Essay On Washing Hands

What is the number one thing a good nurse should know how to do? A good nurse should know how to correctly wash their hands. Hand washing is a basic foundation skill that will carry with you throughout your entire nursing career. Washing hands helps prevent the spread of microorganisms and as a nurse we want to provide a safe environment for our patients. It was a busy Friday at the hospital, a lot of patients were needing to go under procedures in the GI lab that day. Before the procedure, you as a nurse need to do a full assessment on the patient prior to undergoing anesthesia. As I was observing one of the nurses testing the patients’ blood glucose level, he was not wearing gloves. As he was testing the blood glucose level, blood had spilled

The patient seemed not to understand nor really mind the nurse not wearing gloves when the nurse took the blood glucose level. I asked the nurse if he was going to wash his hands before he continued on with the head to toe assessment. The nurse paused, stared at me, and then proceeded to the sink to wash his hands. I was observing his hand washing technique and noticed he only washed his hands for less than 10 seconds. The nurse quickly scrubbed his hands together without thoroughly cleaning in between the webs of his fingers or under his nail beds. I proceeded to ask the nurse how long you are supposed to wash your hands at the hospital. The nurse told me roughly 10 seconds and seemed not to really know how long. Unfortunately, no other nurses or health care providers witnessed him washing his hands. If I had to estimate how others would feel, I’m sure they would be disappointed and take the initiative to show the nurse the correct way to wash hands. As I asked the nurse why he didn’t wear gloves in the first place when testing the blood glucose level, the nurse said to me, “I made a mistake and forgot to put gloves on… don’t do what I did in that situation.” The nurse seemed to be aware of his