Nurses/Phlebotomists/etc: How to ask politely for gloves to be replaced?
March 20, 2015 11:04 AM Subscribe
I recently had an iv line inserted by a delightful technician who was wonderful in every way except that she put on her gloves and then rubbed her nose and then proceeded to insert the line. How could I have asked her to change her gloves without causing offense?
My piercing studio is *scrupulous* about not touching sterile surfaces with gloves that have touched anything else.
On the other hand, I got an infection after surgery a few years ago, and I don't know whether it was coincident or causation, but immediately prior to the surgery, a nurse trying to insert a line in my arm closed a dusty curtain and returned to what she was doing without changing gloves.
I'm really sensitive to the use of gloves for this reason and I wish I could have asked the technician this week to change her gloves after she rubbed her nose, but I didn't know how to do it without being really offensive, and I know that the chances of infection are relatively low but I feel like if you're going to use the gloves, use the gloves, right? Why take a risk?
Suggestions on wording for the future?
My piercing studio is *scrupulous* about not touching sterile surfaces with gloves that have touched anything else.
On the other hand, I got an infection after surgery a few years ago, and I don't know whether it was coincident or causation, but immediately prior to the surgery, a nurse trying to insert a line in my arm closed a dusty curtain and returned to what she was doing without changing gloves.
I'm really sensitive to the use of gloves for this reason and I wish I could have asked the technician this week to change her gloves after she rubbed her nose, but I didn't know how to do it without being really offensive, and I know that the chances of infection are relatively low but I feel like if you're going to use the gloves, use the gloves, right? Why take a risk?
Suggestions on wording for the future?
"Hey, sorry to bother you, but I'm wondering if you could put on a different pair of gloves? I had a bad experience awhile back with an infection from a surgery and I'm super paranoid about it."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:13 AM on March 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:13 AM on March 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
You self-efface a little bit: "I'm sorry, I'm probably being overcautious here, but I had an infection once that was really awful. Can you change your gloves again? It's only that I think you touched your nose with the glove and it would really put my mind at ease. Thank you."
The trick is to let them know your expectation without making it A Big Deal That You Caught Them. So smile, and say it like it's not a big deal, because it isn't.
posted by gauche at 11:16 AM on March 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
The trick is to let them know your expectation without making it A Big Deal That You Caught Them. So smile, and say it like it's not a big deal, because it isn't.
posted by gauche at 11:16 AM on March 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
Just like handwashing requests, I think it's best to be straight-forward without a lot of extra embroidery, "Can you change your gloves since you touched your face just now?" They know clean technique. No problem in pointing out the occasional deficiency. It's not offensive at all. Anyone who gets offended is really not doing their job, especially since hospitals are emphasizing to not get offended in their behind-the-scenes training.
posted by quince at 11:23 AM on March 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by quince at 11:23 AM on March 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
It helps to assume the best and use humor:
Hey, I don't think you realized you rubbed your nose with your right glove. Why do noses always itch AFTER you get gloves on? I would very much appreciate it, though, if you could put fresh gloves on.
posted by bearwife at 11:37 AM on March 20, 2015
Hey, I don't think you realized you rubbed your nose with your right glove. Why do noses always itch AFTER you get gloves on? I would very much appreciate it, though, if you could put fresh gloves on.
posted by bearwife at 11:37 AM on March 20, 2015
"Oh, gosh, I don't mean to be fussy but you just touched your nose. Would you mind changing gloves?"
Screw 'em if they get mad for getting busted for not doing their job right. Ask for a supervisor if they give you any attitude.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:47 AM on March 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
Screw 'em if they get mad for getting busted for not doing their job right. Ask for a supervisor if they give you any attitude.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:47 AM on March 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
Just ask directly as above.
