I noticed that my grandma's aides often use nitrile gloves when helping my grandma in the bathroom. I never use gloves. Should I start wearing gloves? I'm especially concerned when I help my grandma on the toilet and when I cut the cuticles on her hands and feet during manicures and pedicures.
Can I get sick if I touch her urine or feces or, in the case of doing her cuticles, her blood?
I guess I hesitate to use gloves because not only are they expensive and bad for the environment, but because I don't want my grandma to think that I'm disgusted by her. Unlike her aides who are "strangers," I'm family and I don't want her to feel any distance from me, especially given her embarrassment during these very intimate, but necessary, interactions.
Thank you for reading my question! I look forward to hearing feedback!
Please don't hesitate to use gloves - they are for your saftey and comfort. I'll admit I am quite girly but I still always used my latex gloves for any care requiring touch. It helps my peace of mind and its for my saftey.
No matter how urgent the procedure is, taking 30s to glove up is a necessary and if you become ill etc then its worse for both of you.
I'd recommend getting some latex gloves and masks for your tasks - once you use them once you definelty won't stop.
On a recent dentist visit, with my him, the nurse suggested I hold his head for the extraction to help with comfort etc. She looked at me expecting to jump right up but I just asked for a pair of gloves first and the nurse said "oh i forgot to ask if you wanted any. Good on you for asking"!
Let me know if this helps
I wear gloves to empty grandma in laws potty chair. Nobody seems upset.
my motto is “I can touch anything with gloves on”
Ooutsiders should always wear gloves. You certainly don't want them going from patient to patient and seeing they don't wear gloves at your house. If they don't at your house, they don't at other houses. You have no idea what they might have touched somewhere else or if infections were involved.
Separate note, if you have any home health involved - like phys therapy or nursing, ask them about home visits from podiatrists. Best thing I ever found out about - the dr came to the house and did an excellent job. Much better than the podiatrist I was taking my mom to outside the home.
I never cut my mother's cuticles - not necessary to do anything that can make her bleed. However, I do trim her fingernails when they get too long and for that, I do not wear gloves.
Most likely you're thinking about the possiblity of offending your grandmother more than you're grandmother is thinking about your use of gloves. I agree with the other replies, people before environment... safety first. Use your common sense. If you wouldn't touch someone else's bodily fluids etc. without gloves, then you should wear gloves with grandma.
If you're cutting nails it helps to soak hands or feet first to soften them. Instead of cutting cuticles, gently push them back. That's my two cents 😊.
Use gloves.
From reading your responses to everyone here, I really think you should take a CNA course if you're planning on continuing to care for your grandmother.
I don't mean to sound harsh to you. I'm saying this for your own good because I'm sure you love your grandmother and want to do right by her.
Your total ignorance and complete lack of basic common sense is posing a serious threat to your grandmother's health and safety. If you do not know that cutting her cuticles can cause infection or that you should not handle her pee and sh*t without gloves then most definitely you should not be taking care of her until you learn.
You're an adult and as an adult should have a basic understanding on appropriate hygiene practices. Also on how infections happen and how minimize risk.
I'm sure you do have some understanding. Please take the CNA course or attend the free class that public health departments offer as a community service that also teach about how infections spread and how to help prevent that.
In the meantime call the local senior center and ask about when they have a mobile podiatry clinic. Most of them offer this service. You have to pay for it though. If grandma can't get out there are podiatrists who make house calls for the elderly.
There are gloves made out of Latex that people are allergic to. There are those with powder inside and some without.
You cut her cuticles or do you mean nails. If you mean cuticles, you do not cut them. They get thicker. Also, because they bleed, infections can set in. Sometimes nail files are rounded at one end. This is for pushing the cuticle back. There is also a small tool that does this. Soak her hands first and then just push the cuticle back. This can be done after a bath. Just use the towel to push the cuticles back. Haven't used polish in years but there used to be a cuticle remover you could use. When it comes to her feet, a podiatrist should be cutting her toenails. They tend to thicken as we age. I actually broke a clipper on my DHs nails. No aide or Nurse should be doing toenails. Again, infection could set in.
