Do you actually wear gloves/gowns/masks ?

mamamerlee, LPN · Oct 19, 2009

It's the ones you DON'T know about that become problematic.

The guy w/lung cancer and a cough? Turned out he also had TB! We were in that room constantly for 2 weeks before he died. :eek: Everyone on the floor, lab personnel, Radiology, etc had to be tested.

Many nursing home pts now carry MRSA -are they all isolated? I think not.

My brother got MRSA in his surgical wound, apparently while still in the hospital - who do we contact about this?

(He has since died, so this is not going to be pursued).

I have seen WAY too many docs not don the equipment, and NOT clean off their own stethoscope after being in an iso room. They didn't want to use the cheapo, throwaway 'scope that was at the bedside.

Last month, I had a cardiac cath, and one of the docs listened to my femoral artery post-cath, the next day. I reminded him to wash off his 'scope after it was in my groin - I should have made him do it BEFORE AND AFTER.

Please remember to WASH WASH WASH, and to try to avoid touching your face.

wooh, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2009

Well for one, I'm not "scared" anymore. There's germs in the hallways too, and I'm not walking in wearing a giant yellow CDC suit with it's own air supply.:) I use common sense, where's the actual infection at, etc. When I'm assessing, and I'm going to be all over the patient, then yeah, full garb. But the running in and out over and over again, where all I'm touching is the IV pump, no I'm not going to gown up. There's simply not time in the day for that. And if they're on droplet precautions, I may not even mask for a quick in and out where I'm not going to get sneezed and coughed on because I'm not going within 3 feet of the patient just to drop off a cup of ice.

retiredlady · Oct 19, 2009

Get in the habit of using all the necessary gear and it will become the norm for you. Always wash hands and use gloves (universal precautions). I knew of a little old lady who was HIV positive.

Otessa, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2009

I am a second-semester nursing student, and just finished my first clinical rotation at a local hopsital. I know that nursing school is different from the real world, and that working nurses will do things differently from what we were taught in school. But I am just wondering if you guys actually use your gloves/gowns/masks when a patient is on special precautions. At the hospital where I was assigned, I had patients with VRE, MRSA and C-diff. All of them were on contact precuations and one also had droplet precautions. NONE of the nurses caring for these patients wore anything besides gloves. My friends that were assigned to a different hospital said that they encountered the same thing, except that alot of the nurses there didn't even wear gloves. Is this pretty common in the real world? I know that Medicaid and/or Medicare has decided that they will no longer reimburse for treatment of hospital-acquired infections, so it seems like everybody would really be using their PPE. I personally have two small children and the last thing I need is to expose them to any of this stuff, so I used the gowns and masks. Do you just quit being afraid after awhile, or are there just alot of careless nurses where I live? Please don't flame me, I'm just asking for an honest answer.
Thanks!

to answer your question "YES" and "Heck Yes!"

I am protecting myself, co-workers, other patients, visitors, and my family when I wear the correct gear for the correct precautions.

worth the extra minutes to protect myself and those I love.

otessa

allnurses Guide · Oct 19, 2009

People are lazy, and hospitals don't supply enough PPE. Saying "the doctor's don't do it, so I won't" is just lazy and unacceptable. Contact precautions means gown and gloves EVERY TIME you contact EITHER the patient or their environment. The number of times I watch people go in ungowned/gloved "just to tell the patient something" and you watch them lean on the bed, pick up a pen, hand the pt the tissues etc...

If you don't adequately use PPE, you ARE the problem.

PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2009

in my state, the hot water temp for residential use is too low to be of any use....and in all likelyhood would not ammount to much dif. sunlight may be more helpful.....and do you have washable shoes or do you leave them at work?

Washable clogs..the one with no holes in the front...

I remember the times I had patients with nec fasciitis of unk origin, and a lady from Guatemala with worms in her lungs...so many things....

yuck.

RheatherN, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Oct 19, 2009

No. u asked us to be honest. Now if i am going to just walk in NOT touch anything and ask the pt something, no i wont. if i am taking them a couple cups of ice and setting it on their table, no i wont, because i am not touching anything. But, if i am going to be touching, or think i may, of course. if i am doing an IV pump, sure, i will put on gloves, esp if the pt is sleeping and i am not going to turn on lights and i have a clear path to the pump, it seems a waste to me to do that.

There was ONE darn time though that i got "caught" shall we say. And man was i ticked off. our IC chicka was walking and doing her listening for handwashing and such, i was standing outside of the MRSA rm (as others said- just was dx with this mrsa, thought he was there for 2 mnths!!!) and his daughter was talking to me, she had some rather personal fiancial ?'s for me and i had stepped in the door to talk to her, and this lady waited for me, NOT so patiently outside the door and pretty much reamed me out. when i told her i wasnt even a foot into the door, not touching anything and not planning on touching anything, she asked me- "what would you do if he asked you to get him something or asked for help?" i replied- well, i would put a gown on.. DUH. (well, i didnt say DUH:) ) man i was annoyed!!

but anyhow, i do understandshe was doing her job, but.. she needs to see our side too. and as another person said- Negative yet. but i am sure that we would all test post anyhow at some point for the simple fact that these ppl dont get tested until we are in the room for HOW long until they actually test???

-H-RN

SteffersRN87, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2009

If the patient is in contact precautions, you must wear a GOWN and GLOVES (no exceptions)! What docs do is there business, and I do correct them without hesitation. Just FYI, I had a co-worker that was fired when an infection control RN caught her giving a cup of pills to a patient without a gown on... People are watching!

dscrn · Oct 19, 2009

This is off topic, but not sure where else to ? Everything is gearing up for H!N!, vaccines, closing schools, etc. What is the best method of sanitizing the home, post infection? I am pretty certain that my son had the virus last week. I have been spraying lysol on soft surfaces, washing clothes in hot water, and throwing a few Lysol/Clorox wipes in with the wash. Bleach with whites. Airing/sunshine ...any other suggestions? Of course, frequent handwashing, wiping hard surfaces down with anti bacterial spray...

soulofme · Oct 19, 2009

My motto is "no gloven no loven"....Wear your PPE! :smokin:

Nepenthe Sea · Oct 20, 2009

Unfortunately, no, most of the time the nurses were not just walking in to check something. In fact, the first time I met my MRSA+ patient the nurses were in there giving him a bath, no gown or mask (he was also on droplet precautions because he had pneumonia). If I was just stepping in to check something I might not put on all that stuff, too. I can see that.

This is the same place that had a patient with C-diff that didn't have any precautions posted on his door or in his room. He wasn't my patient so i didn't know. I went in his room several times to help him out and when I was about to give him a bath, he mentioned that he had C-diff. When I asked his nurse about it, she said he had just been admitted the day before and they hadn't "had time" to post the signs up. I did wear gloves, but...

Nepenthe Sea · Oct 20, 2009

Oh, and to be fair to the facility, I did wonder if it might be due to budget cuts. When we were there they kept having to get more gowns and I would hear them explaining why they needed more, as if somebody might be getting on to them for having the nerve to ask for more supplies.

I'm with the person who said they wouldn't work someplace where they couldn't get the PPE they need. My mom worked years ago at a hospital, cleaning roooms, and she quit when they refused to buy more gloves when they ran out!