When should I wear gloves?

You can get sick, especially if you have any open cuts or open skin.
Please don't hesitate to use gloves - they are for your saftey and comfort. I'll admit I am quite girly but I still always used my latex gloves for any care requiring touch. It helps my peace of mind and its for my saftey.
No matter how urgent the procedure is, taking 30s to glove up is a necessary and if you become ill etc then its worse for both of you.
I'd recommend getting some latex gloves and masks for your tasks - once you use them once you definelty won't stop.
On a recent dentist visit, with my him, the nurse suggested I hold his head for the extraction to help with comfort etc. She looked at me expecting to jump right up but I just asked for a pair of gloves first and the nurse said "oh i forgot to ask if you wanted any. Good on you for asking"!
Let me know if this helps

I have a nursing background. (Many years ago as an LVN). I currently wear gloves to clean my mother’s house (she’s a hoarder). On a recent trip to the denture place, she dropped her container and the teeth fell to the ground. She looked at me expecting me to pick them up. I grabbed some gloves out of my car and handled it.
I wear gloves to empty grandma in laws potty chair. Nobody seems upset.
my motto is “I can touch anything with gloves on”

When my Mama needed needed help I asked her if she would be offended if I used gloves. She said no. Just be open and up front with your LO. Thankfully we are past that stage and she is up walking again.

Yes, it possible to pick up something. However, we are also protecting the client when we wear gloves. Toileting and any care that involves blood or other body fluids requires that you wear gloves. Maybe grandma can share in the cost of the gloves. Explain to her that you want to protect her as well as yourself. I think she will understand.

Caring for my husband's toileting and even changing diapers or bed linens daily, I always used gloves. He was never offended, actually expressed admiration that I was willing to do the "yucky stuff" without complaining. And the wonderful people from Home Instead always used gloves. It never entered my mind that it would be embarassing or demeaning to the patient.

There are a lot of pros and cons already shared why you should or not so I'm just sharing my two cents worth from my experience of caring for my husband. I agree, the ideal situation is wearing gloves anytime you care for any other person but my world is far from ideal. A lot of what I do now needs to be done immediately and allows very little time to put gloves on first. The proper way to use gloves is to wash or sanitize hands before putting them on and after removing them. Ideally the gloves should be changed between various tasks and avoid touching any other surfaces. I try to regularly use hand sanitizer and fully wash my hands when time allows. I am only caring for my husband and neither of us have any communicable issues. I figure we have exchanged body fluids for 53 years so it is not the same as caring for a stranger. The reason professional caregivers are required to use gloves is to protect themselves and to prevent cross contamination because they often have more than one client. If you have concerns, wear gloves and simply tell your grandma you are doing it for her protection. It probably would help to explain some of the ways it is protecting her and hopefully she will love you even more for caring so much.

CareForGrandma: When coming in contact with bodily fluids, you should don gloves.

You know what your mom's health is. Wear them or not. For wiping her after pottying, it would keep things off your hands. Or you could just wash your hands well. Nail trimming, probably not necessary. In general, it just comes down to cleaning your hands and using nail brush when you wash up.

Ooutsiders should always wear gloves. You certainly don't want them going from patient to patient and seeing they don't wear gloves at your house. If they don't at your house, they don't at other houses. You have no idea what they might have touched somewhere else or if infections were involved.

Separate note, if you have any home health involved - like phys therapy or nursing, ask them about home visits from podiatrists. Best thing I ever found out about - the dr came to the house and did an excellent job. Much better than the podiatrist I was taking my mom to outside the home.

I always wear gloves and masks when cleaning her. The smell is horrible in addition to it being unsanitary to not.

I always wear gloves when I clean my mother in the bathroom.

I never cut my mother's cuticles - not necessary to do anything that can make her bleed. However, I do trim her fingernails when they get too long and for that, I do not wear gloves.

Gloves for anything that involves bodily fluids; and don't cut cuticles, just gently push them back with an orange stick (soften first in warm oil or cream if needed) If you mean the occasional 'hang nail' bit of skin, cut gently; use liquid bandage to seal until healed. Don't let nail techs cut cuticles either (at salons.)

I always wore gloves with my mom, especially in the bathroom, cleaning feces, bedsheets and laundry (incontinence issues).

Most likely you're thinking about the possiblity of offending your grandmother more than you're grandmother is thinking about your use of gloves. I agree with the other replies, people before environment... safety first. Use your common sense. If you wouldn't touch someone else's bodily fluids etc. without gloves, then you should wear gloves with grandma.

If you're cutting nails it helps to soak hands or feet first to soften them. Instead of cutting cuticles, gently push them back. That's my two cents 😊.

