Should nurses wear rubber gloves when giving vaccines or taking blood?

[EggFriedRice]

I noticed recently when my mother was having a blood test that the nurse did'nt wear protective gloves, is this normal practice or should nurses always wear gloves when handling needles/blood?

It's not common practice to wear gloves when vaccinating as it's a 'no touch' procedure - the nurse doesn't touch the needle and doesn't usually touch the area to be injected. There is a very low risk of cross infection.

Taking blood is a bit of a grey area - gloves don't protect the taker against a needlestick injury and can make taking the sample more awkward so increasing the risk of a needlestick. The gloves are more for the medic's protection from the patient rather than vice versa!

Not ususally as it's a non touch procedure. Taking blood with gloves is much harder than wothout

Depends. The nurse at my gp surgery never wears gloves. But the phlebotomists at the hospital always do.