No gloves ever?!?

Nurses Safety

Published

So I'm in my last rotation of nursing school and I followed a nurse in CVICU today. Well from the getgo he mentioned he's "old school" and that's fine with me. In fact I get excited when I hear that as I figure I'll learn a lot. Well... While this nurse let me do almost everything and I completely appreciate that experience, he didn't wear a pair of gloves the whole day. I watched him do peg meds, draw blood, suction, and clean a diarrhea bottom (touching testicles and all) WITHOUT gloves. I got excited at one point cause he pulled a pair of gloves out BUT THEN he handed them to me, none for him. In fact, when cleaning the poop he said "yeah, I know im being naughty." So, I thought that if he doesn't use gloves then he must scrub his hands. Nope, 5 second rinse, no lather...that's it. I was shocked....

Needless to say...didn't shake his hand at the end of the day.

Specializes in MICU/SICU.
i wouldn't tell on the guy unless you're going to do the same when you see doctors and the higher ups do it also. then you'll see why it really doesn't matter, b/c nothing will be done to the docs and higher ups, but the nurse will get grief for it.

Saying nothing and/or doing nothing about situations you know are wrong just because "nothing will be done" is a great way to make sure nothing changes.

Well, lets not get into the habit of becoming a spy nurse. Just let it be, obviously he's worked there for ages, and if his unit never bothered, then I suggest you just let it alone.

Specializes in CEN, CPEN, RN-BC.

omg i just vomited...

Gloves are for the patient's protection from us.. yeah right

If it were feasible, I would don full PPE for every patient that walked in through the ER waiting room door

Obviously, all I can say anything to is my instructor and I'm sure that's as far as it will go as we are "guests" in this hospital. However, this nurse was in trouble for something recently and I didn't hear the full story but I'm sure with what I witnessed today it was because he felt above having to do something.

As for PPE they go both ways. I've been on both ends...a patient and a care provider. Ive seen a doctor suction someones ear and walk across the hall to me without washing his hands. Damn right I asked him to wash them before he touched me. I would hope that if I ever am incapacitated one day that there's someone out there watching out for care providers like this. It's disgusting and unsafe to BOTH parties.

That's not just naughty that's nasty

Specializes in Medicine.

His naughty comment was....gross.

I have latex allergies and sometimes we run out of non-latex gloves!! it drives me nuts not to have them available. I started bringing my own and leaving them in my locker. I can't do anything involving bodily fluids without gloves on. No way. Then I still wash my hands in between patients.

Saying nothing and/or doing nothing about situations you know are wrong just because "nothing will be done" is a great way to make sure nothing changes.

I agree. This fella is not only endangering the patients by spreading germs to everything he touches, he's endangering his coworkers as well. I can just imagine him picking up the phone or using the computer after he's been cleaning up that poo and washed for 5 seconds... not safe practice, it's just negligence.:twocents:

Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

He is an ignorant idiot and he is not following standard precautions. I would immediately report him to his supervisor. In your case I would not hesitate to report him to the infection control nurse and called my instructor over and asked for a different nurse.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Ambulatory Care.

If he is "old school" he better have been trained before 1870 when germ theory was validated.

In 1843, Holmes published "The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever" in the short-lived publication New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery. The essay argued—contrary to popular belief at the time, which predated germ theory of disease—that the cause of puerperal fever, a deadly infection contracted by women during or shortly after childbirth, stems from patient to patient contact via their physicians.[59] Holmes gathered a large collection of evidence for this theory, including stories of doctors who had become ill and died after performing autopsies on patients who had likewise been infected.[60].... A few years later, Ignaz Semmelweis would reach similar conclusions in Vienna, where his introduction of prophylaxis (handwashing in chlorine solution before assisting at delivery) would considerably lower the puerperal mortality rate. From Wikipedia

If he wants to put his own life at risk by not wearing glove that is his choice but not wearing gloves and not washing his hands put EVERYONE who comes in contact with him at risk.

If he had the presence of mind to offer you a pair of gloves, then he could have put on a pair of them himself. So he is capable of breaking this bad habit. Too bad his supervisors probably won't make the effort to see that he does.

Specializes in Psychiatry, corrections, long-term care..

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but I was taught in my CNA course that touching a patient during peri-care without gloves can be classified as sexual abuse. Without a barrier between your skin and the patient's, there is too much intimate contact going on and that's definitely not okay. Was the patient A&O3 or not? If this patient was aware the nurse wasn't wearing gloves, I'm sure he's quite disturbed too.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
yuck - i am 'old school' too, but even 30+ years ago we wore gloves to clean dirty bottoms. not much else, but stool is yuckeeeee!

someone needs to mention this to his boss.

tell your instructor.

best wishes!

thirty years ago, we didn't use gloves to wash dirty bottoms. i didn't think anything of it at the time. of course, i'd grown up on a farm and cleaning the barn was one of my jobs . . . .

manure is relatively clean compared to some of the stuff we see . . . .

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