Healthcare workers are required to wear gloves whenever there is the possibility of coming in contact with bodily fluids, they are used to protect both the person providing care and the person receiving it and in facility care situations to protect the next patient the caregiver comes in contact with. Your Grandma simply based on her age is more susceptible to virus and bacteria because her body may not be able to fight it off as easily as yours or mine so wearing gloves during these intimate times is as much for her protection as yours. I would make sure she understands that is the only reason you have started wearing them, that way you know she isn’t thinking it’s because you are discussed by her or by what helping her in the bathroom entails.

Yes…gloves!! Always with bathroom help….MRSA and such does not care if you are family! I buy mine on ebay…quite inexpensive.

Gloves are your grandmother's expense, with nothing from your funds. Do keep detailed track of her spending if it does and very likely comes to Medicaid eligibility.

The last thing I want to think about when helping my LO stay safe and alive is the environment. People first, then the planet. Which is suffering from a lot more than used latex gloves.

CareForGrandma...If it helps Gloves, incontinence supplies that would be the briefs, wipes, gloves, any lotions, creams....might be written off on taxes as Medical Supplies. Any other supplies might also be deducted so keep receipts and see if it helps when doing her taxes.

@CareForGrandma

From reading your responses to everyone here, I really think you should take a CNA course if you're planning on continuing to care for your grandmother.
I don't mean to sound harsh to you. I'm saying this for your own good because I'm sure you love your grandmother and want to do right by her.
Your total ignorance and complete lack of basic common sense is posing a serious threat to your grandmother's health and safety. If you do not know that cutting her cuticles can cause infection or that you should not handle her pee and sh*t without gloves then most definitely you should not be taking care of her until you learn.
You're an adult and as an adult should have a basic understanding on appropriate hygiene practices. Also on how infections happen and how minimize risk.
I'm sure you do have some understanding. Please take the CNA course or attend the free class that public health departments offer as a community service that also teach about how infections spread and how to help prevent that.
In the meantime call the local senior center and ask about when they have a mobile podiatry clinic. Most of them offer this service. You have to pay for it though. If grandma can't get out there are podiatrists who make house calls for the elderly.

I never wore gloves because I can't stand them. 😊 I know, not an excuse especially after working for Nurses and going to those Blood borne pathogens classes every year for 7 yrs. I had deodorant soap in Moms bathroom that I washed before and after I cleaned her up. Dial is the best next to what Doctors use in their office. My daughter did a project on what soaps kill bacteria.

There are gloves made out of Latex that people are allergic to. There are those with powder inside and some without.

You cut her cuticles or do you mean nails. If you mean cuticles, you do not cut them. They get thicker. Also, because they bleed, infections can set in. Sometimes nail files are rounded at one end. This is for pushing the cuticle back. There is also a small tool that does this. Soak her hands first and then just push the cuticle back. This can be done after a bath. Just use the towel to push the cuticles back. Haven't used polish in years but there used to be a cuticle remover you could use. When it comes to her feet, a podiatrist should be cutting her toenails. They tend to thicken as we age. I actually broke a clipper on my DHs nails. No aide or Nurse should be doing toenails. Again, infection could set in.

Use gloves whenever you are potentially going to come in contact with any bodily fluid. (although if you help her blow her nose simply washing your hands should be enough)
Use gloves when applying a barrier cream or even a lotion. (I always used gloves when putting a lotion on my husband because it made my hands slide more easily over his thin skin. Also the lotion was absorbed into his skin not mine.)
Using gloves is not a substitute for handwashing. You still have to wash hands when you remove the gloves.
If grandma is on Hospice Hospice will provide gloves for your use and for the staff as well as any caregivers you have.
As far as cutting her cuticles and nails..I hope there is not any blood that you might con=me in contact with so using gloves then is up to you.

Some people are fanatical about germs. I am one of those. Others are not. Have you ever seen a mom pick up a baby’s pacifier after it dropped onto the floor or ground and licked it and stuck it back in her child’s mouth? I have! LOL 😆 So gross!

I am obsessed with hand washing. I use warm water and soap. I’m not much on hand sanitizers. I prefer soap and water.

I think about the Asian and Arab cultures that take off their shoes. Our streets are absolutely filthy.

Look at how many people follow the ‘5 second’ rule. Some people think if they drop something and pick it up off the floor because it’s only been there a a few seconds it’s okay to eat. Nope, for me it goes straight into the trash! My floors are clean but I don’t eat food if I drop it on the floor.

I do take off my shoes in my home. It’s comfy to be barefoot.

Amazon has an overabundance of gloves at the moment. I used the Basics or Medpride gloves. Box of 100 is about 7 or 8 bucks.

