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.
As a nursing student you will see a lot of things done by staff that will make you cringe. The important thing is to remember your universal precautions and not pick up any bad, dirty habits that you see demonstrated along the way. Always wash your hands (before and after) any care AND wear gloves when appropriate. One does not replace the other, although from what you will see it would seem differently:banghead:
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!
They were always available, but only used for occasional, unusually dirty tasks, not for every contact with a client the way they are now. A box of gloves would last forever, so they weren't a big expense for hospitals.
They were always available, but only used for occasional, unusually dirty tasks, not for every contact with a client the way they are now. A box of gloves would last forever, so they weren't a big expense for hospitals.
We had to go the basement and get them. Not readily available and frowned upon. I wish I had recorded the Educators and Administrators telling us that gloves were demeaning to the patient and were not really necessary.
Good thing that MRSA, VRE, and CDIFF were not easily transmitted back then. Can you imagine what it would be like today if they were? :no:
We had to go the basement and get them. Not readily available and frowned upon. I wish I had recorded the Educators and Administrators telling us that gloves were demeaning to the patient and were not really necessary.
Good thing that MRSA, VRE, and CDIFF were not easily transmitted back then. Can you imagine what it would be like today if they were? :no:
There were no drug-resistant bugs back then, and I never heard of C. diff back then. However, as I recall (not necessarily accurate, I admit :)), we were a lot more careful and consistent with hand hygiene than people often are nowadays, now that everyone wears gloves for everything
I have to agree with the others at first glace - the reason would probably be cost. I was working as a nurse (aka within the last 4 years) and one facility I worked at was still using latex gloves throughout most of the hospital.
I always wonder how PPE can protect you definitely say the gloves are porous. Not a fan that even with tight fitting gloves water can seap in around the cuff, that's why I tape the gloves around the cuff at.times.
The MRSA gown I am like how is wearing this giant cheese cloth going to protect me rather be wearing the bunny suits ha.
Remember an old EMT instructor before AIDS/HIV was in the news they never worse gloves really and hand hygiene was just slap some water on your hands next; remember how the instructor said went to a call bloody put his hands in the snow good to go.
The nurse I learned to draw blood from always tore the tip of a finger off her glove to palpate the vein. I asked her why she even bothered with the gloves at all since she ripped a finger off of it anyway. I can't remember her answer so I guess it wasn't a good one.
The so called instructional videos we watched in school were old...nobody wore gloves! This was 1999 and after the whole class got over the initial appalled shock they were hilarious to watch. Even as late as that we were taught to not wear gloves for personal contact with little risk of bodily fluid contact as it minimized the very real benefits of human touch. I still believe this and would feel absolutely silly putting on gloves to rub lotion on a residents back. This has backfired on me though when I forgot to grab gloves before putting some Biofreeze on a residents back, of course a few minutes later I rubbed my eye without thinking about it...ouch!
I do know that gloves aren't cheap. The blue nitrile ones cost us $125.00 a case. I think a case only has 24 boxes so those gloves are only ordered for the 2 CNA's that have an allergic reaction to our regular exam gloves. I bet the gloves that you [OP] desribed are really expensive so I don't see them as catching on unless a lot of studies can show that they are more effective in preventing infection than standard gloves and good hygiene.
:no:
NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN
1,599 Posts
As a nursing student you will see a lot of things done by staff that will make you cringe. The important thing is to remember your universal precautions and not pick up any bad, dirty habits that you see demonstrated along the way. Always wash your hands (before and after) any care AND wear gloves when appropriate. One does not replace the other, although from what you will see it would seem differently:banghead: