Wear gloves during assessment?

[future_nurse11]

I am a new nursing student who started clinicals pretty recently. Im wondering.. Do you wear gloves when taking vitals & during a full-body assessment? I know to follow what the instructor says to do.. My instructor doesn't enforce that we wear gloves during assessments.. But would it be a good idea to do it anyway? I had another instructor before who said she wears gloves anytime she has pt interaction. Just wondering what's the norm & what's best health-wise.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

I think calling our fingernails "harbingers of death" is melodramatic. It's not as though we're grooming ebola-infected monkeys between patient rooms. Proper and consistent hand hygiene and observing standard precautions is enough.

Gloving up to check a pulse on a clean, ambulatory, non-iso patient is borderline OCD crazy-pants.

Speak for yourself! I happen to really enjoy grooming Ebola-ridden monkeys whenever possible, especially between patients!

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

For those that glove up for every possible patient interraction, do you also wear gloves to the County Fair? Supermarket? At the Post Office, when filling out mailing slips (those pens....ewww)? Taken a subway lately? What about a booth in a diner for lunch? In those situations, do you wear gloves and change every few minutes as you move locations?

If not, I'd think you'd be risking just as much in those encounters--to be fair, probably MORE of a risk-- as you would with an obviously cared-for human being sitting on a bed, waiting for a BP check.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

It's interesting to me that this is seen as a dignity issue by some. I think I actually see things the opposite way. I don't care for skin-to-skin contact with strangers and would prefer not to be touched with bare hands in a medical setting. I'm not saying I'd go crazy if I were touched by bare hands, but it is my preference not to be...

I wear gloves for almost all patient contact because it's the most polite thing to do in my mind.

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

My motto is if it's wet and not mine, use gloves. I will not don gloves for your everyday normal patient assessment. If I am going to be touching something like trach ties, a gtube site, etc - yes, I will throw on a pair. Because... eeeew.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

My motto is if it's wet and not mine, use gloves. I will not don gloves for your everyday normal patient assessment. If I am going to be touching something like trach ties, a gtube site, etc - yes, I will throw on a pair. Because... eeeew.

In school I learned "warm, wet, and not yours" to be sure to have gloves on. I expanded that in later years to "warm or cold, if it's wet and not mine I'm not touching it!" :)

[Glycerine82, LPN]

It's not as though we're grooming ebola-infected monkeys between patient rooms

And there goes my computer screen!

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Was just looking at my (short) fingernails and thinking "Hmmm, Harbingers of Death, eh?"

[Coriander, BSN, RN]

After skin assessments that result in "oh, look what I found" as well as having micro call me two days later with positive results, I wear gloves for each assessment as well as perform hand hygiene.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

This is sad. It reminds me of when MRSA and VRE first started becoming a big problem. Nurses that do not wear gloves for all patient contact are putting the patient at risk. It is irresponsible and risky. Your fingernails are harbingers of death in the indiscriminate way that they harbor germs and transport them from one patient to another.

Where is your evidence that clean gloves are needed for all patient contact or that they are superior to hand hygiene? I'm guessing you don't have any since, you know, there isn't any. There is no recommendation to wear gloves for all patient contact and that is not part of standard/universal precautions. Proper hand hygiene between patients is sufficient. And MRSA and VRE require contact precautions so gloves alone would be insufficient to prevent their spread.

[Angeljho, MSN, NP]

You're going to have many different answers for this one. Personally, I wear gloves when doing an assessment and when taking V/S.

[Angeljho, MSN, NP]

It's interesting to me that this is seen as a dignity issue by some. I think I actually see things the opposite way. I don't care for skin-to-skin contact with strangers and would prefer not to be touched with bare hands in a medical setting. I'm not saying I'd go crazy if I were touched by bare hands, but it is my preference not to be...

I wear gloves for almost all patient contact because it's the most polite thing to do in my mind.

This times 100!!

[Beverage]

For me it depends upon the situation. If I'm simply restarting a beeping IV pump no, full assessment and admits always. Male patients who use a urinal, always (they hold their member and don't wash their hands) yuck. Bringing a box of juice, milk or coffee in the room no. Feeding a patient, yes. Changing linens, gowns or chux always. Bringing a towel or warm blanket, no. I always foam in and out of the room.