Snotty Miss Perfect Nurse that's the daughter of a patient chastised us for not wearing gloves during a med pass. "Doesn't anyone around here where gloves anymore?".
Apparently she wears gloves at all times when in a patient's room. I wash in, give my pill, and wash out. I don't wear gloves to pass a medication.
I wanted to snap "and please show me the evidenced based practice that we must do this", but of course I didn't.
I'm also willing to learn to do things differently, I've adapted well to change over the years. Do we wear gloves ever single time we enter a patient's room, even if it's non-contact with the patient other than to pass a pain pill?
I do not understand nurses who act as if the nurse there to care for their loved one is their sworn enemy and somehow the reason the LO is hospitalized. I have my thoughts about it, in light of the many professional, knowledgeable people who do not act like that despite the stress of the situation.
This. I once took care of the mother of my former nursing lab instructor, and it was awful. My former instructor was decent to me because she remembered me, but she and her sister were absolute witches to the rest of the nurses. I know it had absolutely nothing to do with us, and everything to do with decades of family bitterness, infighting, jealousy, and insecurity that I can't even imagine, but that doesn't mean it didn't grind my gears. I would never treat anyone like that. Be a grownup and treat others how you'd like to be treated. Or at least recognize when your behavior is uncalled for due to stress/loss of control and apologize later.
I have a soft spot for families that are concerned about their loved ones. I always tell them "no problem, every patient needs an advocate".
I know I came across as being judgmental and I really was just being sassy. That said, I do hold nurses as family members to a higher standard. There is no need for nurses to treat other nurses like crap when their loved ones is in the hospital. Advocate for your loved one but don't be a witch about it. They wouldn't want to be treated like that, so why are they acting like that? I get they might be stressed and overly protective, but be realistic and treat nurses how you want to be treated.
She could have merely said "I would appreciate it if you don gloves when you pass meds, it's a thing that I always do". I still might have come here asking that question though.
It's a pet peeve of mine and my issue I know and no one has to agree with me.
You have brought up a different issue. Yes, it is difficult to care for a patient , when the family member is also a nurse. In this case , when the family member is a colleague, it was still a valid question. I think we are ALL intimidated when our care is evaluated by a a fellow nurse.
I don't recall even being taught to wear gloves during a med pass, but then my program didn't even bother to teach us how to use a MAR either. I had to learn that from a preceptor.
On the other side, I have worked so hard to be the tolerant family member that I have let things go that in retrospect I should have taken a hard stand on.
I'm also too quiet when it comes to my own care. Looking back I don't see that I was actually dodging any bullets by being the "good" patient.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Sterile gloves donned for a sterile procedure protect the patient. Non-sterile gloves for anything else protect the wearer. When Little Miss Precious huffed about gloves, you should have said "Oh, I didn't realize I could catch anything from your dad. Thanks for the heads up." Well, OK, you should not have said that. But I would have been thinking it.
What do people (and nurses no less) think is so magical about non-sterile gloves? They then need to be changed out for every. single. thing and still don't replace handwashing. And they have no antibacterial properties. And don't get me started about food service workers who wear the same gloves to put money in the till and then make your sandwich.
They've already banned drinking straws and plastic bags in places. When are they going to start looking at the sheer volume of gloves?
You have brought up a different issue. Yes, it is difficult to care for a patient , when the family member is also a nurse. In this case , when the family member is a colleague, it was still a valid question. I think we are ALL intimidated when our care is evaluated by a a fellow nurse.
I think someone else brought up that issue because I was being judgmental of the nurse family member. But threads sometimes take a life of their own.
I'm pretty confident in what I do and having a nurse as a family member doesn't really intimidate me. Perhaps it did when I was younger but not so much now. I'm usually assigned the "special" patients, the ones that might be difficult, or are "VIP's" like a senator's father, the CEO's husband, or a state politician.
I can do assessments, start IVs and answer questions from a nurse without being intimidated. What I don't appreciate is when they are unrealistically judgmental or condescending. I had one say "Joint Commission says you can give pain medicine 30 minutes early so you are to medicate my mother now". This isn't necessary and her very alert and oriented mother can speak for herself. This doesn't happen very often at all as most nurses as family members are helpful and friendly and let me do my job, and I treat them professionally.
Like I said before nurses treating other nurses disrespectfully is a thing with me and a major pet peeve. But as always I just have to suck it up.
But I do appreciate the input on the hand washing while passing med thing.
Government is passing, in my opinion mainly symbolic, laws banning plastic grocery bags. Meanwhile, it takes the jaws of life to extract many products from their plastic packaging. And the medical community continues its massive waste and negative impact on the environment. The overuse of gloves is a part of this!
Sterile gloves donned for a sterile procedure protect the patient. Non-sterile gloves for anything else protect the wearer. When Little Miss Precious huffed about gloves, you should have said "Oh, I didn't realize I could catch anything from your dad. Thanks for the heads up." Well, OK, you should not have said that. But I would have been thinking it.
What do people (and nurses no less) think is so magical about non-sterile gloves? They then need to be changed out for every. single. thing and still don't replace handwashing. And they have no antibacterial properties. And don't get me started about food service workers who wear the same gloves to put money in the till and then make your sandwich.
They've already banned drinking straws and plastic bags in places. When are they going to start looking at the sheer volume of gloves?
My reponse would have been "Oh, is there something going on here that I'm not aware of?" But, of course, I wouldn't have thought of that the next day. The older I get, the better I am at lip biting.
Sterile gloves donned for a sterile procedure protect the patient. Non-sterile gloves for anything else protect the wearer. When Little Miss Precious huffed about gloves, you should have said "Oh, I didn't realize I could catch anything from your dad. Thanks for the heads up." Well, OK, you should not have said that. But I would have been thinking it.
What do people (and nurses no less) think is so magical about non-sterile gloves? They then need to be changed out for every. single. thing and still don't replace handwashing. And they have no antibacterial properties. And don't get me started about food service workers who wear the same gloves to put money in the till and then make your sandwich.
They've already banned drinking straws and plastic bags in places. When are they going to start looking at the sheer volume of gloves?
Especially when half the gloves end up in the trash before ever being used because they fall on the floor when you try to take two out ?. Such a pet peeve of mine!!!
LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM
1,656 Posts
This. I once took care of the mother of my former nursing lab instructor, and it was awful. My former instructor was decent to me because she remembered me, but she and her sister were absolute witches to the rest of the nurses. I know it had absolutely nothing to do with us, and everything to do with decades of family bitterness, infighting, jealousy, and insecurity that I can't even imagine, but that doesn't mean it didn't grind my gears. I would never treat anyone like that. Be a grownup and treat others how you'd like to be treated. Or at least recognize when your behavior is uncalled for due to stress/loss of control and apologize later.