I’ve only been in the hospital 7 days but already I have noticed quite a few differences in that way nurses and physicians practice medicine. Now I will confess that I have been pampered at UNC Hospital with all the bells and whistles of technology and therefore I must try really hard not to pass judgment on how things are done in a different country. That being said… the nurses and doctors here do not seem to have a concept of contamination or transmission of disease via blood. YES they know disease may pass through blood products… but for some very strange reason they do not wear gloves in normal everyday handling of blood.
Countless occasions I have seen nurses start IV’s without gloves. They iodine the skin and retouch the area with bare fingers that have not been washed. They also do not wear gloves when removing IV’s as well. Now according to the nurses, they can feel the vein better without gloves… while this makes sense I still believe it is unsafe to handle needs around patients without the use of gloves. I for one am not up for accidently sticking myself with a contaminated needle. Another example is with blood transfusions. One of my friends became severely anemic and required multiple blood transfusions and platelets. Of the 5 or 6 nurses in charge of her care over 3 days, only one nurse worse gloves when hanging and taking down old bags.
My third example is from the operating room. YES the doctors where gloves for surgery… so please do not think otherwise. My 2nd day in the OR I got to observe a hip prosthetic replacement surgery. There were 2 orthopedic surgeons that removed the old implant and put in a new ball and socket. I have never seen doctors be so brutal to a patient’s body. Removing the implant took a lot of work and there was quite a few blood splatters on both surgeon’s faces. To my surprise the surgeons did not have glasses on or a plastic shield over their eyes. On multiple occasions the circulating nurse had to wipe blood off of their foreheads and around their eyes.
I feel like I am being very critical about this topic on blood, but I do not think it is safe practice not only for the patient but for the nurses and physicians. As health care providers we must also take care of ourselves and protect ourselves from unnecessary contamination. Perhaps it is health costs or the fact that gloves are not part of protocol for the hospital or regions. Maybe they are not concerned about such things as we are in the US? Standard of care is different all over the world and it is interesting to see and experience different ways of practicing medicine… I look forward to seeing other differences as well as similarities!
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