Do you wear your gloves?
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shorthairedpunk
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If theres no body fluid present I usually dont wear gloves. Most of the time I take my gloves off to start the IV because I start IVs by feel, especially if im starting one in a moving bus. According to the CDC the human skin is an effective barrier without notable defect, and I trust their word more than most. Now when going to a trailer park or the like, I ALWAYS wear gloves, thats just because of the dirtiness. If Im going from one patient to another I will wear gloves and change them between each patient out of respect for them, I dont care if I get blood on me, but I wouldnt want a provider putting it on me.
rescuecpt
Community Leader Emeritus
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With the right gloves, you can still feel through them. I always glove up for IVs, because my patients have a history of being good bleeders, and I usually have papercuts or the like on my hands.
Phridae
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I always wear gloves.
As for touching pens and door handles, just wipe them off after the run. I carry a pen that I only use while on calls. When I get home and I take it out of my pocket, it goes on the floor. Floors dirty anyways. Every now and then it gets a washing.
With pts. signing things, it all depends on the pt for me. If its some guy who fell down the stairs and broke his ankle, i'm not too worried about germs and whatnot. No blood. If its some dude from a 6 car pile up on the I, then yes. I worry about germs. Depends on the pt.
As for touching pens and door handles, just wipe them off after the run. I carry a pen that I only use while on calls. When I get home and I take it out of my pocket, it goes on the floor. Floors dirty anyways. Every now and then it gets a washing.
With pts. signing things, it all depends on the pt for me. If its some guy who fell down the stairs and broke his ankle, i'm not too worried about germs and whatnot. No blood. If its some dude from a 6 car pile up on the I, then yes. I worry about germs. Depends on the pt.
MedicPrincess
Forum Deputy Chief
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Problem with this is, how many pt's are you dealing with that have MRSA but they don't know it yet.
Had my first, and probably not my last, "Exposure" while working with the FD. The usualy "unconscious" person. Nobody knew anything...we all know the drill..
Two hours later, the hospital called...she had MRSA....
Lesson learned..
Gloves...YES...Always....
rescuecpt
Community Leader Emeritus
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# 1 reason I don't take my gloves off: If you're the least bit sweaty, you're not getting another pair back on.
How very true. I would have to agree with that cuz I have done that while trying to hold do a seizure pt to the hospital cot. I thought he was sudated so I steped back and took my gloves off we were talking and then he start thrashing around again so I grabed an arm and had someone opening a glove for me to replace the gloves and it was really hard. So now I leave them on until I can take them off and wash and dry my hands then I can reglove if need be.
Stevo
Forum Asst. Chief
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gloves were an option, if that, when i started. ...and we survived.
now that we have to use the non-laytex ones i find they rip just by looking at them
but then again, i play rough....
~S~
now that we have to use the non-laytex ones i find they rip just by looking at them
but then again, i play rough....
~S~
rescuecpt
Community Leader Emeritus
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Lot less HIV and HEP back then I'd bet...
rescuemedic7306
Forum Crew Member
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It makes me cringe now how we used to wallow around in blood, puke and all the rest and never give BSI a thought. As I remember, the only gloves we carried were in the OB kit. Nowadays, it's nitrile for me if there's any chance at all of contamination
Stevo
Forum Asst. Chief
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just an aside here,
safety is big biz in America, there's a lot of fear behind the sales pitches but not always a whole lot of reality statistics backing it up.
much of what WE in ems utilize in the field for safety is a broad blanket hand me down from hospital to prehospital, which fits about as well as any other hospital protocal in the field....
For instance, a while back, the numero uno stick incident was blood tube fills for ems, that was because we tried to mimic the er folks and use 10CC draws to fill a tub held bettween our fingers in a moving rig (insert frost heave and WC report here)
Jelco's were marketed under the guise of stick prevention, yet nobody really said anything about the latter proceedure being high risk, and we'd probably go ahead and do it in lieu of a vacutainer...
~S~
safety is big biz in America, there's a lot of fear behind the sales pitches but not always a whole lot of reality statistics backing it up.
much of what WE in ems utilize in the field for safety is a broad blanket hand me down from hospital to prehospital, which fits about as well as any other hospital protocal in the field....
For instance, a while back, the numero uno stick incident was blood tube fills for ems, that was because we tried to mimic the er folks and use 10CC draws to fill a tub held bettween our fingers in a moving rig (insert frost heave and WC report here)
Jelco's were marketed under the guise of stick prevention, yet nobody really said anything about the latter proceedure being high risk, and we'd probably go ahead and do it in lieu of a vacutainer...
~S~
Phridae
Forum Asst. Chief
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:lol: I was watching Paramedics on Discovery Health yesterday and there was this guy wearing purple gloves. He called them his prince gloves. I thought of you, Alex.
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:lol: I was watching Paramedics on Discovery Health yesterday and there was this guy wearing purple gloves. He called them his prince gloves. I thought of you, Alex. [/b][/quote]
I wear purple gloves.... or the blue ones from the ED. no one has cared yet, but I clash louldy with the crew's latex.
And I really like the SafeSkinNeon - purple gloves, in ANSI green.... works great when you are coding the fire police (I'm terrible
)Jon