New Nurse Completely Surprised!!!

suanna · Apr 30, 2010

I try to wear gloves on every occasion but honestly- the more I wear gloves the more the skin on my hands breaks down-It dosn't seem to be any particular kind of glove (?latex alergy?) but if I work more than 2-3 days in a row with a "contact isolation" patient where I have to were gloves a lot- I end up bleeding more than my patient when I draw morning labs. So- I do were gloves to wipe a hiney, or for sterile or clean proceedures, but to listen for lungs and heart sounds, or to pass PO meds- never. I am at greater risk with open wounds on my hands than I would be with intact skin amd no gloves. Not to mention- patients hate it when you bleed all over them.

smarti15 · Apr 30, 2010

My motto is: if it's warm, wet, and not yours...wear gloves :clown:

allnurses Guide · Apr 30, 2010

annacnatorn[/b];4273185]. . . .For instance, I was working in a SNF, LTC (same thing) and seen a fellow CNA do a blood check on a male patient who so happened to be on isolation..no gloves, no gown, no mask..nothing. I asked her, hay do you know everything about this patient, she said not really, but he looks ok and seems fine. I told her you are very correct, he does look good, talks wonderfully Oriented to time/date/place, able to take care of personal needs, but he has full blown AIDS..can you see Aids? Can you see HIV? Can you see MRSA?..she immediately ran to the bathroom, then the shower, took a shower, then asked to go home. Gloves is and are the first line of defense we Nurses, regardless of level, have to protect ourselves, our patients, our Families.

This is interesting, because we had a thread a while back, and many people were making the point that the CNA doesn't have access to the chart, know the patient's diagnosis,and that they did not need to know if the patient had HIV or not, because with universal precautions the risk is miniscule. I agree that some education about basic microbiology,and infectious diseases is needed if she thought it was OK to test someone "because he looks fine" and gowns, gloves and masks are plainly in sight.

I work in home health. I do not wear gloves to listen to someone's lungs, take their vitals, check peripheral pulses, etc. I wear gloves to clean their backside, touch the Foley and suction. Sometimes if my patient is unexpectedly turning blue, I quickly grab the suction catheter and deal with that immediately, because the risk of aspiration is high and the risk of infection is low. Once you suction a chunk of quesadilla out of someone's trachea, it affects you. I suppose wearing gloves all the time would be an option, but I don't think it's necessary and it's very uncomfortable for me as I have dyshidrotic eczema.

The gloves and sanitizing foam routine is actually a lot more recent than many people realize. My only real difficulty would be palpating for a vein, but I guess you get used to it after a while.

AndieWoke · Apr 30, 2010

I try to wear gloves on every occasion but honestly- the more I wear gloves the more the skin on my hands breaks down-It dosn't seem to be any particular kind of glove (?latex alergy?) but if I work more than 2-3 days in a row with a "contact isolation" patient where I have to were gloves a lot- I end up bleeding more than my patient when I draw morning labs. So- I do were gloves to wipe a hiney, or for sterile or clean proceedures, but to listen for lungs and heart sounds, or to pass PO meds- never. I am at greater risk with open wounds on my hands than I would be with intact skin amd no gloves. Not to mention- patients hate it when you bleed all over them.

Suanna, try nylon glove liners, if you google that phrase they are available from all kinds of places from scientific supply places to ebay. They are washable and I used the same pair for months at a time. I used to wear them when I did rad work because my hands sweat so much when I wear gloves for hours and I would lose dexterity when my hands were swimming inside my gloves. They will help keep your hands away from the glove and from sweat too. Oh, and because it's nylon they slide on and off really easy, even if they are damp or wet, unlike regular gloves where you are waiting for your hands to dry!

Best, Andie

makes needs known · Apr 30, 2010

Most facilities have an Infection Control Leader. You need to contact yours. BTW what do these employees do when you have state survey?

GTChick01 · Apr 30, 2010

Wow. No way I'd do that without gloves. I wear gloves about 99% of the time, even when just assessing a pt or getting vital signs. Of course every now and then I'll forget to glove up for VS or assessment, but I've NEVER given a medication or touched body fluids without gloves. I'd rather be safe than sorry in all cases.

