Boxes of Gloves

[Pprwrk]

After a patient is transferred out of a room (I work in ICU), do the boxes of gloves get tossed as part of the room cleaning??

[roser13, ASN, RN]

What is your facility's policy on terminal cleaning?

[Pprwrk]

I do not know off hand, but this is not just for terminal cleaning, this is all patients being transferred out of their ICU room. Presently, all equipment in the bedside supply cart gets tossed (syringes, flushes, dressings, IV start kits, EVERYTHING. Oddly enough, I do not see anyone tossing the glove boxes.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

We have no way of knowing what your facility policies direct you to do.

[loriangel14, RN]

We don't toss them .

[Pprwrk]

Policy can be changed if not appropriate or evidence based. My policy is not what I am questioning here. I am questioning the practice.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Well, if there's one place in the hospital where supplies are likely to be contaminated, it's the OR. We keep supplies in the room cabinets and definitely don't throw them out after each case. Glove boxes are used until they're empty. Even the supplies that aren't in cabinets (extras that were picked but didn't get used) that sat on a bin on top of the instrument cart don't get tossed. The only time we throw away unused supplies is if there are actual body fluids on them.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

There is research that shows bacterial contamination of gloves in open boxes, the gloves are at risk of contamination anytime a healthcare worker doesn't wash their hands before reaching in the box.

[Oh'Ello, BSN, RN]

We really only throw everything away if the patient was on contact precautions. Otherwise the stuff stays in the cart, gloves included. I always found this interesting though. If we're transferring a patient on contact precautions... why not just send the "contaminated" stuff with them, instead of sending them to another room where they will again throw everything away.

I guess this is why my last health care encounter cost $300k+

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

No, my hospital doesn't dispose of the glove boxes usually. Perhaps they do for contact rooms, that I don't know.

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

I do not know off hand, but this is not just for terminal cleaning, this is all patients being transferred out of their ICU room. Presently, all equipment in the bedside supply cart gets tossed (syringes, flushes, dressings, IV start kits, EVERYTHING. Oddly enough, I do not see anyone tossing the glove boxes.

I've never worked anywhere where the gloves get tossed (if just standard precautions), but that's not saying that it's right:cheeky:

xo

[Ladyscrubs]

Might be a bit off topic, but eons ago when I was in nursing school, and we rarely wore gloves, we were given the 411 on glove manufacturing, and how if they fell off the conveyor belt, they were just scooped off the floor and stuffed into a box and labeled "clean." We were instructed that after we donned these said gloves, we were to wash them (like washing hands) before we used them for...whatever we used them for back then (not for poo, as we did not want to offend and suggest that our patients had bad poo). That image of these gloves being dropped or even stepped on before packing has stayed in my brain for all these years. Before you use these gloves, ask yourself, or better yet ask the gloves, "where have you been?"

My hospital doesn't toss gloves, unless there is blood spray, or other bodily fluids marking the box. Geez, half the time, the nurse on the previous shift doesn't even toss the empty box, and I will tell you, wearing those boxes really impede finger dexterity.