Working with hand stitches

Hello everyone! Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, I have a lovely head cold and was trying to do the dishes. I let out a massive sneeze and shattered a glass cup in the sink, giving myself a nasty 2 inch and fairly deep laceration on my finger. Luckily my sister's significant other is an ER doc, and came over to sew me up. (no lidocaine, by the way. Yeah I know, pretty much made me feel like a bada**). Anyway, I ended up calling into work today because I was paranoid about infection and the like, and I was afraid that all of the heavy lifting could potentially tear the sutures. (I only had 3). Well jeff said it would be fine to go to work, and my supervisor stated that "you wear gloves at work, so I don't see the big deal". I work in an assisted living home where hand washing areas are pitiful, and the amount of bodily fluids I deal with on a day to day basis is of epic proportions. So has anyone gone to work with finger sutures? Called off because of it? I'm just feeling really guilty about calling off, and wondering if I did the right thing. Thanks so much everyone, love you all!

- Rachel
I see your logic, but I probably would have just slapped a tegaderm over the wound and filled my pockets with plenty of gloves.

I work in an assisted living home, we don't have any medical supplies like tegaderm or the like. Plus they say to keep your stitches dry for the first 24 hrs, and not to scrub your hands, just rinse them under water. I'm fairly ocd about hand washing.. ARRGG! I have such a guilt complex whenever I call off work. Thanks for your reply though, Flare. I appreciate it.

Oh, and by the way, the stitches are still oozing. Not sure if that makes a whole lot of difference, but I guess at the end of the day it really doesn't matter since I already called off.

I'd call off for the first 24h, or until you could safely wash with soap and water.

Thanks for all your help guys! I <3 allnurses, so many great people.

Get a note from from your doc to cover you. Sometimes gloving isn't the answer - sweating under the gloves can be a problem.You may be able to purchase tegaderm at your local pharmacy.YOUR health comes first.

I know they sell biocclusive dressings at the local pharmacy. I had a small piece of non stick gauze on the sutures then a Tegaderm over that, worked pretty well when I was permitted to go back to work.

I find New-Skin provides a temporary barrier for any openings in the skin you want protected.(Poor-boy dermabond)

When I was in school I sliced the palm of my hand open. It was full thickness cut all the way across my palm. The ER doc would'nt give me a note. The Dr and my school told me to wear a glove and I would be fine. Well, A few hours into my day the stitches ended up ripping out. I went back to the ER for more stitches and got the week off from clinicals.

Quote from canoeheadI'd call off for the first 24h, or until you could safely wash with soap and water.

Latex finger cots?

I'd call off until the skin has started closing and you have at least a little tissue holding it together, not just the stitches. And then I'd be throwing on the fake Dermabond and Tegaderms.I got a deep hand lac a few years ago. And took a few days off. Your skin is the MOST IMPORTANT barrier to infection. Last thing you need is to go to work and get infected. That whole ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You'll miss more than a couple days of work if it gets infected, especially if it gets infected with one of the bugs that's all over things in our workplaces.