best way for a nurse to manage cuts on her fingers?

[RNexplorer]

I know this is going to sound stupid.. but I have a really bad cut on the edge of my right index finger. How do I promote asepsis with patients and avoid contaminating my wound?

I've been putting several bandaids on it, but they do become loose over time. So I just reapply a million bandaids over the course of a shift... I'm worried that the bandaid could harbor bacteria.. even though I am cleaning it with alcohol hand sanitizer when I sanitize my hands. I'm also worried that if I remove the bandaid, I could get something into my wound... but the bandaid look is just awful.. and I'm getting a lot of looks from other professionals...

Any suggestions out there on how a nurse should manage a cut on her finger??

[Farawyn]

Go to Employee Health and see what they tell you. They may put you out if it's a deep enough cut. I once had a bad rope burn on my hand and I had a massive dressing on it. The night shift supervisor had no problem with it, after all, I was a working body.

A few years later when I was working in Employee Health I saw that the policy was to put nurses (and others working in patient care) out if they couldn't properly wash their hands.

[firstinfamily, RN]

Check with Occupational Health, I personally would have put a steri strip on it and cover it with a moleskin, that would adhere to it well, and then place a bandaid. Even though it will not stay on with all the hand washing, it would help to protect the moleskin. Have you tried what used to be known as a finger cot----this is a single vinyl finger cover, like a pair of gloves, only for a single finger. This way you could leave it on and put gloves over it etc. Sorry, this is a hard one, you have to wash your hands, and protect your cut at the same time.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

What about skin glue? People in my OR who must scrub with cuts on their hands (relatively minor, no suturing allowed) take advantage of the stock of Dermabond. Has to have time to "set", and may wash off with multiple hand washings in a short amount of time, but would be better than a bandaid. There's an over the counter brand, Liquid Bandaid, that would be another option, but it's nowhere near as high quality as Dermabond or other similar surgical grade skin glues.

[sissiesmama, ASN, RN]

My "go to" fix for hand lacs is Dermabond.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Without knowing how deep the cut is, my go-to is Neosporin + complete bandaid coverage during the day. Air @ night.

Works like a charm.

[TeflonNurse]

I've seen a nurse use a small tegaderm over a cut. Getting cuts sucks. This happened to me just the other night, I'll try something like the derma bond next time.

[Wile E Coyote, ASN, RN]

I do many diy projects, outdoor activities and the like that leave me with cuts/broken skin on my hands often. I use Nu-skin (like the aforementioned Liquid Bandaid) covered by a Tegaderm and/or a finger cot. I wash with soap and water, as alcohol quickly degrades the Nu-skin. I expect to need to redress this more than once per shift.

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

Ugh, not fun. After a lapse in common sense this summer that resulted in 3 stitches, I had the same concerns as you.

What worked for me was wearing a glove for any patient related task (including casual contacts that typically would not dictate glove wearing). I also double gloved on that hand for any tasks that I typically would be changing gloves or had a reasonable risk of contamination - that way I could take off the top glove and still be gloved (to protect both my patient and myself).

I also kept a whole bunch of bandaids and neosporin in my pocket (I made several trips to the dollar store to purchase multiple boxes of bandaids) so I could perform bandage changes PRN ie every time I washed my hands.

Wasn't a particularly fun couple of weeks, but it worked:)

[danceyrun]

Tegaderm!

[vanilla bean]

I like to use Tegaderm too, but if the cut is in a weird spot where I can't get a good seal, I cut the fingertip off of a glove that will fit snugly over the affected area and then wrap Tegaderm around the edge of the glove. I can continue to wash my hands and/or use hand sanitizer, and I replace the whole set-up if the glove portion tears or starts to leak under the Tegaderm.

[strawberryfields]

I type this as I have 5 cuts on my fingers from this work week. The cold weather is not forgiving and hand sanitizer is like an instant paper cut finder. I feel your pain, girl!