular and it literally makes me feel sick. It's so overpowering. You can smell people from miles away. It's like chemical warfare 🤢
I'd HATE it if i was in hospital and my nurse had that on.

Same and I still don't 25 years down the line !

Of curse you can. Many people are allergic to fragrance or have sensitivities to it in one way or another - either it can grind on health issues such as migraines, or can trigger asthma attacks or as the OP has says can just make them feel more unwell because they are struggling with something like nausea. People should ba able to access healthcare without fear that it will make them ill/more ill.

There's absolutely no need for a healthcare worker to be wearing perfume and of course it should be banned in healthcare settings.

Absolutely not. Especially midwives and people on Labour wards 🤷🏼‍♀️ but we’re going through a pandemic and infection control for respiratory diseases is still so shit that even people on chemo wards and in NICU aren’t t
aking precautions , so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I work in healthcare and have been exposed to some pretty horrendous smells from patients. Many, many smells significantly worse than an overpowering perfume that's not to your taste. I have seen healthcare workers literally gagging, trying not to vomit from some smells. I've had go excuse myself from a room/house on more than 1 occasion to take a break from the smell.

If a spray of perfume could help alleviate the smell of rotting flesh mixed with infected leg ulcers and week old faeces then I think they should be perfectly entitled to do that.

I've just spent 5 days in hospital for something that caused nausea and appalling headaches among other things, and the whole way through I didn't have a single nurse, member of ward staff, consultant, anaesthetist, technician or porter who was wearing perfume, aftershave or any other strong scented products. I was umming and aahing about whether or not to mention it specifically in a thank you letter to the hospital but now I definitely will 😁

I've had to have my prescriptions sent to a different pharmacy as the one in my village now has a man working there who wears the most overpowering aftershave. It's actually vile and makes me feel seriously poorly if I have to be in there for a while.

I pity his poor colleagues.

We were always discouraged from strong smelling perfumes/ aftershave at work…doesn’t stop you wearing anti perspirant. I would certainly have mentioned it to students if they were wearing something over powering. Unfortunately post Covid maybe a few staff can’t smell properly anymore!