Do you wear gloves

[mellow]

Sorry I have so many questions but you guys are so helpful. I was woundering do you wear gloves most of the time, like when taking blood, giving injections etc. I remeber being in a hospital and one of the nurses put some pill like thing up someones bum with no glove. surely this isn't normal practice. Also do you worry about catching something contagious or have you pricked your self with a needle after it's come in contract with someone else.

Thanks

[CaliNurse]

Originally posted by KarafromPhilly

I try to think carefully about when I put gloves on--e.g. I won't wear them to empty a bedpan full of urine. Yucky, but probably not potentially infectious. I'm nervous about developing a latex allergy, and I don't think multiple unnecessary exposures are a good thing. I WASH MY HANDS and use Eucerin, which is great stuff.

Kara, Do you really think that a bedpan full of urine is not potentially infectious?????

It is highly infectious. We, as health care workers do not know what is in any blood or body fluid unless it is cultured. If there are no active signs or enough active signs the doctor will not culter.

We are at high risk of transmitting and obtaining infectious organism by providing basic ADL care to our patients.

Gloves are NOT 100% effective in stopping the transmission of infections, however it reduces our risk greatly.

Urine is a body fluid. This is Standard Precautions. We use Standard Precautions with everyone including co-workers.

I have heard of a few female nurses who obtained MRSA because they did not wash there hands or did not wash long enough. There organism site was there peri-area. Of course they wiped when they used the restroom and contaminated themselves.

Please wear gloves. You put yourself at risk, you put your family at risk and believe it or not you put your co-workers at risk.

To they others who state they were gloves to give injections. This is not required unless you are in an isolation room. If you are giving an injection your risk is the needle will penetrate your skin if not handled properly. A glove will not stop it from penetrating your skin.

We (health care providers) often transmit infectious organism and create more work for ourselves. When you walk down the hallway and see the isolation carts some of those are created by US, and it is time consuming to put the isolation garb on and off all day long everytime you need to go into the room.

We can really learn from each other. By reading this I can see why it is so difficult for me to get my older nurses to wear gloves. If "back in their day" they were not taught and encourage to wear gloves then it certainly is a case of retraining our minds to think of it.

Cali

[Agnus]

Originally posted by CaliNurse

I have heard of a few female nurses who obtained MRSA because they did not wash there hands or did not wash long enough. There organism site was there peri-area. Of course they wiped when they used the restroom and contaminated themselves.

Please wear gloves. You put yourself at risk, you put your family at risk and believe it or not you put your co-workers at risk.

To they others who state they were gloves to give injections. This is not required unless you are in an isolation room. If you are giving an injection your risk is the needle will penetrate your skin if not handled properly. A glove will not stop it from penetrating your skin.

You said it. I worked in a lab for a while. We always doubled gloved. Changed gloves periodocally througout the day. and washed before leaveing the lab. Then when we went into the rest room we would was agin before using the toilet.

In a lab you keep gloves on constantly. At least nurses get to take them off for periods of time. In the lab you only take them off to change them, and put another back on.

I have sever latex sensitivity. I use non latex gloves. There have been studies done that show that even folks like myself can use latex if they have no powder. I agree with that up to a point (based on personal experience). However if I wear latex all the time I have a problem powder or not. Your employer is required to provide non allergy producing gloves, if you need it.

There is a lot of debate about non latex vs latex. All I can say is for MOST of the reasons we wear golves the arguements don't wash

I used to have a problem with touch sensitivity like many of you. Then I learned that if I just put my golves on over time I have learned that I CAN feel as well as I need to with any gloves. I do venipuncture with gloves on now. I learned the trick to sensitivity is a well fitted glove. Wear the correct size for you. Glove that are too big, reduce touch sensitivity for me.

There are many different types of non latex gloves. Our facility has gone to all non latex. They are using a glove (sorry don't remenber the brand) that has Aloe vera in the glove. EVERYONE who slips them on the first time loves them and loves how their hands feel. Visitors who must glove up comment they like them. (Personallly I don't think they do much for my hands) They do feel very very smooth inside and I have excellent sensitivity with them. They are as streatchy as I need and as thin and flexible as I need. Graned some types don't streatch or flex, some are too thick, weak, etc. These don't seem to degrade like latex and some synthetics. You know like when you pull the glove out of the box and 25 are stuck together, You cant get the glove on because you cant peel them open, or when you put them on they tear as you are doing it or later. We have experiemnted with a lot of golves and found these to be the best. I don't know what they cost. But we are a very bottom line type of facility and if we can cut cost we will.

I used to have some of the same excuses for not wearing golves plus the one that I am allergic. No more.

My husband (not a nurse) washes his hands before going to bath room and is disgusted as to why people do not do this. He feels there is more danger in not washing before than after. I did not teach him this (He's always done it) and he is in no way a compulsive hand washer.

