Are we getting lax about isolation?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I remember when I went to school (in the dark ages, to be sure) we were SOOOO careful about double bagging soiled linen and trash from isolation rooms, about using disposable meal trays with all disposable dishes, about disposing of our used isolation gowns . . .

I just heard a relatively experienced nurse (2 years on our unit) telling a newbie that "If you're taking care of the same patient all day, you can just use the same isolation gown. Just remember how you took it off and where you hung it." This was on a patient with VRE!

I was shocked! I told both nurses that it was extremely sloppy practice -- YOU might remember how you took off the gown, and where you hung it. But what about the next person who foolishly grabs it and uses it? Do we really want VRE all over the walls of the hall outside the patient room? This gal was hanging her soiled gown on the doorknob, so the next person into the room had to touch it in some manner.

As I walked away, I could hear the more experienced nurse telling the newbie, "Never mind about her. Her standards are too high, and she's a ***** anyway."

Is it just me? Are my standards too high? What does anyone else think?

[SmilingBluEyes]

It is NOT just you; this is wrong. That attitude will make someone sick......maybe even kill him/her. that nurse is lax, you are not anal, far as I AM CONCERNED.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

What amazes me is how many incident report the nurses have to write because an MD walks into and out of an isolation room with NOTHING on.

The nurse is definately lax, very dangerous, THIS is how infections spread.

Better to be over protective, the best way to do that: act like EVERYONE'S got it.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

We definately aren't lax on my floor. The docs seem to be getting it too. We have a very proactive infectious disease nurse and our nosicomial infection rate has gone down. This saves lives and dollars. Win/win!

No your standards are the standards of the industry. They aren't too high.

There was a period of time that if we saw somebreak break isolation policy we were to report them, anonymously if necessary. The person would get written up, and threatened with termination. I don't think anyone did this, but the threat of coworkers watching you and holding you accountable made you think twice.

[mattsmom81]

In my facility, we are still quite careful with VRE, TB, meningitis...but I am seeing less care being taken with MRSA and this concerns me greatly.

On another note, I am constantly wiping up blood and body fluids in rooms that are supposedly clean. Our work surfaces are not being kept sanitized regularly either (unless the nurses do it...if we have time) I feel if we could double our housekeeping staff....this alone would reduce nosocomial infections bigtime, IMHO.

One of my coworkers is trying to recover from a very aggressive MRSA infection that went systemic and into her vertebrae in her neck, destroying the bones. Our hospital is denying responsibility, even though our own ID doc says her infection was too aggressive to have been community acquired....

[colleen10]

I do not think your standards are too high and I know for a fact that if my instructor ever caught one of us doing this we would most certainly get an "unsafe". I also think that years down the line if we were co-workers she would call us on it too.

I guess, as a first year student who just assistend a fellow student with a contact precautions patient this weekend, my question is.......

uuuugggghhhhhh, Why would you even want to put the same gown on after it had been used even if you knew it was yours?

There's a reason why they are disposable. And for goodness sakes, if you aren't going to think to protect your other patients you should, at the least, most certainly be thinking of protecting yourself.

[MandyInMS]

Just ask the nurse who called you a ***** if she'd want staff using that same soiled gown entering/exiting her Mom's room..or her childs...betting the answer would be NO.

[renerian, BSN, RN]

YUCK I have never used the same gown twice. renerian

[fcallicoat]

And it only gets more complicated in LTC. In LTC they are residents not patients, and they are in their home so they have the right to ambulate, attend activities etc. And you can't force gowns or masks on them because its a dignitiy issue. About all you can do is issue and eviction notice that no one takes seriously because there is no place for them to go. So you hope that its in a wound that can be descreatly covered and not say pneumonia.