LPNlisaD · May 1, 2010

Thanks everyone for your comments. I am glad to see that there are nurses out there who still wear their gloves. :yeah:

agldragonRN · May 1, 2010

i work ltc (lpn) as well and when i was new, i observed and felt the same way you do now. i had only seen a handful of people washing their hands and wearing gloves. i told myself i won't be like them and will always wash my hands and glove up. two years later, i found myself not gloving up sometimes to save time and not wash hands but used one of those anti-bacterial foam. i don't glove up anymore when giving sub-q insulin.

agldragonRN · May 1, 2010

wow. , but i've never given a medication or touched body fluids without gloves. i'd rather be safe than sorry in all cases.

you glove up when giving po meds? isn't that a little ocd? what's the rationale? i've seen a couple of ocd nurses at work who are glove up at all times, such as, when giving po meds, opening the med cart and treatment cart, answering the phone, taking patients bp etc..

CrazierThanYou · May 2, 2010

You should probably get used to seeing it. Waaaaaaay back when, during CNA clinicals at a local nursing home, my fellow students and I were stunned to see that no gloves were to be found anywhere. All the CNA's did everything, including butt-wiping, gloveless. We had been taught to always use gloves so of course, we asked about the gloves. We discovered the gloves were kept in a locked closet at the end of the hall. The CNA's looked at us with near-hatred and told us that you can't get a d**n thing done with gloves. The only butts I'm wiping glove-less are my own, my kids, and my hubby!

The next nursing home was mixed. Some aides wore gloves and most didn't. The glove-less ones were usually older.

The real shocker to us spring chickens was when we went to an ICU in the hospital to observe an AIDS patient who was near death. While there, we observed the CNA and the ICU nurse cleaning the woman's behind.... without gloves.

I retook CNA recently in preparation for nursing school admission. The instructor of this class was an older woman, has been a nurse for 40+ years. I can't tell you how many times she reiterated to us that "in my opinion, gloves are used way too much and aren't necessary."

Now, I am working in an assisted living facility and we never have gloves. Fortunately for me, I have some left over from my previous job. I'm not sure what will happen when they run out. I'm just not willing to put ointment in eyes infected with MRSA. I'm just not. I'm also not willing to clean any behinds glove-less. Our residents are mostly self-sufficient but they have their moments...

CrazierThanYou · May 2, 2010

you glove up when giving po meds? isn't that a little ocd? what's the rationale? i've seen a couple of ocd nurses at work who are glove up at all times, such as, when giving po meds, opening the med cart and treatment cart, answering the phone, taking patients bp etc..

oh wow. overkill!

allnurses Guide · May 2, 2010

In the case of older people it isn't so much that "bad habits are easy to learn" as it is that we were taught that scrupulous hand-washing prevented most nosocomial infections from being transferrred from person to person who had no isolation precautions. At least in the acute care hospitals. When I started the soap dispensers had plain old harsh brown Betadine soap and lotion was for sissies :) You wash your hands with that, using proper technique, before and after taking care of the patient. These were not "bad habits", they were "best practice" at that time.

In addition to that, there was a strongly held psychological component in nursing then, which was that you would avoid at all costs making the patient feel like an "untouchable". A nurse would spend years scrubbing the skin off of her hands rather than offend the patient. The same applied to the use of adult diapers.

It is true that the big change occurred in the mid-eighties and was precipitated by AIDS awareness. I do agree that it seems like overkill to wear gloves to give a po med, but the ER is not my area, so I won't second guess someone who feels it's necessary. I have a friend who puts gloves on to pick up her non-isolated homecare patient's TV remote. I'm gonna put that one in the "OCD" column.

Hospitals and especially LTCs, seem to be teeming with newer abx resistant bugs as MRSA and c.diff. How is it that a resident is at such a high risk of contracting c.diff if the vast majority of healthcare workers today wear gloves all the time?

Oh- and to Crazierthanyou, I agree. No way. I would buy my own gloves before I would do that.