IV push and wearing gloves

[Katniss88]

In nursing school they taught us to wear gloves while doing IV pushes or hooking up IV tubing to a patient. I just graduated in May and just recently started working as a nurse. While observing my preceptors I have seen that neither of them used gloves. I decided to ask why they didn't use gloves and I was told that since you aren't coming into contact with blood then it's not necessary. One of the nurses there graduated from the same nursing program I did and she also said she didn't use gloves. Does anyone still use gloves or is it just something instructors make you do while in nursing school?

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

Or that the person that replaced all the boxes and tore the opening out of them didn't wash their hands after using the bathroom. I don't either.

I am so sorry Wooh, but this particular portion of your post made me laugh. Some things you should keep to your self ...

[Mr. Murse]

Since you're a new nurse let me tell you a little secret you're going to figure out very quickly: there are A LOT of things we're taught in nursing school that just don't happen in the real world, or at least don't happen consistently. Much of what we learn in school is to teach us a way of thinking, not so much a strict set of behavioral rules to follow. Care plans, for example. You will probably never actually write out a care plan again now that you're in the real world, but we did them in school to learn how to think about looking at a patient. We are taught cleanliness habits to get into the mentality of thinking about spreading microbes, and to constantly be aware of that.

Nursing is all about autonomy, so now that you're on your own a lot of specifics, like gloves, are up to your own discretion. It's your license on the line with every choice you make, so you decide what you're comfortable with. I generally wear gloves for just about everything, but many people don't (I've noticed especially older nurses don't). I will occasionally push a med or flush a line without gloves, but not habitually.

You're the nurse now, chances are no one's going to breathe down your neck and watch every move you make. You get to decide.

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

Where there is any POTENTIAL for body fluid contact, I always wear gloves, just to protect myself. I teach my nursing students the same. You never know when an IV port is going to come undone, etc., with messy and copious spillage of fluid.

[monaa]

Gloves are also for your own protection, not just for the patients.

[lub dub]

FYI the gloves do nothing to protect the patient.

I disagree, Scott. I have always told my students that, when starting an IV, you wear gloves to protect you and the patient. If you have not properly washed your hands, and they are harboring bad microbes, the gloves protect the patient from a possible infection.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I disagree, Scott. I have always told my students that, when starting an IV, you wear gloves to protect you and the patient. If you have not properly washed your hands, and they are harboring bad microbes, the gloves protect the patient from a possible infection.

Scott's response was to the OP's question about giving IV meds through an already established IV site -- not starting an IV.

[amzyRN]

I don't always use gloves. I try to though because it's another layer of protection for me and the patient. If I'm in a hurry though, I'll wash hands and do the IV push and skip the gloves. I know some nurses who use gloves when passing oral meds and I know some old school nurses that start IVs without gloves.

[Caribbean Character]

But I know that I just washed my hands or used sanitizer. If they'd prefer the unknown-how-dirty gloves to that, it's their choice, but when I have a choice, I'm going with what I KNOW is clean.

So you KNOW your hands are clean after you use alcohol-based hand sanitizer?? Well did you KNOW that C-Diff is not affected by alcohol-based hand sanitizer, so your "clean" hands may be spreading one of the most prolific nosocomial infections around??

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

So you KNOW your hands are clean after you use alcohol-based hand sanitizer?? Well did you KNOW that C-Diff is not affected by alcohol-based hand sanitizer, so your "clean" hands may be spreading one of the most prolific nosocomial infections around??

Why would you assume that an experienced nurse would not know this? It is common knowledge that you must wash your hands with soap and water after taking care of a patient with C-Diff and that hand sanitizer is ineffective in killing the spores. Patients with C-Diff are also placed on contact precautions so you'd be wearing gloves in their rooms anyway...

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I'm not sure we need to wear gloves for the standard patient's protection. I do wear them now but it's for my own protection, specifically my fingers were getting rough and chapped from "scrubbing the hub". The new chlor-prep scrubbing recommendations are scrub vigorously like you are juicing an orange for 30 seconds then dry for 30 seconds. My skin would flake off!

One thing I think people neglect to do which I strongly emphasize to orientees is to "gel in" and "gel out" with gloving. If this was done faithfully, there would be much bacterial counts on glove boxes. And our infectious control nurses nearly passed out when she saw one of our nurses gelling her gloves. . . not okay. . .

[RNinCLE, ADN, BSN]

In my facility, it's policy to wear gloves any time you're accessing a central line (pushing meds, drawing blood, whatever) but not if you're using a PIV. I've heard that our protocols will probably be changing in the future, and we'll be required to use gloves for PIVs also.

[flyfarfaraway]

We were never taught in school to wear gloves when hanging a piggyback or giving IV push.