Someone just came in to get blood.  I’ve noticed something as I watch health care workers.  Lorraine and I just went through some training so we can administer his antibiotics at home and Karen was very specific about cleaning the connectors and wearing gloves.  I just watched this person get everything ready and then get her gloves.  (Ok so far, this is what they told us as well, but you would assume you at least wash your hands first, something I did not observe this worker do.)  Then you took an alcohol swap and cleaned the skin where she was going to stick and then she pulled on the finger of her glove and snapped the finger portion of the glove until it ripped off.  She then used her finger to press on the vein a few times.  She reached for the needle to stick where she had just pressed with her finger!  I stopped her and made her swab it again with a wipe. Actually at this point her finger was probably sterile because she used the same finger to swab the area and the swab probably cleaned her finger as well.  But it didn’t when the finger part of the glove was still intact!  This is not the only worker that I have observed not using full precautions.  When new bags of antibiotics are started they are supped to clean the connectors with a swab.  You can tell it is merely a formality to some as they barely take a swipe where we were shown to wipe and twist the swap on the connector.  Something else I noticed, as I speak of precautions, I noticed they hung a sign by Mikie’s bed that says “Fall Precautions”.  At first I read this as “Full Precautions” when I saw it in the ICU, and I thought it applied to cleanliness because of the spinal meningitis.  Then I could see that it was simply saying that this patient could easily fall and everyone should know that.  Now I see that it technically means lower the bed before you leave.  I’ll have the bed in a position that makes it easy for me to care for Mikie and the nurses that are mindful of the rules (though they break them by tearing the fingers off their gloves) will lower the bed back to the floor.  (Never mind that the rails are up and that a fall from 18” is going to be just about as damaging as one from 30”.)   Now I know that it is just an extra precaution, but shouldn’t as much care be taken with the precautions that really matter?  I just find this all very interesting, maybe I’ll bring it back up later.