Any Nurses who trained in 1989 or before......I have a question for you..

[recall]

When you washed/helped to wash someone, did you wear gloves ?

I just happened to get some poo on my hand ( don't ask ) and I washed it off, but I couldn't get rid of the smell. I said to my friend "This takes me back, we used to use washing powder to get rid of the smell, Melena was the worse " She looked at me horrified. Was it just me should I have been wearing gloves ????? I remember wearing them when I was being assessed administering an enema, so I think we used to wear them for procedures, and blood stuff, but not for poo or sick etc.

Please put my mind at rest, I feel all wrong now

Just want to add, that todays poo was at home, not work related.

anyone?

If I remember correctly, it was optional whether to wear gloves or not but I think they were mostly for the doctors, consultants or special procedures.

I remember changing colostomy bags without gloves...so the patient wasn't made to feel that the procedure was considered dirty. Most washing of patients was also done without gloves and they were only just being used for dressings (rather than using forceps to hold everything).
Hands were washed before leaving the ward and again on entering and everytime you touched a patient, made a bed etc, etc. I must have spent best part of each shift at the sink :)

We used gloves for the dirty bits, but not for making beds or washing hand/faces. I think they were horrible plastic things as well, not the rubbery/latex type.

I once emptied a catheter bag all over my foot

I started working in a nursing home, (not a nurse, but a carer) about 12 years ago, and I really cant remember wearing gloves then! I think the nurses did for procedures, but not for getting people washed etc.

I am a carer again now, and I couldnt think of doing anything like that without gloves on!

No. I didnt wear gloves for anything except giving enemas. All dressings were done using forceps and a "clean" and "dirty" hand. Washing, bed making, bum wiping was done with bare hands. On the other hand MRSA patients and HIV patients were treated as if they had the plague.

Thanks, I feel better now. I just don't remember there being any gloves to use any where, just wasn't an option. I watched "Call the Midwife" on Sunday and noticed that she wore gloves, and I felt all because that was in the bloomin 1940's, how come they got to wear gloves ?????

I can't remember wearing gloves for anything. Maybe my hospital was short of money. I do remember the first pair of non latex gloves I saw. They were purple and reserved for one particular doctor.

We used toothpaste to get rid of the smell of poo from our hands.
I noticed the gloves on the midwives as well. I asked my mum who trained as a madwife in the lates 50's if they wore gloves- they did, gloves that were washed out and then reautoclaved.
You are right gloves just were not available- the hand soap was betadine aqueous-god my hands used to get rough and sore.

1971 wearing gloves was for surgeons and scrub nurses.I remember inserting suppositories using a rubber,washable finger stall < boak >

DancingShoes I remember that ! We were always taught to mask any expression of shock/disgust/horror, and

"Treat the patients with an unconditional positive regard"

I actually feel tearful reading that, and very proud of my training, when I think of the way the standards have dropped since those days. It was worth pooey hands

We used to go round at about 8-9 to every single patient and make sure they were comfortable, warm and ready for the night, turn the lights down, make sure they could reach the bell.

(and even wake them to administer sleeping tablets )

It was optional I seem to remember.
There wasn't boxes of gloves everywhere like now.
In fact I have a new employee who is in his 60's having not worked for some years.
He told me he doesn't like to wear gloves at all because it 'makes the patient feel rejected and distanced' from the nurse.
When I told him it was compulsory now for any care involving bodily fluids he wasn't happy and thinks it's ridiculous.
I think you are right that it wasn't common place unless someone had a diagnosed infection of some kind.

No, def no gloves for washing, nor bum wiping, dressings (aseptic technique using forceps), catheter / colostomy emptying, injection / enema giving. I think the only time I put on gloves was for suppositorie / pessary insertion. Trained in 84 - how things have changed!

like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?q=finger+stall&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=654&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=i-g2JgTozEJ0ZM:&imgrefurl=www.made-in-china.com/showroom/juicy-cleansupplies/product-detailKblmruMykXVZ/China-White-Antislip-Finger-Stall.html&docid=jLcVBdKON3F9TM&imgurl=image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00jvsaQtqghZck/White-Antislip-Finger-Stall.jpg&w=640&h=480&ei=CtIrT8TaK8qLswbK8NT8DA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=726&vpy=126&dur=2768&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=123&ty=108&sig=117079158785057277168&page=2&tbnh=141&tbnw=200&start=15&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:15" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this? Maras

That is a state of the art stall,recall.

Ha haaaaaaa ! I love it !

I remember always getting bollocked by this Sister, and I lived in fear of her. One day, I smashed a thermometer in the day room and I was so scared of telling her that I chased the mercury round with a paper towel and berried it in a the soil of a house plant

Those bloody Obs - never ending on surgical ward.

Straightening the bedcovers umpteen times a day! Patient up and washed, bed changed. Patient lying on bed for Drs' rounds - bed straightened after. Patient back on bed for after-lunch rest - bed straightened after. And repeat.

Post-op obs, dressings rounds, 'back' trolley, 2 hourly turns...no wonder I only weighed 9 stone, I was always moving!

I never wore gloves as we were told it was a barrier to the patient and made them feel worse. So I changed lots of colostomy bags, poo filled beds and pants etc with bare hands and washed them after.
Remember obs rounds, back care rounds and pressure relief too, I never stopped. Can also remember going round and making sure people were comfy, their beds were clean and tidy and also having time to talk. On elderly care wards I used to do foot baths and massage feet and hands which were so appreciated.Sadly I doubt there would be time for such details these days

Obs were never ending but it was nice to get a chat with the patient and then straighten out their locker, refresh the drinking water or sort their flowers.

Remember having to strip the beds (middle of sheets in so no dust) then wash the entire bed, wash mattress, turn the mattress, fresh linen then wash locker. No gloves and the chemical used stripped the skin off your hands worse than Hibiscrub.

We washed hair with jugs of water and bowls for bed bound patients then put in rollers if they wanted.

Definately optional back in 88 .