Sunday 09.29.2013 Red Handed

Turned out to be a very nice day at the J.O.B.

Patients discharged by early afternoon and we ended up with two staff and 3 patients. Isn't it amazing, how the census fluctuates like that??!!!!

After the dust settled and we were caught up with everything, I had lots of time to "be productive".

I did a couple small projects for the committee work, and then I put on a pair of gloves (the blue nitrile, non-latex gloves that we use for anything non-sterile).  I got a tub of the sanitizing wipes and started wiping down equipment--blood pressure machines, portable computers, thermometers, etc. This product is supposed to have a 3 minute contact time (meaning being wet for three minutes) to disinfect. So I was pulling fresh wipes out of the container frequently.  I did this for about 40 minutes or so.

The end of the shift was nearing, and I was done with what I was doing.

My right hand was feeling hot; not an infrequent sensation with gloves on. But kind of like burning hot.

And itchy.

I took the gloves off and washed my hands, like I do all day long.

My right hand was bright red and slightly swollen looking.

What!?!?

Really itchy, but no bumps.

Just red.

Hm. I don't have any benadryl cream with me, but have some at home, about 45 minutes from the time I was experiencing this.

Is this a contact dermatitis, or localized reaction to the chemicals seeping through the gloves??   the chemicals reacting with the gloves????  I thought maybe rinsing my hands well might help.

So I went back to the sink and ran cool water over it. The skin was hot, but the cool water seemed to be helping with the burning sensation, as well as the itching decreasing.

A couple minutes later I dried my hands, and I thought it looked better.

Yep.

And within a half hour or so, the redness had faded greatly, the itching was gone, and so was the swelling.

Whew!!

I washed again before I left, and put some lotion on.

Tonight it seems to be much better, but I feel a few areas of a light prickly itch. I might put something on my skin for overnight.

I think I should probably tell someone in, safety? or infection control? or employee health??  I'll do that tomorrow, as I'll be there for a couple of meetings.

And I am surprisingly tired tonight.

Thank you for reading. Hugs.