However the gloves are to protect HER, not you - they aren't sterile. They just come out of a big box that has been open to the environment (sterile gloves are individually wrapped, and will be opened out onto a sterile field, and will be put on in a particular way). She shouldn't be touching the area she's cleaned with the gloves anyway (to maintain sterility at the injection site). Link
But yeah if it bothers you just ask, nobody's going to be offended unless you ask in a rude way that implies she doesn't know how to do her job or something.
posted by tinkletown at 11:53 AM on March 20, 2015 [29 favorites]
However the gloves are to protect HER, not you - they aren't sterile. They just come out of a big box that has been open to the environment (sterile gloves are individually wrapped, and will be opened out onto a sterile field, and will be put on in a particular way). She shouldn't be touching the area she's cleaned with the gloves anyway (to maintain sterility at the injection site). Link
But yeah if it bothers you just ask, nobody's going to be offended unless you ask in a rude way that implies she doesn't know how to do her job or something.
posted by tinkletown at 11:53 AM on March 20, 2015 [29 favorites]
Nurse here, coming in to say the same thing as tinkletown. Non-sterile (sometimes called "exam") gloves are for the protection of the person doing the venipuncture, so they aren't accidentally exposed to your blood; exam gloves are just as "dirty" (non-sterile) as the other non-sterile surfaces in the room. Changing non-sterile gloves because they touched a non-sterile surface makes very little infection control sense.
What ought to be done for your protection before any procedure is hand sanitizing, either with alcohol-based gel or with regular soap and water. PLEASE ask for your caregivers to sanitize their hands before they touch you if you didn't see them do it.
posted by jesourie at 12:15 PM on March 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
What ought to be done for your protection before any procedure is hand sanitizing, either with alcohol-based gel or with regular soap and water. PLEASE ask for your caregivers to sanitize their hands before they touch you if you didn't see them do it.
posted by jesourie at 12:15 PM on March 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
It's not an exact comparison, but I recently had a manicured gel nail repaired at a place I've normally found really clean, and the guy on this particular day clearly didn't want to bother getting out an entire set of tools from the autoclave (the ones that appear in the little packet) for one nail, so he dug around in a bunch of the drawers at various stations and produced a little scraper blade with which he started removing the gel from the nail. I said, "Um, is that clean?" Even though I knew it wasn't. He blew me off, like, "Oh, this isn't dangerous, this doesn't touch anything but the nail. Doesn't touch your skin. This doesn't matter." I didn't summon the nerve to continue to protest.
Fortunately for me, he then decided they hadn't softened up the gel polish enough, so he rewrapped the nail and said it needed another five minutes before he removed it. When he came back with that same scraper, I said, "No, I'd like a clean tool, please, that freaks me out." And he didn't like it, and he clearly thought I was an idiot, but he went over and got a set of fresh tools, meaning I didn't have to sit around and worry about it. (And if it weren't the case that they're supposed to use a sterile scraper, there wouldn't have been one in the kit, making his "it's fine for me to take a dirty one out of a drawer" argument horsepucky.)
My advice: say it politely. From a nurse, you probably won't even get the pushback I did, but if you do, just say it again. Nicely but firmly. It's your body. You're not crazy. Sometimes people are forgetful, and sometimes -- as with the guy I had -- they don't want to be bothered when they consider the odds of a problem low. But you have the right to ask people to follow basic good practices, of which "please don't touch your face and then stick me with a needle" is one.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 12:32 PM on March 20, 2015
Fortunately for me, he then decided they hadn't softened up the gel polish enough, so he rewrapped the nail and said it needed another five minutes before he removed it. When he came back with that same scraper, I said, "No, I'd like a clean tool, please, that freaks me out." And he didn't like it, and he clearly thought I was an idiot, but he went over and got a set of fresh tools, meaning I didn't have to sit around and worry about it. (And if it weren't the case that they're supposed to use a sterile scraper, there wouldn't have been one in the kit, making his "it's fine for me to take a dirty one out of a drawer" argument horsepucky.)
My advice: say it politely. From a nurse, you probably won't even get the pushback I did, but if you do, just say it again. Nicely but firmly. It's your body. You're not crazy. Sometimes people are forgetful, and sometimes -- as with the guy I had -- they don't want to be bothered when they consider the odds of a problem low. But you have the right to ask people to follow basic good practices, of which "please don't touch your face and then stick me with a needle" is one.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 12:32 PM on March 20, 2015
The trouble I have with this kind of thing isn't the phrasing (there are many excellent examples above), but just the fact that asking people to do something differently always feels awkward and rude to me (even though I don't think it actually IS). I've found it helpful to practice in low-pressure environments. Somehow, even though saying to a friend in a roleplay, "Hey, would you mind [doing x differently]?" is a totally different setting, having my tongue say it in a forthright, firm way makes it easier in the real world.
posted by spindrifter at 1:41 PM on March 20, 2015
posted by spindrifter at 1:41 PM on March 20, 2015
Came here also to say that the gloves are to protect the health care provider, not the patient.
posted by Librarypt at 4:58 PM on March 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Librarypt at 4:58 PM on March 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
It might be embarrassing, but you've gotta bite the bullet and say something. You have a right to protect your health that FAR supercedes your responsibility to "not cause offense".
