To glove or not to glove

[mrscreixell]

Hi,

I'm intrigued about the variation between units in the use of gloves as mandatory before touching any patient (not only those in isolation), as opposed to using them for specific procedures for example heel sticks, introducing OGTs....

I'm assuming that in all units everybody scrubs when they enter the unit and washes hands before and after touching each patient.

How do you do it in your unit? Are there different policies for family members than to health care personnel?

MC

[NICU_Nightingale, BSN, RN]

We scrub before we walk in the unit and we have to glove prior to every touch. Anytime you enter the room you're technically suppose to put on gloves. We aren't allowed to bring anything on to our unit but a pen and piece of paper.

Parents on the other hand- scrub when the enter the unit put anything the have (purses, pumps, keys) in a large garbage bag and don't have to wear gloves. They are told to sanitize their hands with the gel anytime they touch their personal items like purses or cell phones.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We do a 3 minute scrub, as does everyone entering the unit. Wash or gel in between. We glove for hands on care, line handling and breast milk handling, blood draws. But we do hold the babes for cuddling without gloves. They need skin to skin touch!

Parents only have to glove for contact precautions, reverse isolation and if they have artificial nails on.

[babiesRmylife]

We scrub in when we first arrive in the unit. Parents are to also scrub before they come into the unit. If you touch any personal item (purse, phone, wheelchairs, etc.) or body (face, glasses, etc.) you are to wash or put hand sanitizer on your hands.

If we have babies in isolation we must gown & glove (mask if droplet precautions), but we do NOT make parents do this. Parents are to wash before they leave the isolation room.

Nurses wear a gown when holding or feeding infants to protect you & your scrubs from spreading germs. Sometimes nurses have assignments where you need to pick up multiple infants throughout your shift so you need to protect you & them from spreading germs.

If you are doing anything where you might touch bodily fluid (spit, emesis, saliva, snot, poop/pee, blood, etc.)- wear gloves. Same goes during lab time- wear gloves. You can contact CMV, among other things, if you are in contact with body fluids that have CMV (not all hospitals test all babies until they show potential symptoms) without some sort of protective barrier.

[R1515J]

We also do a 2 minute scrub when we enter our unit. We wash with soap and water or foam prior to and after each patient interaction. The expectation is that you wear gloves with patient cares. As far as cell phones, we have plastic bags on our unit that the nurses and parents can use. We, too, wear a gown when we are holding and/or feeding babies.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

For ones who don't make parents gown and glove for isolated kids, do you limit where they can go in the unit while they are there to visit and do you have single rooms? I wish we could do this but we have pods and our ID department is crazy about people not wearing PPE for isolation.

[theradiantforce]

we do a 3 minute scrub and gel/handwash between each patient. For BS checks, IV care, diapering, etc. we wear gloves of course. However, for just holding or feeding, we don't wear gloves. The scrubs we wear are provided by the hospital and we wear gowns with each patient. I figure it's pretty much the same most places. Of course, I know a lot of places have done away with the gowns.