Universal precautions...not so universal

there's latex free gloves everywhere now amongst wards ..most of the time  the excuse of not wearing gloves is that they either the incorrect size so it makes it hard to do a procedure or they are not used to wearing gloves. I carry a pack of my size because most of the time the gloves my size are always out. It's just getting into the habit of gloving ..I feel ackward if I don't have my gloves on for procedures I think I might be exposed to fluids.

I wish I was better about wearing an apron ...I'm really shite about at that  particularly when the little dear decides to have a little piddle on ya

There was a study done a few years back regarding using alcohol for injections/venepuntcutre.  One group used acohol properly (fully swabbing, letting it air dry etc), the other group didn't use anything and a third group gave injections through clothing. They found very little difference in outcomes.  I don't have the stats with me, so can't quote accurately, but the consensus was that there wasn't a lot in it.

If you don't let the alcohol dry, there is no therapeutic effect and I have rarely seen anyone wait that long between preparing an area and puncturing the skin.  Just in my NHS experience.

Just today I got my flu jab (arm is already sore), and asked the doctor why they don't do the alcohol wipe for that, or when doing my weekly blood draw.  He said what you said -- it really isn't any more effective, according to scientific research.  A friend of mine in the U.S. is a lab tech, and she says that the glove-wearing is more to make the patients feel that things are sterile and give peace of mind -- it's something a patient expects, so the medical field does it for that reason.

I've had so much blood drawn on the NHS it's not even funny. And from what I recall, most of them wore gloves - from local village surgery to intensive care to maternity ward to hematology unit.