Do you wear gloves

Nurses General Nursing

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Sorry I have so many questions but you guys are so helpful. I was woundering do you wear gloves most of the time, like when taking blood, giving injections etc. I remeber being in a hospital and one of the nurses put some pill like thing up someones bum with no glove. surely this isn't normal practice. Also do you worry about catching something contagious or have you pricked your self with a needle after it's come in contract with someone else.

Thanks

When I first became a CNA in 1993, I never wore 'em...I had never been really sick before that and I think I thought I couldn't catch anything. Well, I DID get sick...VERY sick!! I was miserable, got diagnosed with Hepatitis C (although I've been retested and looked over the past results with my doctor, we both think it was a false positive)...but no matter! I WAS SICK!! For a good two months.....sleeping 18-20 hours a day, fever of 102-103 for 2 weeks, itchy rash head to toe, no appetite, etc. You get the picture. I've never gone a day since then without wearing gloves whenever I can possibly come in contact with someone elses bodily fluid!! I learned the hard way!!

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I wear them and I wash my hands or at the very least use an alcohol based hand cleaner after removing them.

The cost of getting something, or the cost of passing something along to other patients or my family is much higher than the cost of gloves.

The time it takes to put them on and remove them and wash hands is minimal. Compared to the time that would be lost to illness or taking care or people that I made ill.

Facilities that want to cut corners here are short sighted. Besides going against federal regulations. They have no respect for you when they say you use too many gloves or there is no $$ for gloves.

If there is no $$ for golves then the don't have enough money to be in in the busisness or they are LYING. Federal regulations mandate they provied you with golves. It is not an option. There is not such thing as using too many gloves.

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Specializes in cardiac ICU.

I try to think carefully about when I put gloves on--e.g. I won't wear them to empty a bedpan full of urine. Yucky, but probably not potentially infectious. I'm nervous about developing a latex allergy, and I don't think multiple unnecessary exposures are a good thing. I WASH MY HANDS and use Eucerin, which is great stuff.

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Specializes in Mostly LTC, some acute and some ER,.

I am guilty of not gloving up sometimes, but only when I know that I am not going to run into any bodily fluids. If there is a change of getting body fluids on my hands then yes.

Ewwww doing paricare without gloves is just NASTY!

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Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.
Originally posted by shannonRN

yes, yes, and yes...my philosophy...better safe than sorry.

Ditto for me!

I will admit-sometimes I do not don the gloves when I do a FSBS:chair: -I know, I know; or doing a saline (or heplock) lock flush that is peripheral.

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when i first started working in the nursing home (1986) we didn't have gloves, or if we did they were the type you use to get for dying hair....which got holes as soon as you put them on. universal percautions at are facility started in '89' which was the year i started lpn school. so basically im p-poor at wearing gloves. i do accuchecks and shots without them have emptied bedpans without them also and changed wet briefs without gloves. years ago we had fingercots for supp. hated them but always wore them and now i wear gloves. i wear my gloves for supp, drsg changes, cleaning up stool or emesis, or applying any creams or oint, giving eye gtts, and gloves for bld draws with one finger of the glove ripped off to feel the veins. i've been fortunate enough not to stick myself with dirty needles (knock on wood). i'm a deff canidate of the do as i tell you not as i do :p

just my choice i guess, but i have hands that testify to my freg of hand washing. and i believe us older nurses wash our hands better because we never use to have gloves. i watch some of these new ppl and am appalled at how they rush through hand washing and the ones who double glove because they don't have time to wash between patients:(

ok i think i've whined enough for now LOL

Dee

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Nurse Ratched,

This was a great quote and worth repeating...

Any boss who puts a few dollars for gloves ahead of my health should quickly decide whether or not they want to use a barrier when they kiss my orifice...

I am with most of you...I probably don't wear them as often as I should, but I definitely wear them for IV starts, drawing blood, etc...

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Originally posted by KP RN

I always wear gloves whenever I might be in contact with blood or body fluids.

I remember, back in the early 1980s, getting my a-s reamed at work for wearing gloves when cleaning up a patient's poop. Back then, us nurses were told to NEVER wear gloves when cleaning up someone cause it can hurt their feelings!!

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KPRN, that was also what I was taught in nursing school...we had to do pericare without gloves and with a small nondisposable hand towel...GROSS:imbar . It never felt right; when I graduated...I wore gloves for everything!!! I worked for 3 years on an acute medical ward that had a lot of GI bleeds, hepatitis cases etc....when I had a fingerstick on a used sharp that someone had thrown in with the new ones...I tested negative for HbsAg and everything else...don't think they tested for HIV in those days. As time went on, we were validated about wearing gloves. When I learned to start IVs, I wore gloves so it is 'natural' for me to start IVs or perform venipuncture with gloves on. It's just a matter of learning a good habit right from the start....and it didn't affect my IV skills negatively at all. In fact, I usually carry a pair of gloves in my pocket (BoyScout ready); that's also what I used to advise my students too. If there is any a-s reaming out done....it's for NOT taking the appropriate precautions. How times change!

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Originally posted by KP RN

I always wear gloves whenever I might be in contact with blood or body fluids.

I remember, back in the early 1980s, getting my a-s reamed at work for wearing gloves when cleaning up a patient's poop. Back then, us nurses were told to NEVER wear gloves when cleaning up someone cause it can hurt their feelings!!

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KPRN, that was also what I was taught in nursing school...we had to do pericare without gloves and with a small nondisposable hand towel...GROSS:imbar . It never felt right; when I graduated...I wore gloves for everything!!! I worked for 3 years on an acute medical ward that had a lot of GI bleeds, hepatitis cases etc....when I had a fingerstick on a used sharp that someone had thrown in with the new ones...I tested negative for HbsAg and everything else...don't think they tested for HIV in those days. As time went on, we were validated about wearing gloves. When I learned to start IVs, I wore gloves so it is 'natural' for me to start IVs or perform venipuncture with gloves on. It's just a matter of learning a good habit right from the start....and it didn't affect my IV skills negatively at all. In fact, I usually carry a pair of gloves in my pocket (BoyScout ready); that's also what I used to advise my students too. If there is any a-s reaming out done....it's for NOT taking the appropriate precautions. How times change!

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I wear them for everything except putting on Tega derm or Op-site...Just can't peel off the darn paper with those darn gloves...then I briskly wash my hands of course.

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The only people I touch without gloves are my family members!!! Universal precautions are mandatory where I work and grounds for dismissal if you don't wear gloves. The hospital doesn't want to take care of you when you contract aids, hep c etc.

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I, too, always waer gloves when possibility of dealing with bodily fluids, and bums definately have that possibility.

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