My prior reaction to this was- "suck it up and move on".  And then...I
had "crazy cat" woman outpatient come in this week.

 I have had sweet smelling, sick smelling , smoke smelling, alcohol
smelling, non-bath taking-marathon running smelly patients in my room
and managed to carry on with minimal discomfort and maybe a little
residual head ache. BUT I am terribly allergic to cats, I had a terrible
reaction, I got really ill and had to medicate with Benadryl - I could
not breathe! My entire day was ruined! It was over the top. 

I told the doc in no uncertain terms would I subject myself to this
woman again. In the ER you really can't say much, you get them how they
come, but in a planned setting where they know they are coming and we
know they are coming, we should certainly have some control over this.

(And before anyone is offended- NO ONE IS SUGGESTING we are NOT
empathetic to the plight of these patients.) But I don't remember seeing
anything about Old Spice in the books on patient care and handling  :)
Tgif!

-----Original Message-----
From: UVM Flownet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Diana
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 3:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: perfumes

If he asked not to wear ANY the day before AND he came in wearing
double, I suggest he be educated about  how he might cause a serious
allergy reaction for some people.  It is a medical setting not a dance
hall.  

On Oct 19, 2012, at 12:46 PM, "Williams, David M."
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I've just had another patient show up doused in cologne. He is a
repeat offender.  Now, I enjoy the smell of perfumes and colognes as
much as the next person, but WOW!  This was simply overpowering.
Yesterday, the schedulers who make reminder phone calls to our patients
told him not to wear ANY cologne to his appointment.  Of course, he
shows up today completely saturated, so much so that other waiting room
patients moved completely across the room from him.  Privacy be damned,
today, I simply cracked the door open and placed a small fan there as an
exhaust.  But seriously, short of offending this nice gentleman, what
else can be done?  Refuse to perform the exam?  Tell him to go to the
restroom and scrub?  Wet gangrene I can deal with, perfumes...not so
much.
> 
> David M. Williams, MS, RDCS, RVT
> SC Cardiovascular Surgery
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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