My mother used to talk about people who <had all their brains on the top of
their heads>. That meant, they had no common sense. I'm glad to see that
there are considerations about the reason for wearing gloves.

I have not received comments from families when I put on gloves for changing
diapers on newborns, but I have received questioning looks. I explain that
newborns may have blood in their urine, and that health care workers use
universal precautions, which requires gloves when in contact with blood and
certain body fluids.

While I wear gloves for checking suck or teaching finger feeding, I tell the
families that they have a choice of wearing gloves or not after going home,
since they have <family germs>. I emphasize hand washing. I especially
emphasize to families that gloves are not a substitute for handwashing. I set
a good example, of course.

One of the topics that fascinates me is the use of hand lotion. It is
important to prevent and treat cracks on the hands. The recommendation I have
heard is to use small bottles to decrease the possibility of contamination of
lotion by microorganisms. There are bottles of lotion as well as bottles of
soap at the nurses' stations sinks.