Eeeeeewwwww!

Published

My daughter came home from clinicals today and said "I realize that nursing home rules are different from hospital rules, but aren't you still supposed to change gloves in between patients?"

She saw a CNA go from cleaning one incontinent male to cleaning an incontinent female without changing gloves. I asked her if she was sure about that, and she said the CNA was the one she was assigned to follow today.

Ick! I wonder what the rate of nosocomial infections is at that place?

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Specializes in NICU.

Oh man do I believe that. I have seen things like that. Luckily most of the nurses I see do use the hand sanitizer at each patient's door. I have been a patient many times throughout my life and guess I just took it for granted that hands were washed, etc, etc, but now being on the nursing side (or nursing student side at the moment) it makes me really not want to ever be a patient. YICK!

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Oh that's just wrong! yes I wonder what the UTI rate is there!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.

i, too, saw this when i was a nursing assistant.

too new to be assertive and say something, i just cringed.

though she was not orienting me, she did have senority, and though i knew it was wrong, i did't speak up.

yuck.

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Specializes in disability.

it is also a infection quality brake down Would you like to shake their hands Just dont ask the person to bake the cake for morning tea

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Where I work it is rare that the PSW's even put on gloves, and mangment discourages the use of gloves.

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That is just insane. The UTIs must be through the roof.

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yuck.

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You need to educate this person. Gently and courteously but do it. Just say, "Oh, wait, you don't want to carry stool from pt. A to pt. B. Throw those dirty ones away and wash your hands. And here are some new gloves." And just hand them to her while blocking the door so she can't leave the first patient's room. She'll be too shocked to protest.

If you don't feel comfortable doing it, report it anonymously to someone in power. Name names but not dates. Whoever you report it to doesn't have to know it's you. It can be JCAHO, CMS, your state licensing board, or the facility administrator or DON. Or all of them. Or the facility's lawyer.

Be brave. Learn now to advocate for your patients. Be smart. Do it in a way that doesn't come back to bite you. You're in a fairly powerless position at present, I think.

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You need to educate this person. Gently and courteously but do it. Just say, "Oh, wait, you don't want to carry stool from pt. A to pt. B. Throw those dirty ones away and wash your hands. And here are some new gloves." And just hand them to her while blocking the door so she can't leave the first patient's room. She'll be too shocked to protest.

If you don't feel comfortable doing it, report it anonymously to someone in power. Name names but not dates. Whoever you report it to doesn't have to know it's you. It can be JCAHO, CMS, your state licensing board, or the facility administrator or DON. Or all of them. Or the facility's lawyer.

Be brave. Learn now to advocate for your patients. Be smart. Do it in a way that doesn't come back to bite you. You're in a fairly powerless position at present, I think.

I am not in the same town as this nursing home. My daughter is just a student. She can't do any more than speak to her instructor, which she did.

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When a patient comes from a nursing home, we automaticlly place them on contact isolation. This is probably one of the reasons why.

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Where I work it is rare that the PSW's even put on gloves, and mangment discourages the use of gloves.

What kind of facility do you work and and WHY would they discourage the use of gloves??

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