latex, leather and chains

                  
Today I had blood taken, nothing unusual for a cancer patient.

I've had it done a hundred times before, at least. Sometimes it's a disaster, sometimes I don't even notice. Today it was way up there on the scale of Simple Procedure Done Well. A little jab, hardly pain, and that was it. The way it should be.

Why, I've wondered, do some medical professionals butcher such a simple procedure? I've had them repeatedly try to hit the vein, and miss (I have good veins). I've been left with bruises up and down my arm like a downtown eastside junkie. I've had shockingly painful experiences when the needle was inserted. It's not rocket science, why aren't all of them competent?

At one memorable St. Mary's Hospital fiasco where a nervous nurse repeatedly and painfully injected a large needle under the skin on the back of my hand, but couldn't manage to hit the vein, I suggested she go out on the street and bring back a junkie to do the job right.

Okay, I know that wasn't very nice, but I wasn't feeling well and that sometimes deteriorates my usually patient and kind disposition. She left, not to find a junkie, but to send back another nurse who slid the needle into the vein, first time, no pain.

Maybe nurses who can do the deed well should have a little badge on their uniform pocket. Like a Boy Scout badge, maybe with a brightly embroidered drop of blood or a syringe. I think they deserve recognition for their skill. Plus, it would warn unsuspecting patients, when they encountered a badgeless blood-taker or injection-giver, to grit their teeth because it's gonna not be nice.

One nurse told me that she was never trained to give an injection. What the fuck? How can you not be trained in this frequently performed procedure? Anyway, that was her excuse. She blamed the current Liberal government for their "heartless" cutbacks in medical funding.

I wished that the union would back off on their Poor Underpaid Nurses rhetoric. Nurses have no choice about belonging to the union, and paying the substantial union dues, so it's not like they're in danger of losing members.

Sorry, I digress. Back to the blood sample.

Today, I noticed that the nurse did not wear the ubiquitous latex gloves, and I asked her why. She explained that she was trained decades ago, when frequent handwashing was as automatic as breathing, and that she relied on a sense of feel that was compromised by the latex. Certainly, I barely felt the needle going in and she nailed the vein, so maybe that was a factor.

Nurses, like all front-line medical workers, are at a higher risk than an accountant for needle-stick injuries, which could result in infection with AIDS or hepatitis. We talked about how ridiculous it was to wear latex gloves as a safety precaution. Think about it: is a thin layer of latex going to prevent a needle-stick injury? Not.

I religiously wear latex gloves when making wine because even one rogue yeast particle can ruin an entire batch. Making wine, your hands are moving over a large, open primary fermenter, and a tiny particle that might have been hiding under a fingernail might find its way into the mix. It's the only time I wear them, and I don't like it. They decrease my sensory input, and make it difficult to do manual tasks such as ripping open a tiny yeast package. I certainly wouldn't want to put a needle into a vein while wearing them.

But are the gloves really necessary? Do they do any good at all?

The latex-glove craze started in the 1980s when AIDS was new and no one was certain how it was transmitted. Hepatitis C was yet to be identified as a disease transmitted exclusively by blood-to-blood contact. Someone came up with the latex gloves idea and I wonder if it was to protect medical professionals or to give a (false) sense of security to patients?

I remember a nurse coming into my hospital room with that wheeled cart holding numerous vials of blood samples, and she was heading for my arm to get my sample. She was wearing latex gloves.

She took my blood and moved to the next bed to take that patient's blood. Still wearing the same latex gloves that she wore when she came into the room.

So, it seems the gloves are to protect the medical professional rather than the patient. But, think about it. We already established that the flimsy gloves aren't going to stop a needle-stick injury, so that leaves open wounds on the medical professional's hands. Wouldn't they put a freakin' Band-Aid on it? Problem solved.

But, everyone working in a clinic or hospital or ambulance or first-aid shack, touching a patient, wears the latex gloves. Environmental awareness aside (how long does it take for a pair of latex gloves to decompose in a landfill?), just what is the point of wearing these gloves?

They decrease one's manual dexterity, don't offer much protection, and very well may instill a false sense of security that results in sloppy hygiene. I would much rather have the nurse or other medical professional be obsessive about handwashing with antibacterial soap.

Sorry, I don't really want to talk about leather and chains. Maybe another day.
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