Glove use

Specialties Ambulatory

Updated:   Published

Please do not write this off as a dumb question, because I really do not know much about ambulatory nursing. I am a bedside nurse currently, and while I do like my job, I have developed awful contact dermatitis on my hands from excessive glove use. I have been to dermatologists, figured out what I am allergic to, changed gloves and soaps, and I am still having a terrible time. It hurts. I have only been a nurse for about a year and a half, so I know my options are limited as far as doing something other than bedside nursing. I am not asking for advice about my skin, but more of are there any options for me in ambulatory nursing that do not require so much glove use? I say this because I asked in another thread and I got a lot of feedback about help for my skin, but not a whole lot about my options besides bedside nursing.

Thank you in advance for your help ?

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Clinic nursing. You will do mostly phone triage and case management so not nearly as much hand washing/glove use.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Clinic nursing. You will do mostly phone triage and case management so not nearly as much hand washing/glove use.

I guess that depends entirely on the clinic. I work in a clinic and wash my hands a minimum of a dozen times a day, more like 2 dozen (before drawing up a med, after administering a med, after doing a urine POC test) and use the foam about 30 times a day (before and after touching a patient, basically every time I walk in and out of a different room). I probably go through about 8 or 10 pairs of gloves during a typical 8-hour shift.

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Specializes in Peds, Oncology.

I don't use a TON of gloves in school nursing, but I still use them. Maybe 3-4 pairs a day, abrasions or bloody noses mostly. I do wash and sanitize constantly. My daughter is allergic to all fragrances and dyes. We get her The Honest Co. hand sanitizer as it is free from fragrance and dyes, and Seventh Generation free & clear hand soap which is also fragrance and dye free. She keeps those at school and home and uses them instead of what everyone else uses. She bathes with cetaphil body wash and uses a fragrance free shampoo as well. She also takes a daily Zyrtec. Her dermatitis and eczema issues have improved dramatically. Good luck!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

As mentioned above, it's according to your clinic environment and what you do there. For instance I work pool at a pedi urgent care. Glove use would be in accordance to what patient care is required; injections, wound cleaning/dressing, obtaining culture specimens, and all other multitudes of contact, yadda, yadda, In addition, I might discharge 30 or 40 patients during a shift. Considering hand cleaning before and after entering a patient room, I might wash my hands/use hand sanitizer close to 100 times per shift. At the same facility if I am on the intake desk, doing triage, I might clean my hands less than 10 times per shift. When I'm Charge it'll be a different frequency. Know what I mean?

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Specializes in School nursing.
I don't use a TON of gloves in school nursing, but I still use them. Maybe 3-4 pairs a day, abrasions or bloody noses mostly. I do wash and sanitize constantly. My daughter is allergic to all fragrances and dyes. We get her The Honest Co. hand sanitizer as it is free from fragrance and dyes, and Seventh Generation free & clear hand soap which is also fragrance and dye free. She keeps those at school and home and uses them instead of what everyone else uses. She bathes with cetaphil body wash and uses a fragrance free shampoo as well. She also takes a daily Zyrtec. Her dermatitis and eczema issues have improved dramatically. Good luck!

Another school nurse here - the most pairs of gloves I've used in a day is ~3, that was a high traffic, high bloody nose/gaping wound day. I do, however, wash my hands at least 10+ times a day and use hand sanitizer like it is going out of style.

However, in a school, you may be able to find the soap/sanitizer that works for you - much different than what you might need to use in the hospital. (While I do use one with fragrance, I also stock a couple of bottles of Honest Co. sanitizer myself for certain students.)

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Thanks everyone for your responses! School nursing seems interesting, however there aren't any jobs available right now in my area. There are quite a few clinic positions open though. I will have to look into that sanitizer you guys mentioned. Right now I am washing my hands instead of using the hand sanitizer because I am allergic. Many of you mentioned that it depends on the type of clinic with how much hand washing/glove use you do. Can you think of a type of clinic that would not require as much? There are some openings in internal med, cardiac, ENT, pediatric clinics and also a pre-surgical screening position, which I am not sure what that is. Not sure what they all entail. Any thoughts?

I appreciate all of you for responding! It is definitely spinning a wheel in my head that maybe I need to change direction in nursing. Your responses have been very helpful. Thank you so so much!

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Specializes in Peds, Oncology.
Thanks everyone for your responses! School nursing seems interesting, however there aren't any jobs available right now in my area. There are quite a few clinic positions open though. I will have to look into that sanitizer you guys mentioned. Right now I am washing my hands instead of using the hand sanitizer because I am allergic. Many of you mentioned that it depends on the type of clinic with how much hand washing/glove use you do. Can you think of a type of clinic that would not require as much? There are some openings in internal med, cardiac, ENT, pediatric clinics and also a pre-surgical screening position, which I am not sure what that is. Not sure what they all entail. Any thoughts?

I appreciate all of you for responding! It is definitely spinning a wheel in my head that maybe I need to change direction in nursing. Your responses have been very helpful. Thank you so so much!

Out of all those, I would say cardiac and pre surgical maybe? I don't see glove use being used a whole lot in a cardiac clinic except maybe for a post op visit where there is an infected wound or you are removing or redressing. The RN in my cardio office, I hardly ever see, she's always on the phone scheduling patients for procedures, doing pre-procedure education, putting in orders or labs or med refills. The MA rooms me, does my vitals, updates med lists and doc sees me, leaves the room with me and gives my updated orders to the RN and she schedules me a f/u. One time I fainted in their office and she was the one to do my EKG and page the doc stat. [emoji6]

My aunt does pre surgical screening and she does things like call patients to do their admissions assessment, like what you do when a patient gets admitted, just over the phone. Their health history, meds, etc. she will also make sure the patient has completed all tests the doc wanted done before the surgery and schedule and arrange for them and do all the patient education. For example, patient needs an EKG to clear him for surgery, she would do that. Or patient is having a tumor removed and they need an updated MRI or PET scan, she would make sure that is all squared away. She also does pre admission labs, so any labs that need drawn prior to the surgeries. The patient just comes in during business hours and she draws their labs, so that would be a glove use.

Hope this helps!

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Try to find a phone triage position. Many clinics hire nurses for this role. It can get boring sometimes, but your patient exposure will be limited.

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