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?
You know what they’ll find? The same stuff you get on grocery cart handles, gym equipment, money, ATM buttons, gas pumps, mail, your steering wheel, computer keyboards, food containers from fast food restaurants...should I continue? Unless a person plans to wear gloves every second of their day wearing them unnecessarily at work only adds to the waste we are burying our planet in, adds to the costs of hospitalization that we all bear and does nothing more to protect the wearer than a plain old soap and water scrubbing does. There simply is no justification for it. That being said, if one of my peers wants to glove up the moment they hit the door I’m not going to lose any sleep over it although I might allow myself an internal eye roll.
I shouldn't have said I wear gloves 100% of the time (although it feels like it); it should be like 80% of the time. I agreed with you :). It is why I try not to touch public things unless I have to. Then wash my hands as soon as I can. I even use one of my feet/shoes to open doors (that are push out to open) when I see one. If I knew the patients room is dirty, I'm not going to treat it like it's a gym. It's totally 2 different environment.
I mean me and you, we could sit here all day long and talk about this topic, but in the end it's like talking about religions... it'll be endless talks. Everyone will have different opinions and approaches to things.
In the end just do the right thing, wear gloves when you think you need to during med pass/whatever other care you need to do. After all, we are just trying to protect ourselves and patients ?
My glove wear depends on the situation. I don't wear gloves simply to pass meds unless I have to give injections, patches, or eye drops, etc. I may occasionally wear gloves if I have to split a pill so I don't touch the med. Wearing gloves just simply to be wearing gloves is overkill IMO. I double glove if giving patient care because if one glove rips, I have backup. Too much going around nowadays.
Yeah, I guess I missed that day in nursing school and never stumbled across it in my 20 years as a nurse either. So many in services, so little time (I feel silly needing to add that I’m being sarcastic but with people claiming water used for IV removal posing as nurses....).
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
On 1/21/2020 at 8:06 PM, TriciaJ said:
Exactly. If the gloves are not sterile, then what are they? Do we have any idea how clean they are or aren't? They protect the wearer from icky messes by covering our own skin. They protect the patient from nothing.
Not really though. Germs don't live on nitrile the way they live on human skin.
A patient who is getting touched with your bare hand is getting some of your microbiome, even if you washed your hands. No big deal for the patient if she is not immunocompromised and the skin is intact.
A patient who is getting touched with a nitrile glove from a box on the wall is getting nothing of likely consequence.
Germs like skin way better than they like nitrile.
A patient who is getting touched with your bare hand is getting some of your microbiome, even if you washed your hands. No big deal for the patient if she is not immunocompromised and the skin is intact.
You're correct. An immunocompromised patient is going to be on strict precautions. No one is going to touch non-intact skin with their bare hands.
Hopefully the nurse knows something about their patient before they enter their room.
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PeekaPooh
65 Posts
I shouldn't have said I wear gloves 100% of the time (although it feels like it); it should be like 80% of the time. I agreed with you :). It is why I try not to touch public things unless I have to. Then wash my hands as soon as I can. I even use one of my feet/shoes to open doors (that are push out to open) when I see one. If I knew the patients room is dirty, I'm not going to treat it like it's a gym. It's totally 2 different environment.
I mean me and you, we could sit here all day long and talk about this topic, but in the end it's like talking about religions... it'll be endless talks. Everyone will have different opinions and approaches to things.
In the end just do the right thing, wear gloves when you think you need to during med pass/whatever other care you need to do. After all, we are just trying to protect ourselves and patients ?