Tolerance not Ignorance.

[New2CVICU]

I walked to the front of the unit this morning and saw another nurse drawing blood without wearing gloves and just shook my head... again. I reached the front desk in time to see the secretary finish a phone call and hang up. She proceeded to tell me that the lab had just called asking for the name of the nurse who refused to draw stat labs on an HIV + patient saying she had no sympathy for people who go out and gets AIDS. This was the same nurse I saw drawing the blood without gloves.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

She needs to be written up, counseled, or better yet fired. Does she/he feel the same way about obese patients, alchololics, cardiac patients?

[nekhismom]

WOW. Maybe she needs a class on universal or standard precautions (can't remember what the correct term is now-a-days). And some sensitivity training. I was taught to treat EVERYONE as HIV +. I can't imagine not protecting myself.

That being said, I know a lot of nurses who don't wear gloves for IV sticks or blood draws. It scares me.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

Someone needs to tell her that gloves won't protect her from a needle stick injury. Gloves are only as good as the technique of the person taking blood, and she could still get a blood-borne infection even while wearing gloves, as a needle will easily puncture a glove. Nurses get very complacent about gloves and think they protect them from everything. However, she shouldn't be in nursing if she doesn't want to "catch anything". There's all sorts of horrible things waiting to infect her....necrotizing fasciitis, hepatitis and all sorts of cocci. It's more her attitude than anything else that disturbs me.

[chris_at_lucas_RN, RN]

this girl isn't ignorant! she's stupid, and mean, and dangerous.

i'm with 3rdshiftguy--

:angryfire fire her! :angryfire

i'm pretty tolerant, until someone takes unnecessary and obvious risks, and/or purposely hurts somebody else.

besides, apparently it's not ok for her to draw the hiv positive patient, but it's ok with her if you do?????

puhleeze!

[TinyNurse, RN]

as a new grad 7 months out i say OMG, gloves on all, even in ER when I start lines on kids; wow. xoxo Jen

[Rapheal]

At the hospital where I work- this is grounds for dismissal.

[SmilingBluEyes]

unbelievable. no more words than that.

[Katnip, RN]

She does know that gloves aren't going to help her if she sticks herself?

She does know that the person she does draw blood from could very well have undiagnosed HIV or Hepatitis?

We are not allowed to refuse to care for a patient based on the diagnosis. Sounds like she does need some reeducation. I know we all have our dislikes, but it's no excuse. If I refused to work on patients I don't like to work with for one reason or another, I'd rarely have patients. :chuckle