[rnrae]

Yesterday, sitting in the breakroom with 3 other nurses, I was amazed to see 2 of them with dirty nails and hands. I rarely see any nurse washing their hands, in a patients room or in any sink on the floor.

Anyone else notice this?

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

Actually it's far more common for me to see docs going in and out of patient rooms without washing.

[peds_cna]

Everyone I work with is awesome about hand hygiene, thank god! That's nasty!

[rnrae]

You're right about the docs. I should have added them.

[TheCommuter]

I agree with Emmanuel Goldstein. If I received $1 for every single time I've observed a doctor touch a patient's healing surgical incision with his/her bare hands before rounding into the next patient's room without performing any kind of hand-washing, I'd be independently wealthy.

My mother has the hepatitis C virus, and was hospitalized for end-stage liver disease back in 2002. Her physicians would never wear gloves when performing her routine paracentesis (stomach water taps). They'd never wear gloves or wash their hands before or after feeling her surgical incisions. I suppose the deadly HCV virus was not important to them!

[misschelei]

What scares me more than anything is the staff who basically touch everyone in the hopsital like RT's, phlebotomists, and Xray. I can't tell you how many times I've seen them ignore isolation signs, not wear gloves at all or forget to wash their hands.

[namaste_71]

In the hospitals in my town, the RNs are as bad as the docs, CNAs and others who provide hands-on care.

How's this for disgusting:
My best friend was in the hospital after a routine appendectomy, and she was sharing a room with a woman having cancer-related complications. Her roommate was vomiting and had severe diarrhea. When the nurse/CNA came in to clean up the woman, they did not wash their hands--just put on gloves. After helping her roommate, the CNA went directly to my friend--still wearing the gloves she used to clean up the other patient--and attempted to check the incision and IV site.

[DutchgirlRN]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Goldstein

Actually it's far more common for me to see docs going in and out of patient rooms without washing.

And...they go from room to room putting their stethoscopes on the patients without cleaning it between patients and there is foam available at every door jam. Same goes for nurses.

[caliotter3]

For all the good it will do, a discrete note to the Infection Control nurse or the Director of Staff Development or even one of the managers up the chain that it is time to reemphasize handwashing might be in order. I would describe what you saw in the breakroom without mentioning names.

[Elvish]

blech.