EPISODE 02 - INTERNSHIP DIARIES (Protecting you and myself)

NOTICE!

Awesomites, I'm super sorry for being super late, I was so busy with my MD graduation hence I couldn't update the promised topics on Internship Diaries. I will update as soon as possible all the topics we need to discuss.

With love,

Jay

(LESSON 1.1)

WEARING SURGICAL GLOVES

       There are three forms of wearing gloves. 

1. OPEN, 
2. CLOSED 
3. ASSISTED. 

Closed is the most sterile method and used mainly in operating rooms where you wear gowns and glove yourself and asepsis is highly expected. 

You utilize the Open method in situations in wards, and other Non-OR situations. 

Assisted method is when someone else such as, a nurse or a fellow colleague will serve you the gloves and you simply slip your hands in.

OPEN method,

1. Remove whatever you are wearing in your hands, including rings, bracelets and watches. Try to keep it free elbow-down.
2. Wash your hands with soap, and use Sterilium(R) or Isopropyl or Ethyl alcohol 70%. (Using them will eliminate the remaining bubbles of the soap.) 
3. Then wipe your hands with a sterile towel.
4. You will take your surgical gloves, open the outer cover and bring the inner cover outside without touching inside the gloves. 

   

   Surgical Gloves Inner cover

5. Leave it on a flat clean surface and open the flaps, and you will see two gloves one for the right hand and the other for left hand.
6. You will also notice the sleeves of the gloves are rolled upwards. The inside out part is considered unsterile and the inside the roll part is considered sterile. 

   

   S = Sterile part   |    US = Unsterile part

7. So you use your non sterile dominant hand, hold the glove from the non sterile outside part and slip over your non dominant hand. Do NOT flap back the sleeve because will get contaminated because you are not yet wearing gloves on that hand.
8. Now use your non dominant hand with the glove on, and slip the four long fingers of your hand into the rolled sleeve of the other glove. Because it is sterile. Bring it up and slip the glove over your non gloved hand. And flip back your sleeve.
9. Then use your newly gloved hand to roll down the sleeve of your other glove from the inside the roll.

You are successfully gloved!!!

In closed method someone will open the outer cover for you and you take the inner cover out, and wear it in such a way where you do not touch the glove at all skin-to-skin directly, but it will be discussed later. Too much info in one post will cause brain freeze. 

In Assisted method after gowning yourself, someone else will open gloves and serve you. Check if the thumb side is correct accordingly and slip in. If not you will be stuck and will need a new pair of gloves. Waste of time, waste of gloves and waste of effort!!

*******
You put on your gloves and see the nurse has prepared alcoholized cotton balls, 5 plaster strips of around 4 inches long and partially opened the IV catheter pack.

You take one alcoholized cotton ball and start looking for a vein.

[ To be continued... ]

*******

The answers to our previous questions regarding gloving are,

1. There are 3 methods
       1. Open
       2. Closed
       3. Assisted

2. There are 2 types of gloves
       1. Examination gloves - Often clean but not essentially sterile although some sterile varieties exist.
       2. Surgical gloves - Often sterile and comes in a tightly sealed pack. Do not use if the pack is already open.