Germophobia

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Re: recent post that pops up too often about wearing gloves as soon as you walk into a patient's room.

Why become a nurse if you have germophobia?

My son-in-law is a little weird....got his PhD in molecular biology. He knew he didn't like germs, body fluids, "sick" people, etc. Thanks goodness he had the sense to know he couldn't be a doctor working in a hospital with sick people.

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Some of us are just a little lazy and like to be ready for anything. Patients who call for ice water sometimes try to stuff a dirty tissue into your hand on your way out the door.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

The analogy I always use is this: If you don't train for a marathon by lying on the couch- then you do not develop a healthy immune system by avoiding normal daily contact with the world's germs.

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I'm not a germophobe. I don't understand why gloving up makes one a germophobe. Lol.

To me, it makes sense. It's not odd for me to do it on my unit as we all do.

I also very rarely call out for being ill. I did have pink eye and a cold in February. The last time I needed an antibiotic was over 3 years ago.

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I've been a nurse for over 30 years. I think I had one cold in those 30 years.

There are many times I know I should have gloved up, (after the fact), and didn't. Seventeen of those years in acute care bedside nursing. The remaining years in outpatient surgery which included outpatient gastroenterology.

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