A similar thing happened to me once: A sandwich shop employee wiped her nose with her gloved hand and then went right back to making my sandwich. Right in front of me. She apparently didn't even register that she was doing it. I called her on it and, rather than apologizing, she casually asked if I'd like her to start over and make a new sandwich, like it was no big deal. Goddess knows on which foodstuffs she had previously left her slime trails. I left and went somewhere else to eat.
If this sort of thing happened to me in a medical setting where I was about to be put under sedation and wouldn't be able to watch out for myself, I might very well call off the procedure and go somewhere where they took hygiene and safety seriously.
posted by mysterious_stranger at 5:41 PM on March 20, 2015
A similar thing happened to me once: A sandwich shop employee wiped her nose with her gloved hand and then went right back to making my sandwich. Right in front of me. She apparently didn't even register that she was doing it. I called her on it and, rather than apologizing, she casually asked if I'd like her to start over and make a new sandwich, like it was no big deal. Goddess knows on which foodstuffs she had previously left her slime trails. I left and went somewhere else to eat.
If this sort of thing happened to me in a medical setting where I was about to be put under sedation and wouldn't be able to watch out for myself, I might very well call off the procedure and go somewhere where they took hygiene and safety seriously.
posted by mysterious_stranger at 5:41 PM on March 20, 2015
Be brief and direct. The nurse/phlebotomist/surgeon/whoever will be offended, so I think your best bet is to just be short and direct.
Know that if the person is drawing blood from you (or making you a sandwich), your fear is probably not super rational. i.e.: your chance of contracting a dangerous infection in this context is extremely low and this is not a sterile procedure. Hand washing/gelling is the most important intervention and gloves are not offering you any/much protection.
However, if you are in the ICU or about to be cut open, your concern is definitely rational, and I (a nurse) fully support you saying, "Hey, hate to be annoying, but will you please gel/change gloves/sterilize that before you touch my surgery site?"
posted by latkes at 10:32 PM on March 20, 2015
Know that if the person is drawing blood from you (or making you a sandwich), your fear is probably not super rational. i.e.: your chance of contracting a dangerous infection in this context is extremely low and this is not a sterile procedure. Hand washing/gelling is the most important intervention and gloves are not offering you any/much protection.
However, if you are in the ICU or about to be cut open, your concern is definitely rational, and I (a nurse) fully support you saying, "Hey, hate to be annoying, but will you please gel/change gloves/sterilize that before you touch my surgery site?"
posted by latkes at 10:32 PM on March 20, 2015
I guess I'd add if you have any opportunity to help the provider save face, go for it. Not because you should have to, but because human nature is what it is. So phrases like, "I really appreciate that you've been careful about changing gloves" might serve you better than, "Why didn't you change gloves?"
posted by latkes at 10:34 PM on March 20, 2015
posted by latkes at 10:34 PM on March 20, 2015
First, you shouldn't be embarrassed to ask the tech to put on a new pair of gloves. This is standard operating procedure and it's your health at risk, not theirs.
I get allergy shots and have so for years. Before the nurse gives your the injection they swab the area with rubbing alcohol to sanitize it. Well, one time, a nurse swabbed my arm and then blew on it to dry it! I stopped her right there and said, "What are you doing?"
Let's just say the nurse (NURSE!) was clueless and said she'd never thought of that before. I reported the incident. Geez.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 11:19 AM on March 23, 2015
I get allergy shots and have so for years. Before the nurse gives your the injection they swab the area with rubbing alcohol to sanitize it. Well, one time, a nurse swabbed my arm and then blew on it to dry it! I stopped her right there and said, "What are you doing?"
Let's just say the nurse (NURSE!) was clueless and said she'd never thought of that before. I reported the incident. Geez.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 11:19 AM on March 23, 2015
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They're professionals so straight, to the point, but polite is the way to go here. I'm certain she wasn't aware she had rubbed her nose before she inserted your line. It's not offensive to politely, but firmly, point it out to her for your safety.
posted by inturnaround at 11:12 AM on March 20, 2015 [11 favorites]