Have you ever...

[bigsyis]

...known anyone (a healthcare worker) who ACTUALLY acquired hepatitis or HIV/AIDS from a workplace exposure?

On the way to work this morning I was thinking about all of the years that I have been in Nursing. For about the first 3 years we didn't wear gloves for anything except particularly bad Code Browns or very nasty dressing changes. Of course, we wore sterile gloves for dressing changes that required it, trach care, foleys, assisting w/sterile procedures, etc. But for daily nursing care, you actually had to look around for a pair of gloves. I remember when gloves were first put in pt's rooms-in the closet, because it was required to have them there. We used to send the gloves home w/the pts, and usually the boxes were full, or nearly so!

Fortunately, I have never known anyone who acquired any infectious disease at work. Have any of you, and were they able to trace it to lack of, or improper use of, PPE?

[EmmaG, RN]

Yes, I know of a nurse and a CNA who contracted HIV from exposure to patients. This was in the late 90's. (I only know of these two because we cared for them on our unit)

[EmmaG, RN]

Someone else who contracted hepatitis from a needle stick: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlighthealth/2003-09-05-naomi-judd_x.htm

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

My former nursing instructor worked in a county ICU for many years. She contracted the Hepatitis C virus from one of her patients after he had injured himself. She admitted that she wore no gloves while coming to this patient's aid, and his blood seeped into one of her hangnails as a result.

I also know of a surgeon who contracted the hepatitis C virus as the result of blood spatter during a procedure in the OR. He retired early once he discovered he had contracted HCV.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Not HIV, because that's acturally harder to get. Hepatitis is easier to get and I've know at least two people over the years who've contracted it from patients.

[AnneP726]

The dog of one of the nurses on our unit contracted C-Diff, she thinks it came in on her shoes

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

An ambulance driver I know has Hep C, supposedly from patient exposure. But he is kinda a wild cat, so I was never really convinced of that. He has bad luck too...came into TB a couple years back.

I don't know anyone that has contracted HIV since the odds are so small.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

So far, I have not met anyone who contracted HIV or Hepatitis from the work place.

[LightCommaStix]

One of my instructors in nursing school contracted Hep-B while working in a dialysis clinic. Successfully treated, thank goodness.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

An ambulance driver I know has Hep C, supposedly from patient exposure.

Is he an 'ambulance driver,' or is he an EMT?

[bigsyis]

Thanks for your input. I guess the world was either much healthier for medical practioners in the years before the mid '80's, or that we were born under lucky stars, or God gave us special dispensation from such illnesses for trying to help others.

Of course, we don't know the health histories of most of the folks that we work with, and I would never ask, "do you have Hepatitis or HIV/AIDS, or anything interesting?" It was simply one of those things I was pondering during my hour long commute. I am amazed at how things have changed in Nursing, and how fortunate I have been. A good portion of my experience (over half) was in ER and EMS. In the first years, scrubs spattered with blood were like a fireman's scarred and smoked helmet and visor. It was kind of like a badge saying, "yep, I've been there and done that." We changed scrubs for stool, urine, and emesis, but not blood. Hard to believe!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i knew an ha (hospital assistant -- rather like an orderly) who says he contracted hep c from carrying blood around on deliveries while eating sandwiches. (his job was to run lab specimens to the lab, blood to the units from the blood bank, etc.) he had other risk factors, though, so i'll guess we'll never know.

i had a patient who was a paramedic and was said to have gotten his hep c from line of duty in the 90s.

my sister's ex-brother-in-law had two liver transplants. she says he got hep c while working as a respiratory therapist in the 70s and 80s.