Always wear gloves! Since more than one person is caring for grandma, that's a lot of hands in possibly contaminated body fluids. Your hands are on privates, you rub your eyes, they serve grandma food, you eat some of the food, someone goes to the bathroom and fails to wash hands completely, someone gets diarrhea but doesn't mention it, you cut her cuticles and she picks her nose. It's an ideal environment for someone to become ill with something that could be passed to grandma, and I'm sure you don't want her getting sicker.

About your grandma feeling distance from you, or that she's thinking she's repulsive, or that you don't like her well enough to wipe her with your bare hands - please don't think about that. Being family doesn't mean you have to put yourself in danger. Your goal should be to provide best patient care for your loved one, not worrying that you're going to hurt her feelings. Explain to yourself - and her if necessary - that you are following approved health protocol for home nursing care. Then do it. You're a caregiver. You must protect yourself in order to keep taking care of grandma.

She's lucky to have such a caring granddaughter.

I get the resistance to wearing gloves due to the expense and the environment... when I first started using them I tried to cut back by just putting one on my dominant hand, reasoning that I wasn't really using the other hand anyway 🙄. But you need to put it all into perspective, the gloves you are using are less than a drop in the bucket of the medical waste generated across the health care spectrum. And everything about caring for someone at home is a new unwelcome expense from the gloves to incontinence supplies to medications to nutritional supplements and beyond, but unless you are so poor that you are living hand to mouth the expenses are the cost of caring for someone at home and are infinitely less than the cost of a facility.
And while nitrile gloves are nice the cheapest vinyl gloves are really just as functional, Walmart was my go to for inexpensive gloves or costco when I could get them, but I often found good deals on gloves from hardware stores... there was no difference.

Sometimes people get lucky and have no after effects, then there are the others.

Me, I'd wear gloves, my father got hep c from his MIL, she wiped her butt, didn't do a thorough wash job, cooked and gave it to him.

Whether it be family or others, safety first is my motto.

Yes, wear gloves especially when toileting or bathing! Gloves prevent those germs from getting into all the nooks, crannies, creases, and cuts on your hands and nails. Hospice provides gloves for me to use when caring for mom. The gloves happen to be "clear." I will say that I like the "clear" ones, rather than the blue color because they seem less clinical. That said, I would wear any color as long as it provides protection.

I cared for my mom and did the same as you. I washed my hands thoroughly. I didn’t wear gloves. I didn’t have to change mom though. She only wore Depends at night. She was able to use the bathroom and didn’t need any assistance with wiping.

I think you’re fine not wearing gloves, since you wash your hands well. I did appreciate others wearing gloves around mom.

I am meticulous about washing my hands. It was engrained in me as a child, from my grandmother to my mother and the nuns at my school!

If I see someone in a restaurant not wearing gloves, I gross out.

I am also a bit obsessive about cross contamination in my kitchen. I am constantly washing my hands and I have separate cutting boards for meat and vegetables. My kids say that I have a touch of OCD! LOL

There should never be a time that you do any personal care without gloves on.
You put gloves on every time you help grandma in the bathroom. Or when you help her wash up. Or if you're applying any medications to her body. ALWAYS wear gloves.
The not wanting her to feel any distance between the two of you. Take a minute and think about that statement and what it sounds like.
If the aides 'often' wear gloves when helping grandma, that 'often' has to become an 'ALWAYS' as in today.
People can get sick when they don't take the proper precautions when doing personal hygiene care for another. Please start wearing gloves.

I never wore gloves while I was caring for my husband, and I had to wipe his butt every day the last 22 months of his life, cut both his finger and toe nails, and empty his catheter bag twice a day.
I always just washed my hands really well when I was done with his care.
But I don't have a germ phobia either and never have. It takes a whole lot to gross me out.
Of course when the hospice nurses or aides came to the house they always wore gloves and they should.
Bottom line is that you should do whatever you're comfortable doing.

Gloves are required when you are dealing with the bodily fluids of another person whether sputum, urine, feces, or blood. They are not required for cutting nails, but if they showed you a blowup of what's under our nails happily thriving you would know good handwashing is a requirement.
For those living together and exposed daily to others, good hand washing suffices for many things, as in GOOD hand washing. Rubbing is what kills germs, bacteria and etc.
Glad you are thinking of the environment, but wow, I fear it is too late. When I look at daily garbage days on our street I pretty much know it is over for mankind, sooner than we think. So protect yourself.
As to RNs and visiting medical, if they aren't gloving they are being negligent. So imagine the numbers of gloves for them. Wish there was a better answer. Pretty much isn't.