My pts (in a quad room) were all sleeping and I stepped into the entry way into their room to take a peak and check on them. This was not an infection control room.
The infection control nurse comes up from behind and asks if I washed my hands before leaving the room. I said no, I did not really go in to the room and I did not touch anything.
She says, well you just vioated policy. You are to wash your hands before leaving a patients room.
Now I know that bacteria are wiley, tricky, sneaky and devious organisms but I neever knew they could jump 30 ft and purposefully land on my hands.......
We do not have the hand sanitizer at every door. To wash we must use the sink, soap, paper towels the whole nine yards..........
Does this policy seem a little excessive? It doess to me......
It might be excessive, however, imagine the following situation:
You don't use hand sanitizer before you enter the room, knowing you're just going to peek in at your patients. When you look in, you see one of the patients- a very unstable woman- getting up from bed and about to fall. If you don't run to her immediately she will fall.
Hospitals have a wash-in, wash-out policy because you just don't know what you might have to touch on the way in or out. The door handle, the countertop of the nurse's station, the chart, the curtain separating the beds, the wall that you steady yourself against, etc. There can be germs on all these places that you don't even think about. Even if you don't intend on touching a patient, you might find yourself in a situation where you can't prevent it.
It sounds like the infection control nurse was reminding you of policy. That's her job. Sometimes your workplace will have policies you don't agree with, don't like, or think are unnecessary. If you want to avoid disciplinary action and keep your job, you'll follow policy. When it's something as simple as using hand sanitizer before your enter or leave a room, it's hardly worth worrying about.
Well said. I use the hand sanitizer outside of patient rooms before entering and when leaving for the reasons stated above, as well as for the fact that it makes patients and families feel that you care about protecting your patient. Being a patient is a scary business, and to see that your nurse is making your safety a priority is a comforting thought.
When you do it enough times, it becomes a habit and requires no thought or extra work to do. And as many times as I use the sanitizer at my facility you'd think I'd have dry, irritated skin, but I really don't.
Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.
we have "hand hygeine auditors"... who actually walk around and check to see if u wash your hands.
A few things, Hand Washing is the #1 preventer of transmission of diseases., and you should always wash your hands before and after being in a patients room.
as a nursing student you should know better.
Hopefully next time you'll remember this. being that its in the best interest of you and your patients.
We have pods and we have to wash in and out, or sanitize in and out. Although, if we step one step in to say something, they don't ding us.
We had a heck of a time educating ours on the ways on NICU. One tried to tell our manager that we purposely kept the lights off or dim so that they couldn't see what we were doing...uh, we work with babies that should still be in the womb and the lights are of for a majority of the time for a reason. Or when we were running thru the back door bagging a kid who was really bad and they dinged us for not stopping to sanitize our hands on the way in, or for taking off our booties from the OR. Sometimes, there is a learning curve.
But, you do have to abide by policy. Carry a sanitizer in your pocket :)
And it's not just about cleaning your hands after you leave one room and enter another, you are also cleaning your hands after leaving a room because you may not go into another room, but may go and touch the computer, the charts, the COW, etc and spread the cooties to all those wonderful fomites.
A lot of people saying a lot of things, but not one shred of scientific rationale......
If I pop my head into a room to check on sleeping patients there is going to be no exchange of infectious organisms from them to my hands or my hands to them.......
Think about it folks.....
From many of your replies I find it hard to believe you even bothered to read the entire original post.......
A lot of people saying a lot of things, but not one shred of scientific rationale......
If I pop my head into a room to check on sleeping patients there is going to be no exchange of infectious organisms from them to my hands or my hands to them.......
Think about it folks.....
From many of your replies I find it hard to believe you even bothered to read the entire original post.......
I read your entire post, and it's you who is not getting the concept of infection control. It doesn't matter that you didn't go into that pt's room, it's that you left the other room with dirty hands so that you could walk all over the floor and spread your germs on anything you touch with your dirty hands.
And as another poster commented, what if the pt you check on needs help asap and you didn't wash your hands when you left the last pt's room? Are you going to say, "hey, hang out there on the floor while I wash my hands real quick".
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
OP, you asked for replies. You got them. Just because they aren't what you were hoping to hear---because most of us agreed with the infection-control nurse---there is no reason to get huffy with the members who took the time to offer you some advice and try to educate you.
Honestly, if I literally stick my head in the doorway to LOOK at a patient and don't touch ANYTHING or get close to touching anything, I wouldn't wash. We're washing enough already that the skin is practically falling off my hands as it is.
However, if I'm leaving a room and haven't touched anything but someone outside could question it, I would wash just not to get "dinged." My unit is a little different because the rooms all have glass doors, so anyone can see what you're doing if you're just checking on the patient (looking/not touching).
Well, much as it shocks me to admit it, I'm going to have to agree with the OP here.
If I'm standing at the entryway to a room with 4 patients in it, run my eye over them, yep everyone's okay, then turn around and leave, I don't really see the need to wash my hands.
The OP didn't say he didn't wash his hands before going IN, he said he stood in the entryway, looked, didn't touch anything, then left. I can see his point.
A lot of people saying a lot of things, but not one shred of scientific rationale......
If I pop my head into a room to check on sleeping patients there is going to be no exchange of infectious organisms from them to my hands or my hands to them.......
Think about it folks.....
From many of your replies I find it hard to believe you even bothered to read the entire original post.......
Yes, I read it. You said you stepped into the room, doesn't matter if it was just the entry way. The ingrained habit of always washing is what they are pushing for. You stepped in, you wash.
This is what you replied to me in another thread:
"What I was saying is that I EXPECT and WANT to bbe grilled, nitpicked, criticized, in short I want your experience!!
However, I am certain that the above can be done in a professional, respectful manner.....
I will readily admit that many many students are WAY too sensitive and need to grow up......"
and you got exactly that from the replies here. Your scientific rationale is the nosocomial infection rates and responses to them; doesn't matter if you think it has gone overboard, it exists.
A lot of people saying a lot of things, but not one shred of scientific rationale......
If I pop my head into a room to check on sleeping patients there is going to be no exchange of infectious organisms from them to my hands or my hands to them.......
Think about it folks.....
From many of your replies I find it hard to believe you even bothered to read the entire original post.......
You want the scientific rationale, OK She caught you coming out of a room. She didn't see what you did in the room. whether you touched something or not she ask you if you washed your hands. She was not concerned with what you did in the room. She only wanted to know if you washed your hands. When you said no you admitted to a brake in policy.It doesn't matter what you said you did before you came out of the room. You came out of the room and admitted you did not wash your hands. We do read your post. Now the Scientific rational for washing your hands. Infection is running rampant in hospitals today. The best way to stop the spread of infection is hand washing.
Horseshoe, BSN, RN
5,879 Posts
Well said. I use the hand sanitizer outside of patient rooms before entering and when leaving for the reasons stated above, as well as for the fact that it makes patients and families feel that you care about protecting your patient. Being a patient is a scary business, and to see that your nurse is making your safety a priority is a comforting thought.
When you do it enough times, it becomes a habit and requires no thought or extra work to do. And as many times as I use the sanitizer at my facility you'd think I'd have dry, irritated skin, but I really don't.