Gloves and infection

[ilovenursing2009]

today a nurse was hooking up an iv line to a pt with no gloves. some of the medication and a tiny amount of blood spilled onto the nurses hand. she had a small fresh cut on one of her fingers.

she had gotten less then a ml on her hand and even less on the cut. we looked up the rate of exposures on the cdc and it said her risk was 0.1%-0.3%. i felt so bad for her...she was understandably really scared. i am not sure that her exposure would be enough to cause an infection? i thought that she should report it, but she decided to not tell anyone except me.

we were told that gloves are not needed when hooking up iv lines, but this is making me think twice.

how many of you wear gloves when hooking up iv lines?

[caliotter3]

Haven't had to do this, but rest assured, I would wear gloves!

[PAERRN20]

Honestly, I don't wear gloves while hooking up an IV unless the site is bloody or I know that patient is whatever +.

[AnaCatRN]

I always wear gloves when there is any chance at all of getting bodily fluids (sweat is the only one I don't fear) on me, including when hooking up IVs. Even 0.1% is too much risk for me!

[tgedward]

Same here. I ALWAYS wear gloves no matter what.

[LouisVRN, RN]

If I walk in the patients room I have gloves on. It doesnt matter if I'm bringing them juice, writing on their board, giving them educational material or starting an IV. I always wear gloves when I do anything with an IV, more for the patients safety than my own. But honestly I've had too many times where not wearing gloves could have meant time lost (ie, had a patient who was an amputee sitting in his chair, decided when I went in his room he wanted to go back to bed, somehow he actually managed to break the IV tubing which happened to be infusing heparin, needless to say there was blood EVERYWHERE), so its just easier to put them on as I walk in the door in case something happens.

[niathenurse]

Im a cna and regardless whether or not it is required to wear gloves while doing an iv i think its common sense period! It is said wash hands and wear gloves before and after contact with each patient!!!