why aren't gloves better

[direw0lf, BSN]

I don't know if this is kind of a dumb question but our class spent last week talking about infections and different precautions. My teacher told us that hospital gloves often can have holes in them we can't see. Anyway I found this glove idea on google Patent EP2584925A2 - Polylactic acid gloves and methods of manufacturing same - Google Patents

They are disposable gloves infused with polylactic acid (antimicrobal)

Why don't hospitals and nursing homes use something like that?

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

Cost?

I'm watching an episode on Hulu, so I didn't actually lool into the link. But cost is usually a big factor.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

$$$$$

[direw0lf, BSN]

I thought of cost... but then I thought isn't it more of a cost to hospitals to get repeat patients or those who get HAIs?

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

Gloves are only part of preventing HAI. Hand hygiene is where it's at

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

When gloves were first recommended back in the 80s, it took hospitals several years before they reluctantly provided cheap gloves that tore when they were put on.

So, yeah, they aren't going to spend that kind of money for gloves.

[RN403, BSN, RN]

Even if they would spend the money, nothing is perfect. Like a PP said, hand hygiene is where it's at.

[JenERally]

When gloves were first recommended back in the 80s, it took hospitals several years before they reluctantly provided cheap gloves that tore when they were put on.

So, yeah, they aren't going to spend that kind of money for gloves.

That's something that I can't wrap my mind around.... I guess I just assumed that gloves of some sort had always been available to anyone who came in contact with blood, spit, puke, and poop. I had been a nurse for over 3 years before I learned that hadn't always been the case from a colleague who shared her experience with me as a new grad nurse in the mid 80s..... Wow! I had to manually disimpact my daughter earlier this year. It was my own kid, but I can't imagine doing that without the assistance Mr. Don D. Glove!

[sailornurse]

Before gloves there were finger "cots", which resembled the fingers on gloves but you only covered the finger you were going to use. We used them for inserting suppositories and for manual disempaction. Yes we emptied bedpans & urinals without wearing gloves. This was in the late 70's, before AIDS.

[JenERally]

Before gloves there were finger "cots", which resembled the fingers on gloves but you only covered the finger you were going to use. We used them for inserting suppositories and for manual disempaction. Yes we emptied bedpans & urinals without wearing gloves. This was in the late 70's, before AIDS.

My hat goes off to you!

At what point during the AIDS epidemic did your hospital decide that the safety of healthcare workers outweighed the cost of gloves and other PPE? My colleague said that in school and as a new grad, the use of gloves was frowned upon because they detracted from patient comfort and made patients feel like a patient.

[sailornurse]

I can't give you an exact date approximately 1985 give or take a few years. I will defer to other COBs. It was heard relearning starting IVs with gloves.

[direw0lf, BSN]

About hand hygiene being the best defense... then is it true in your opinions that not many nurses practice the hand washing like they should? (we talked about things we've seen in my class last week, that aren't safe practices, like the example I had seen was a pca pulling off a finger from her glove to draw blood and she hadn't washed her hands on the way out) In my state the deaths from sepsis in a hospital rank #1 in the whole country. So I just wondered about this.