How nasty!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Yesterday, sitting in the breakroom with 3 other nurses, I was amazed to see 2 of them with dirty nails and hands. I rarely see any nurse washing their hands, in a patients room or in any sink on the floor.

Anyone else notice this?

See if you can find Crazy Soap. It cleans oil, grease, dirt, anything from hands and nails. Mostly auto repair places sell it.

Specializes in Utilization Management.
Sometimes, in the gardening season, I find it next to impossible to remove the ground in dirt, no matter how much I wash. I also do some projects around the house, and oily resin can get under my fingernails that stains them, even if my hands are actually clean. So, it might be that the hands you are seeing are the hands of a hobbiest or home handyperson like me.

I will wash and wash, clean under my nails, I even tried bleaching them before work. I am a very active person with many hobbies and I refuse to give that up. So, it may not be germ laden hands that you are seeing there.

Perhaps wear gloves for the messiest hobbies?

I'm pretty much a handwashing fanatic too. And as far as the scopes go, you can still hear very well if you put a vinyl glove over the bell of the stethoscope. I tend to go over mine with Bleach wipes a lot.

(Also bleach-wipe my pens, watch, wedding band, and scissors a lot.)

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Some gardening tasks I can't do with gloves on, due to the reduction in manual dexterity. Non-latex medical gloves are not durable enough.

Specializes in rehab, long-term care, ortho.

Fellow gardeners...If you have a garden hose with adjustable nozzle, try putting the setting on that very thin power stream setting and blasting under and around your fingernails after you're done working in the garden. It's amazing how well that works. Don't start out too close to the nozzle obviously; I usually hold it about 2 feet away and move up. I discovered that trick one day and the days of dirt under my fingernails are gone.

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

The dirt sifts through garden gloves I've found, plus wearing gloves while gardening is akin in my mind to wearing a condom (not that I've ever done that ;) ). It is barrier to the delight of working in the garden and feeling the moist earth on one's hands!

Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.
In the hospitals in my town, the RNs are as bad as the docs, CNAs and others who provide hands-on care.

How's this for disgusting:

My best friend was in the hospital after a routine appendectomy, and she was sharing a room with a woman having cancer-related complications. Her roommate was vomiting and had severe diarrhea. When the nurse/CNA came in to clean up the woman, they did not wash their hands--just put on gloves. After helping her roommate, the CNA went directly to my friend--still wearing the gloves she used to clean up the other patient--and attempted to check the incision and IV site.

I hope your best friend had the guts to speak up and stop that CNA!!!

In my clinicals and orientation most recently, I saw it all the time for nurses, techs, docs, and family to blatantly ignore the isolation precautions and yet, give me a lot of flak for citing the CDC PPE guide. yet I could not stop a thing since I was either only a student nurse or else just a newbie. Honestly I think speaking up made me even more of a problem child.

I saw many invasive techniques also (dilation checks in L&D as well as Foley administration, trach care, etc...elsewhere) where there was donning of gloves, but no washing of hands. And then I was told to pick up my pace, I was taking too long, when I stopped to wash going in AND out of pts' rooms. Seems many personnel think it's ok to exit an isolation room as well without washing.

Here's a great way to tell if the other has washed or not beforehand. It's exceptionally difficult to don gloves after washing if you haven't completely dried your hands. If you doubt it, try it. ;)

Chloe

Awsome Liquid is another soap that is good on stained hands, but you have to rinse very well. Liquid Green does a good job too. I do use a glove over my bell when assessing patients, I clean everything with wipes once I get home.

I have told MDs to go and wash their hands, stethescopes etc--now with acute rise with MRSA --our infection control "spies" are everywhere and all staff members are being reminded to wash hands etc--and we no longer move beds from room to room when needed, we just move parients ! ! takes longer but our incidences of MRSA and CDIFF have dropped drastically

Everyone knows the importance of good handwashing. If its not being done its due to being just plain lazy. Someone can not only pass germs onto patients, but also around the nurses station, break room ect. You have evey right to explain your concerns if you see a co-worker ignoring the rules. If that does not fix the problem, you should notify your d.o.n. As for the physicians, you could let the medical director know.

Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

We have a handwashing program called "Friction Rubs Out Germs" or FROG for short. If we notice a fellow nurse not using the alcohol gel or washing his/her hands, we're supposed to say "ribbit" as a reminder. :rotfl:

Really, though...unless you follow someone into the pt room how do you know for certain whether or not they washed/gelled??

Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.

This just showed up on my cover page online:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=505949&in_page_id=1774&ct=5

It's an article fr Londong that speaks about how poor hygiene and infection control cost two 2 mothers who gave birth in the same place on the same day died within hours due to a staph a. infection?!?!?!/ I'm drying my tears now after reading this. Those 2 babies will grow up without mommies and knowing that it could have been prevented.

What more has to be done, how many more have to suffer, or die til the lazy people learn to wash hands and protect others from their own disease states? We DO KNOW what causes this.

I feel like a broken record already. I'll step down from my soap box now. I like the FROG bit though. But seems like it gets ignored too? How bout a swift kick in the...?

Whew! :scrm:

Ok, I needed to vent and share.

Thanks y'all

Chloe

:nurse:

RN-BSN, BA

I hope this does not get posted double- having some problems with computer--- BUT, in 1997 I did a study throughout the hospital regarding staff washing their hands. Because I worked Open Heart, L&D, ER, ICU, I had various units to observe. I watched others without them knowing- I snuck up to the bathroom door when someone went to the bathroom. I ran like Hell when they came out, too! Anyway, I did the study 2 times, per request of my manager. I came up with the fact that only 22% of staff washed their hands appropriately. That is sick!! L&D washed the most, but not correctly, and not after they saw a patient AND BEFORE seeing the next patient! Most would only wash after a patient. I also was in charge one night (different hospital), and a nurse was pregnant and delivered. I came upon a second nurse (L&D) visiting with her in the nursery , LAYING ON THE FLOOR, TALKING! She was so po'd when I told her to get up, go change scrubs. She thought I was the most wicked witch on the floor! I am disgusted with what I see. Are they not smart enough to learn the aseptic techniques, don't care, or were never taught at home or in school?

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