is this out of line?

[sullidog]

From all the years I've been on dialysis, I've learned a lot including protecting against infection. Here's something I was thinking about though being that I am blind and I know the improtants of gloves and masks, but I can't see to tell rather a healthcare professional is waring a mask or not. This puts me at a disadvantage, now a mask I can usually tell because the sound of their voice will be a bit distorted, but gloves it's hard to tell since I can't see them and really won't know until the person touches me, now I can ask if he or she is waring them to which they will say yes, but if I wanted to be 100 percent sure the person touching me is stairal a yes won't mean a thing to me. Do you think it would be out of line for me to ask a health worker to let me touch their hands? and if he or she refuses would it be out of line to refuse for that person to treat me? Other wise I have no way of knowing if that person is waring proper items to work on my access.
What do you think? If you have a better way for me to do this let me know.

[smcd23]

I think any worker who actually cares about patients and their job would be okay with that request. And if they say no even if they ARE wearing gloves, they should just look for another job. It won't take but 2 extra seconds. I know at hubbys clinic they would be okay with that request.

[MaryD]

It might be that if you touch the gloves, they will no longer be sterile.  Maybe ask if you can touch the wrist of the gloves instead.

[Jean]

Good answer Mary. If I were a health worker and had a blind, or semi blind patient, I would have no problem proving to them I had gloves on. It is not out of line to protect yourself.

[Alex C.]

Being blind, you might not be aware as to how obvious those gloves are when worn. I can't think of ANY time in my life where I've ever seen a health-care worker doing any type of medical procedure without wearing gloves. It would be obvious from 5' away if they weren't, and I would assume that anybody doing such a thing would likely be severely reprimanded for doing so. Also, in the last 30 years, the fears of blood-borne pathogens has made it nearly mandatory to wear gloves anytime you come in contact with other people's body fluids. Only a very, very stupid or reckless heath care worker would ever do such a thing, and if they did, they wouldn't last long. I think your fears are very remote.

[Deanne]

Can you hear the practitioner putting on the gloves? I noticed that they have a recognizable sound when they're pulled from the dispenser and when the practioner is putting them on. Maybe you could listen for this and if you don't hear it, then you could ask to feel them.

[amanda100wilson]

the reality is that gloves are no more than clean, since the top ones sit at the top of the box on the clinic shelf.  in my view, well-washed hands are just ad good as gloves.  I don't think that any healthcare worker would cannulate etc. where they are at risk of contact with blood without wearing them, since gloves are there to poor to protect them more than you.

[sullidog]

good suggestions, the reason I bring this up is that the tech working with me the other day stuck herself with my needle while trying to force it to advance when it was giving her trouble do to stenosis. I got a blood shower, they didn't think she was waring gloves.

[smcd23]

Good lord sullidog, that sounds not just disgusting but downright horrendous! If she wasn't wearing gloves, she should be fired for putting your life and the lives of others in danger.

I definitely think then, since you have what appears to be a more than valid reason for concern, that it would be okay to ask to touch her hands/wrist before she touches you. The reason they wear the gloves isn't necessarily for sterile reasons (I know they have different sterile gloves in special packages from when hubby was on PD and had to have things done to his catheter) but for safety reasons. Too many blood born illnesses out there...

[AnnieB]

Anyone setting an IV or access should be wearing gloves, for the reasons mentioned here earlier (risk of blood-borne pathogens). Just washing their hands is not enough. If you think the tech is not being hygenic, you certainly have the right to verify that s/he is wearing gloves. You don't have to touch his/her fingers, you could just touch the cuff of the gloves to make sure they are wearing them.

If the tech doen't want to let you check this to reassure yourself, complain to the charge nurse, or go as far up the chain of command as you need to, in order to do this. If someone isn't wearing gloves, and is drawing blood or accessing your vein, they could get written up at the very least.

 

[Alex C.]

BTW, since the poster is blind, he might not be aware that there are new versions of nitrile gloves that have a smoother surface (that is, less 'rubbery'). He might not be used to the feel of these newer gloves on his skin, and thought that the person wasn't actually wearing any gloves.

[Deanne]

Under the circumstances you described, would the tech's gloves have protected you? I can imagine the glove splitting open when the needle went through it, which meant the blood would have sprayed outside of the glove.

[dpick111]

I think there would be no problem in asking them to touch the cuff of their gloves.  You have every right to make sure you're safe.