Double gloving

[all_dressed_in_white]

Hi, I guess im after opinions and experience here, anything to help guide my decision making.

Im still at uni studying to become a RN (in Australia), but I'm working with a home care organisation while I study. The home care organisation is wanting us to double glove when dealing with bodily fluids, but then they simply remove the top glove and leave the bottom one there. When I worked in aged care facilities we sometimes double gloved when dealing with extreem amounts of extretions, but then we always threw out both gloves at the same time. From uni, I've got the impression that if you want to double up then you can, but they need to come off at the same time and you need to wash your hands before putting new ones on.

Which ever way you do it, getting blood on your hands really does complicate the process of showering/dressing someone who say, has their period. In one instance, its a two person job and so we deligate to have 2 clean hands and 2 dirty hands.. but we only really do that because im hesitant to do the double gloving thing.

I just dont want to develop bad habits now that I'll have to change when I get into more advanced nursing.

So, what do you do? what are your hospital policies?

Cheers.

[catlynLPN]

I frequently double glove, when I'm going to be in a quite messy situation.

My facility has no policy for or against it. I just do it when I feel I need to.

[Atheos]

I have double gloved but remove both gloves and wash hands after each use. It may just be me. I have this thing about being clean.... Overly clean or OCD? Who knows? :chuckle

[all_dressed_in_white]

No, No.. i agree. good to be clean. those gloves break.. and no one wants poo on their hands. i think i certain degree of ocd is necessary for nursing.. maybe its more like occupational compulsive disorder for us though. :)

[AprilRNhere]

I double glove and pull off the top layer when needed....BUT ONLY in the middle of the same task.

exp...cleaning up a code brown...and I know it'll be messy. I double glove and pull off the top one halfway through it, BUT- change gloves completely before putting on new/clean brief. It just saves me when I'm VERY messy.

So..the 2 pairs act like one....I don't- nor would I count this as changing gloves from dirty to clean enviroment.

[kukukajoo, LPN]

I just logged on to research double gloving in the OR. I swear I read it is a new standard but can't seem to find any information other than this link that states that the Amreican College of Surgeons recommends it for the OR:

http://www.facs.org/fellows_info/statements/st-58.html

I have emailed Medline as they were at the AORN Congress and they have a 'glove team' and I will let you all know what I find out.

If anyone has any info as to this being a recommended practice I would appreciate the input.

[TazziRN, RN]

I w ould double glove when putting in Foleys. I put on a pair of nonsterile ones, set up my field and then put on the sterile ones. Put the Foley in, get my sample, clean the pt up, and remove the sterile ones. The specimen container often has Betadine and sometimes urine on it, so the nonsterile ones I put on first protect me with that. Put the speciment container in a collection bag that someone is holding open for me, remove those gloves, and wash my hands.

I rarely double gloved for anything else, but when I did, it was so I would have a clean pair of gloves still on when I removed the soiled ones in the middle of a messy task.

[MikeyJ, RN]

I'm with Tazzi on this one -- I usually double glove when doing a sterile procedure. I put the non-sterile on and setup whatever I need to setup and then put the sterile on and do the procedure. Therefore if my hands get messed up while doing the procedure, I can pull off the sterile and I still have the clean ones on underneath.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

It's murder trying to put on new gloves when your hands are damp from sweat or having just washed. Double gloving would solve that problem.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

There is no current recommendation to double glove for routine nursing care. Do it when it meets your needs. I also double glove when working with HIV+ pts and hepC+pts,b/c if you sustain a needle puncture the extra glove will clean the needle better than just one glove. There are also some OR recommendations about double gloving and there are some special OR gloves.

[Scrubby]

We are encouraged to double glove when we scrub. ACORN (australian college of operating room nurses) recommends this in the standards. I double glove for every procedure i scrub for because you never know what disease a patient has and given the amount of sharps that i have to handle i don't take any chances.

As iluvivt said the theory is that the outer glove will wipe of most of the debris if there is a needlestick. Another reason why we double glove is that if there is a perforation in the outer glove then the inner glove will provide protection. You can also detect a perforation is the gloves you wear underneath are a different colour.

[woknblues]

*snip*

As iluvivt said the theory is that the outer glove will wipe of most of the debris if there is a needlestick. Another reason why we double glove is that if there is a perforation in the outer glove then the inner glove will provide protection. You can also detect a perforation is the gloves you wear underneath are a different colour.

How often would you say this happens out of curiosity?