I am a brand new nurse one month out on the job. I went in to a patient's room today to disconnect the IV antibiotic and flush the line, and I put on gloves. The nurse who orients me said she never wears gloves to flush an IV and asked me why I did. I was told that you always wear gloves whenever you are in any situation where you could come in contact with blood.
Am I being over cautious by wearing gloves for simple flushes?What do you all do when you are flushing lines? I couldn't find an official protocol in any of my books just for a simple flush.
I don't always wear gloves when I maybe should, but if it makes you feel more comfortable to wear them by all means do so. I'd never give a nurse trouble for wearing them.
When I was in nursing school, I had been assigned to a rather unsavory character who was obviously a drug addict and had no telling what. PT had been called in to evaluate this guy and outside the room I told the therapist to put on gloves, there was no telling what this guy had. She looked at me kind of funny, but put them on.
Sure enough, she ran her hand down his leg and saw blood on her glove (he had scabs and sores here and there all over his body.) I beamed at myself with pride over that. I really felt like I helped save that PT from the funk-itis.
A nurse that specializes in infection control in my hospital says that we don't have to wear gloves when we have no chance coming in contact with bodily fluids. She said this includes from changing linen to doing vital signs to bed baths (that doesn't include any open cavities). She claims the glove acts an incubator and causes more risk of infection.
That doesn't make sense to me though. If you wear gloves, yeah it may be an incubator, but you always wash your hands after anyway, so what's a little more protection for the pt. and yourself? anywho, my two cents. :chuckle
I pretty much wear gloves all the time I'm in a patient's room, and definitely for flushing an IV. The IV thing is more for their protection than mine. We deal almost entirely with central lines and I figure even with good handwashing I'm less likely to get an organism in their line if I'm wearing gloves.
Specializes in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Office, Psych.
A nurse that specializes in infection control in my hospital says that we don't have to wear gloves when we have no chance coming in contact with bodily fluids. She said this includes from changing linen to doing vital signs to bed baths (that doesn't include any open cavities). She claims the glove acts an incubator and causes more risk of infection.
That doesn't make sense to me though. If you wear gloves, yeah it may be an incubator, but you always wash your hands after anyway, so what's a little more protection for the pt. and yourself? anywho, my two cents. :chuckle
I teach infection control! And i would never tell a nurse not to wear gloves! If you have the chance to come in contact with blood or body fluids than you can be exposed!!
Vitals / you can get skin infections, sores from open wounds, honest!!!!!
If you touch it you can get it!!!
I think safe is better than not!!!!
:argue: ,-----------------------don't want to squabble but Better safe than sorry!!!!
One thing I'm bad about is wearing gloves when I use the glucometer. We draw blood off their line into a syringe than just use the glucometer in the med room, and I rarely wear gloves (bad me) and have squirted blood on myself. They just installed a bunch of glove racks above the counter I use in there, though, so I've gotten better about taking the 0.3 seconds to put gloves on.
Jo Dirt
3,270 Posts
I don't always wear gloves when I maybe should, but if it makes you feel more comfortable to wear them by all means do so. I'd never give a nurse trouble for wearing them.
When I was in nursing school, I had been assigned to a rather unsavory character who was obviously a drug addict and had no telling what. PT had been called in to evaluate this guy and outside the room I told the therapist to put on gloves, there was no telling what this guy had. She looked at me kind of funny, but put them on.
Sure enough, she ran her hand down his leg and saw blood on her glove (he had scabs and sores here and there all over his body.) I beamed at myself with pride over that. I really felt like I helped save that PT from the funk-itis.