Use gloves when applying a barrier cream or even a lotion. (I always used gloves when putting a lotion on my husband because it made my hands slide more easily over his thin skin. Also the lotion was absorbed into his skin not mine.)
Using gloves is not a substitute for handwashing. You still have to wash hands when you remove the gloves.
If grandma is on Hospice Hospice will provide gloves for your use and for the staff as well as any caregivers you have.
As far as cutting her cuticles and nails..I hope there is not any blood that you might con=me in contact with so using gloves then is up to you.
I am obsessed with hand washing. I use warm water and soap. I’m not much on hand sanitizers. I prefer soap and water.
I think about the Asian and Arab cultures that take off their shoes. Our streets are absolutely filthy.
Look at how many people follow the ‘5 second’ rule. Some people think if they drop something and pick it up off the floor because it’s only been there a a few seconds it’s okay to eat. Nope, for me it goes straight into the trash! My floors are clean but I don’t eat food if I drop it on the floor.
I do take off my shoes in my home. It’s comfy to be barefoot.
Please don’t laugh but I rinse off the top of cans before opening them! I read there are rats in warehouses and they leave poop droppings on the cans!
So, I rinse them. I’m super fanatical!
My daughters laugh at me. Here’s what I have told them? Have you ever been sick from my cooking? They say no. So, I think that our neurotic behavior is justified! LOL 😆
About your grandma feeling distance from you, or that she's thinking she's repulsive, or that you don't like her well enough to wipe her with your bare hands - please don't think about that. Being family doesn't mean you have to put yourself in danger. Your goal should be to provide best patient care for your loved one, not worrying that you're going to hurt her feelings. Explain to yourself - and her if necessary - that you are following approved health protocol for home nursing care. Then do it. You're a caregiver. You must protect yourself in order to keep taking care of grandma.
She's lucky to have such a caring granddaughter.
I can’t imagine cooking, serving or eating food without washing my hands.
I like how Japanese restaurants serve hot towels to guests before eating.
And while nitrile gloves are nice the cheapest vinyl gloves are really just as functional, Walmart was my go to for inexpensive gloves or costco when I could get them, but I often found good deals on gloves from hardware stores... there was no difference.
Me, I'd wear gloves, my father got hep c from his MIL, she wiped her butt, didn't do a thorough wash job, cooked and gave it to him.
Whether it be family or others, safety first is my motto.
I think you’re fine not wearing gloves, since you wash your hands well. I did appreciate others wearing gloves around mom.
I am meticulous about washing my hands. It was engrained in me as a child, from my grandmother to my mother and the nuns at my school!
If I see someone in a restaurant not wearing gloves, I gross out.
I am also a bit obsessive about cross contamination in my kitchen. I am constantly washing my hands and I have separate cutting boards for meat and vegetables. My kids say that I have a touch of OCD! LOL
You put gloves on every time you help grandma in the bathroom. Or when you help her wash up. Or if you're applying any medications to her body. ALWAYS wear gloves.
The not wanting her to feel any distance between the two of you. Take a minute and think about that statement and what it sounds like.
If the aides 'often' wear gloves when helping grandma, that 'often' has to become an 'ALWAYS' as in today.
People can get sick when they don't take the proper precautions when doing personal hygiene care for another. Please start wearing gloves.
I always just washed my hands really well when I was done with his care.
But I don't have a germ phobia either and never have. It takes a whole lot to gross me out.
Of course when the hospice nurses or aides came to the house they always wore gloves and they should.
Bottom line is that you should do whatever you're comfortable doing.
For those living together and exposed daily to others, good hand washing suffices for many things, as in GOOD hand washing. Rubbing is what kills germs, bacteria and etc.
Glad you are thinking of the environment, but wow, I fear it is too late. When I look at daily garbage days on our street I pretty much know it is over for mankind, sooner than we think. So protect yourself.
As to RNs and visiting medical, if they aren't gloving they are being negligent. So imagine the numbers of gloves for them. Wish there was a better answer. Pretty much isn't.