The point of gloves not protecting you from a stick. Yea, I still have the immage from a couple years back of my gloved right hand and a needle stuck in it.

I know back in the early 90's when I was a specimin processor in a lab that there were experiments going on with a chainmail type of glove that was worn under the latex to prevent this. Don't know what ever came of it. You know there are things like Kevlar that mayby might work when dealing with sharps. I wonder what work is going on in this direction.

[nakitamoon]

Wash my hands,,,, wear gloves,,,, wash my hands,,,, wear gloves,,,, wash my hands,,,,,

When I read the title to this thread my first thought was,,,, who wouldn't,,,, plz those of you who don't,,,, take time to put them on,,,,

As shannonRN said,,,, better to be safe than sorry,,,,

~kitamoon

[OBNURSEHEATHER]

Originally posted by Nurse Ratched

My patients fall into two categories - those who have hepatitis, and those I don't know have hepatitis yet...

Ahhh yes..... psych.

Heather

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

I wash my hands over and over, but don't use gloves as often as the new grads I see coming. they glove up to assist the pt walking down the hall. I also notice less handwashing from those with gloves. Personally I don't glove unless I am dealing with blood, snot, or poop. Or bizarre fluids that don't usually make it outside the body. If I don't have any open wounds on my hands there is no portal of entry for "critters" and if I wash my hands religiously the next patient will be protected.

[BBnurse34]

I also wear gloves to start IVs, draw blood, bathe new babies..ect. Some nurses get the idea that because they are babies they don't have coodies.. guess again.

[Alley Cat]

Wearing gloves isn't an option, folks! Yes, for those of us who have been in nursing since way back when, it was a major learning curve. However, since I have ALWAYS been squeamish about bodily fluids, I was glad when it became an expectation--I could finally find a box of gloves when I came on duty without having to go to CS myself to get them! (Yes, that really did happen. I was told repeatedly I was never going to make it as a nurse if I didn't "get over it".) This is one thing that has changed for the better, and I finally was vindicated (along with our illustrious MICU staff who, like me, always gloved from the get-go):chuckle

Another person who had the "don't wear gloves, it'll hurt someone's feelings" syndrome was, of all people, our ostomy specialist! She retired right around the time gloves became an OSHA & JCAHO requirement. Must have been what pushed her over the brink.

[Faby]

Hi. I was just thinking, after reading the posts, it is correct to wear gloves any time that we are in, real or potential,contact with fluids, but do we always wash hands between patients?. Are all of us really aware that washing hands propperly is, not only the basis,but the cheapest way to prevent crossed infections, and that its evectiveness is great? Of course that it has to be supported by the use of gloves, but not always. in example, when administering medication ( not I/V).

[Mkue]

Originally posted by KP RN

I always wear gloves whenever I might be in contact with blood or body fluids.

I remember, back in the early 1980s, getting my a-s reamed at work for wearing gloves when cleaning up a patient's poop. Back then, us nurses were told to NEVER wear gloves when cleaning up someone cause it can hurt their feelings!!

Believe it or not there are still some instructors out there who still think that we should not wear gloves when cleaning up someone's BM.. I wear them

[New CCU RN]

I have to admit that I have seen plenty of other nurses do things that they should have been wearing gloves for, emptying a foley, changing bed linens, doing mouth care, starting IV;s, suctioning, putting pt on bed pan, doing ABG's, wound care, you name it I have seen it. I am only five months out of nsg school. It is disgusting and totally putting yourself at risk for developing a nasty disease. Why not take the extra 20s and glove up. No pt takes insult to it. I have even heard patients say to their nurse, "do you want to put gloves on first". In this day of modern medicine and technology you think we'd all get the basics..... handwashing and donning of gloves. What is the resistance not to? Come on now.... you are all smarter than that!!!!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

OK why would you need gloves to change linens assuming they are not wet with some body fluid? Putting pt on bedpan, the pan is clen, you are in contact with only intact skin, not actually touching their genitalia...? Doing mouth care- with swabs, you don't touch their mouth, getting them to rinse and spit you aren't in contact with the spit? I don't get it.

[Rena RN 2003, RN]

don't know about everywhere else but the facilities i've been in do not have 'clean' bedpans. they may get the clumps rinsed off with water but by no means are they clean.

mouth care i do with gloves simply because of the potential for there to be contact with 'body fluid'. that and i simply find it gross to touch someone elses sputum whether it's 'clean' or not. not all patients are able to rinse and spit on command.

linens.....well, i'm usually bathing at the time so i already have gloves on and keep them on to take the dirty linen off. then remove gloves and apply clean linen.

i can't imagine why someone wouldn't take the precaution to quickly slip on a pair of gloves to do anything that may make that person feel safer. i carry a pocket full of 'em and use them for almost everything.