MovinOnUp

Hi all! I am in an LVN program at Anamarc College in El Paso, Tx. I have started a blog to detail my journey- I am currently in my second semester. As I go through school, I find myself questioning the quality of my program quite a bit. I would love to hear some honest opinions from other students and even people who are already nurses about what I consider to be some sub-standard issues at school. Am I just nit-picky and anal? Or are the things being taught really things that could put my future license in jeopardy? Please, if you have a minute, let me know what you think. And tell me the truth! I can handle it and would honestly like to know if it is just me or really an issue as I think it is. At any rate, my most recent quality concern is this: Today our clinical assistant was demonstrating tracheostomy care. When she set up her sterile field, she was wearing disposable (not sterile) gloves. She instructed us to remove the items from the sterile pack with our disposable (not sterile) gloves and to place the items within the sterile field. I have had previous college-level schooling in clinical procedures- to include sterile field. I have also worked in health care doing clinical procedures (though obviously not as an Lpn/Lvn). In my previous experiences, I was always taught that touching a sterile objuect with a non-sterile hand 'contaminates' the object and it is no longer sterile. Also that placing a non-sterile object in a sterile field contaminates the whole field and that when this happens, the sterile field needs to be set-up once again. When questioned about this, the clinical instructor grudgingly admitted that while all of this is true, since she was only instructing us to touch a small portion of the item and that portion would not be in contact with the patient, it really 'isn't such a big deal' and did not necessitate the need to re-do the sterile field. Even though she did say that putting a contaminated object within the field contaminated the whole field. I am so confused. I know what she said to do would contaminate the field. Is it really not s big deal as she says? Or is she instructing us to do something that could cost me a job or a license if I did it within the course of emplyment as an LVN? Please, any input would be much appreciated.