Journal article
Exploring inappropriate certified nursing assistant glove use in long-term care
American journal of infection control, Vol.45(9), pp.940-945
09/01/2017
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2017.02.017
PMID: 28863810
Abstract
•Inappropriate glove use was frequently observed in this long-term care study.•Certified nursing assistants failed to change gloves when indicated 66% of the time.•Of the touch points, 44% of the gloved touch points were contaminated.•Contaminated gloves spread pathogens.•Work needs to be done to improve glove use to reduce cross-contamination and decrease the risk of infections.
Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) frequently wear gloves when they care for patients in standard precautions. If CNAs use gloves inappropriately, they may spread pathogens to patients and the environment, potentially leading to health care–associated infections (HAIs).
Using a descriptive structured observational design, we examined the degree of inappropriate health care personnel glove use in a random sample of 74 CNAs performing toileting and perineal care at 1 long-term care facility.
During the 74 patient care events, CNAs wore gloves for 80.2% (1,774/2,213) of the touch points, failing to change gloves at 66.4% (225/339) of glove change points. CNAs changed gloves a median of 2.0 times per patient care event. A median of 1.0 change occurred at a change point. CNAs failed to change their gloves at a glove change point a median of 2.5 times per patient care event. Most (61/74; 82.4%) patient care events had >1 contaminated touch point. Over 44% (782/1,774) of the gloved touch points were defined as contaminated for a median of 8.0 contaminated glove touch points per patient care event. All contaminated touches were with gloved hands (P < .001).
Inappropriate glove use was frequently observed in this study. Contaminated gloves may be a significant cause of cross-contamination of pathogens in health care environments. Future research studies should evaluate strategies to improve glove use to reduce HAIs.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Exploring inappropriate certified nursing assistant glove use in long-term care
- Creators
- Deborah Patterson Burdsall - The University of Iowa College of Nursing, Iowa City, IASue E Gardner - The University of Iowa College of Nursing, Iowa City, IAThomas Cox - Iowa City VA Health Care System, Iowa City, IAMarin Schweizer - Iowa City VA Health Care System, Iowa City, IAKennith R Culp - The University of Iowa College of Nursing, Iowa City, IAVictoria M Steelman - The University of Iowa College of Nursing, Iowa City, IALoreen A Herwaldt - Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City, IA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- American journal of infection control, Vol.45(9), pp.940-945
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ajic.2017.02.017
- PMID
- 28863810
- NLM abbreviation
- Am J Infect Control
- ISSN
- 0196-6553
- eISSN
- 1527-3296
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2017
- Academic Unit
- Occupational and Environmental Health; Infectious Diseases; Epidemiology; Nursing; General Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984064156402771
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