Fingersticks and Gauze?

Should sterile gauze be used with finger sticks or is non-sterile ok?
Quote from smiler2010Should sterile gauze be used with finger sticks or is non-sterile ok?

Why would you need sterile gauze for a body part that's responsible for spreading HAI and arguably one of the most unclean parts of the body? lolWhen trying to figure out if something is a sterile procedure, you just need to know if that body part is sterile or not. Inserting foleys: sterile since the bladder is sterile. Inserting NGT: not sterile, clean glove procedure, since the gut is not sterile, a multitude of bacteria crawling around in there.

clean is ok in my facility too.

Quote from Good Morning, GilWhen trying to figure out if something is a sterile procedure, you just need to know if that body part is sterile or not. Inserting foleys: sterile since the bladder is sterile. Inserting NGT: not sterile, clean glove procedure, since the gut is not sterile, a multitude of bacteria crawling around in there.

Thank you all so much...I am a newer nurse and I was basically wondering because of opening the skin when the needle punctures the skin...which posed the question for me...should this be sterile because the skin is broken? Thanks!

It is a superfical puncture to the finger pad. Clean gauze or a cotton ball. No need for sterile.

I prefer using a sterile 2X2. it just seems cleaner to me. Yesterday I ran out of gauze in my cart and I used a clean paper towel.