I was shadowing a nurse yesterday at a facility who happened to be a veteran nurse ( 60 years or older). Well, a pt. fell and was bleeding from her had. I witnessed the fall, so I called for help and made sure the pt. stayed put until helped arrived. The nurse I was shadowing came and started to apply pressure to the pts. head without gloves, the pts. blood was all over the nurses' hand. I felt bad that I didn't do that... but ultimately my health comes first and I'm not touching blood without gloves.
As we were doing wound care she still didn't wear gloves. She said back in her day she has touched so many things with her bear hands that sometimes she doesn't wear them.
I understand that is how she is used to practicing.
Does she smoke? leave her doors unlocked? use seat belts? does she still use candles at home to read? have an outhouse? dial the telephone? the world changes every day, you are either keeping up or falling behind. She is an awful example and unsafe. Maybe she doesn't care if she gets hepatitis, but what about giving it to the next patient? If I was her boss I would give her notice about glove use, then fire her if she didn't comply. Do you use the same keyboard or mouse that she does? Yuck.
Whenever necessary, whenever possible, WEAR THE GLOVES. Yes, I am an oldie but goodie, from before the times of universal precaqutions, and I know the importance of wearing gloves.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I am guilty of tearing the fingers I use to feel for veins ......I just can't get used to feeling the veins and starting IVs with them.....
Sorry but you would not touch me I'd run you out of my room. everyone has their pet peeves that is one of mine do not touch me without gloves and don't pull the finger off. I don't care how many times you have to stick but glove up and do it right or get someone else
You do understand the glove in this case is protecting me from your contaminates? When I am sticking you for an IV or lab work the danger of exposure is from your blood. My hands are clean and as long as I am not dripping blood and body fluids from my fingertips your exposure to any contaminates is nil..... Using my bare finger to feel is much less risky than you touching a grocery cart at the grocery store, touching the door knob at your MD's office, or the button on the elevator. I completely respect your point of view, and if you would want someone else I would not be offended at all and leave to get someone else. No skin off my nose....
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU/CCU, Specials, CM/DM.
I'm thinking of all the dirty hands reaching into the glove box... clean gloves are there to protect the wearer, not the person being treated. Clean is not sterile. And they might not be as clean as freshly washed hands.
Yes, but what the healthcare workers that don't always wash their hands??? We still have to protect the patient, as well as ourselves. Gloves are used for this reason and should always be used when there is any chance of encounter with bodily fluids.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I'm thinking of all the dirty hands reaching into the glove box... clean gloves are there to protect the wearer, not the person being treated. Clean is not sterile. And they might not be as clean as freshly washed hands.
Yes, being almost that old, I can understand (in general) where she's coming from. And I do agree it would have been best for her to have worn gloves. I'm not sure I'd categorize it as right vs. wrong, however. In an emergency situation (which this may or may not have been) it would be right to act this way to save someone's life; my opinion. The older nurse might be out of touch, in denial, have a death wish: there's new bad things out there that didn't exist when she was a younger nurse (HIV, resistant strains of bacteria). Perhaps she knew the patient and understood the risk to her own well-being to be very low (no skin breaks). On the other hand, according to the National Institute on Aging:
Dawg, I love the Internet.
Hmm. For some reason I thought the patient who fell was elderly...
They may true as far as what can be transmitted to the nurse, but what about what the nurse can give to the patient. Transmission of infection can go both ways. When was the last time this nurse washed her hands? The issue I have is that she is placing her dirty hands in a fresh wound. The transmission of infection works both ways.
I'm thinking of all the dirty hands reaching into the glove box... clean gloves are there to protect the wearer, not the person being treated. Clean is not sterile. And they might not be as clean as freshly washed hands.
Disagree. They are there for the protection of both. You also make a large assumption that people are performing PROPER hand hygiene. Just sit near a sink at work one day and watch people wash their hands. You would be surprised how many people do not do it properly.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I wouldn't do wound care without gloves, and I would wear gloves for anything that I could prepare for that would expose my hands to bodily fluids. I am terrible with picking my cuticles so I do have sometimes tiny open areas on the sides of my nails that could compromise my own safety if I got blood on them. That said, if there was an emergent situation where someone needed pressure applied which is the only situation I can think of off hand that might not allow you time to glove up first, I would risk my safety to apply pressure. Now if I had to grab something to apply that pressure then I would have the opportunity to grab gloves anyway. But if I could use something right near the patient like a blanket or something that I wouldn't delay to go get gloves if it was something emergent.
It is risking my safety but it is a risk I would be willing to take. Same if I was out in public and someone was bleeding bad and needed pressure apply and I didn't have gloves on me. I wouldn't begrudge anyone though if they put their safety first and went and grabbed a pair of gloves.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
If people are pulling out a pair of gloves they have had in their pocket I don't think the gloves are going to be any cleaner then the persons hands.
Wound care I would be getting a fresh pair of gloves out of the box if I wasn't required to wear sterile gloves. If your pulling a pair out of your pocket for this you are only protecting yourself, not the patient.
Your skin, particularly around your fingernails, is probably much less "intact" on a microscopic level than you think. All it takes is a microscopic abrasion! The first nurse to contract HIV got it from tiny abrasions from gardening activity at home.
......I just can't get used to feeling the veins and starting IVs with them....
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nurse2033, MSN, RN
3 Articles; 2,133 Posts
Does she smoke? leave her doors unlocked? use seat belts? does she still use candles at home to read? have an outhouse? dial the telephone? the world changes every day, you are either keeping up or falling behind. She is an awful example and unsafe. Maybe she doesn't care if she gets hepatitis, but what about giving it to the next patient? If I was her boss I would give her notice about glove use, then fire her if she didn't comply. Do you use the same keyboard or mouse that she does? Yuck.