Your best(or worst) exposure story

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2014

Lets see....I have been exposed to TB, infectious menningitis, Hepatitis, and scabies. I actually got scabies...yuk. I have taken preventative prophylactic antibiotics on a few occasions as well as gamma globulin for hepatitis.

I have been a nurse for 35 years. I work the ED... I was exposed to any number of bodily fluids... we get a ton of exposure risk especially in the days that preceded gloves for everything.

I have had patients spit in my face. I have been bitten. I have had full bedpans and urinals thrown at me. I had had patients vomit in my shoes.

I once had GI bleed in the ICU that blew esophageal varicies....he bled so much that when I stepped away the blood had congealed around my shoes.

Defecation occurs.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 21, 2014

Dh was helping another nurse change a poopy patient. He happened to have his mouth wide open, laughing, when her projectile diarrhea cought him square on. In the mouth. Did I mention she had C. Diff? He got C. Diff, and it was unresponsive to antibiotics, including oral Vancomycin (which is hideously expensive, by the way.) After months of having up to 30 bloody bowel movements a week and temperatures to 105, I finally got him to see the right doctor. He was hospitalized, placed on TPN for a few weeks and ultimately diagnosed with ulcerative colitis secondary to the C. Diff infection. He now has to take four enormous pills four times a day to keep it under control, and still has flare-ups.

As for me, I was once doing CPR (nearly 40 years ago) and the intern, in his enthusiasm for the code, stuck a Bicarb needle clear through my left hand, pinning me to the patient. This was before HIV and Hep C. It didn't hurt until the intern passed out, and someone else cried "Look at her hand!" I looked, saw the hand pinned to the chest and thought the wedding ring looked familiar. Followed the arm up to my shoulder and THEN it hurt.

And no, I didn't miss any work from it.

Ruas61, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

SICU- late 1980's

New resident- he had a walking cast on his left foot- patient coded- had to be defibbed- CLEAR yelled- he jumped back right into my foot.

We were a matched pair for a while that fall .

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

ESME and Ruby's DH gets my vote for the worst exposure award.

I guess, I go next....

I was starting an IV, and ofcourse after I got my flash and pulled out the needle the patient bled. No biggie, right. Wrong ! The cap to the j-loop got stuck and I could not remove it with one hand. So I put it to my teeth to snatch the cap off and a drop of the patients' blood got into my mouth due to my glove having blood on it. The taste of her blood made me want to die. Thankfully she was negative for everything.... For now on, from then on my jloop is always uncapped and it makes things so much easier.

Another time, I was working in the ICU and just discontinued a chest tube. As I was emptying out the chambers a splash of the drainage got on my lips. Once, again thankfully I wasn't exposed to anything.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

Not me. An RT at our hospital was exposed to SARS during the initial outbreak. Gots SARS, nearly died. He survived.

SARS outbreak is hands down the scariest part of my career.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

Seriously, you're concerned because you stood in urine with VRE in it, with shoes and socks on? Yawn. Even barefooted, how is the VRE going to get through your feet? My hospital doesn't even isolate for VRE any more because new evidence shows it's not that contagious and people infected with it are usually just showing their own colonized strains, not strains from others. We haven't isolated for it for years and no increase in infections.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

Dh was helping another nurse change a poopy patient. He happened to have his mouth wide open, laughing, when her projectile diarrhea cought him square on. In the mouth. Did I mention she had C. Diff? He got C. Diff, and it was unresponsive to antibiotics, including oral Vancomycin (which is hideously expensive, by the way.) After months of having up to 30 bloody bowel movements a week and temperatures to 105, I finally got him to see the right doctor. He was hospitalized, placed on TPN for a few weeks and ultimately diagnosed with ulcerative colitis secondary to the C. Diff infection. He now has to take four enormous pills four times a day to keep it under control, and still has flare-ups.

That's horrifying!!! Was all of that care covered under worker's comp? I can't believe he wasn't hospitalized sooner! How was the c diff eventually cured?

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jul 21, 2014

Stabbed myself with a dirty needle that had previously been in an AIDS patient. 1990. Never tested + thank God.

A co-worker was changing out suction canisters one night. Balanced the FULL canister on the tiny little in room sink while she hooked up the new one. Turned around and her unborn baby 'kicked' the canister off the sink, it hit the floor and exploded. Poor pregnant co-worker is trapped behind a lake of slime. (After we stopped laughing) we laid a path of towels and bath blanket for her to walk on- then had to use a dustpan to scoop it all up. That baby is now 25 years old- and I can remember this like it was yesterday!

edmia, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

Dh was helping another nurse change a poopy patient. He happened to have his mouth wide open, laughing, when her projectile diarrhea cought him square on. In the mouth. Did I mention she had C. Diff? He got C. Diff, and it was unresponsive to antibiotics, including oral Vancomycin (which is hideously expensive, by the way.) After months of having up to 30 bloody bowel movements a week and temperatures to 105, I finally got him to see the right doctor. He was hospitalized, placed on TPN for a few weeks and ultimately diagnosed with ulcerative colitis secondary to the C. Diff infection. He now has to take four enormous pills four times a day to keep it under control, and still has flare-ups.

Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry about your husband's experience. Has anyone suggested a fecal transplant? It really works. I've seen it.

My worst exposure was stabbing myself with an IM needle as I was removing it from the patient's body (she moved and the needle jumped into the hand I was using to stabilize the injection site... I know, I know! Totally my fault). Testing for 12 months post exposure all clear, but jeez, that was stressful. And scary. I realized how errors are just a chain of events that can the prevented. My IM technique has changed

RunBabyRN · Jul 21, 2014

While in the Navy, we had a patient who'd returned from Africa with all kinds of weird symptoms. We were running various tests on her, and the RN I was working with (I was a corpsman at the time) told me that the tray was clear of sharps. I balled up the Chux with everything inside, and I felt a poke. Apparently she'd missed one. We ran some additional tests on the patient, since she was right there, and of course, ran tests on me as well. Thankfully, nothing ever came of it, but it's always the people with some weird African disease, not the healthy person in for routine labs. :alien: The nurse felt horrible about it.

I am DEFINITELY even more thorough about checking for/counting sharps now!

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

I had a resident hide a liver biopsy needle in the drapes, so when I was cleaning up I got a good stab right into the meat of my hand with that great big fat honking needle. Since the patient was as yellow as a pumpkin, it was a scary time. The Red Cross still won't take my blood because I have antibodies, but it's been more than 30 years so odds are I'm not going to get Hep C or liver cancer. But every time I read about longer and longer lag times on that I worry a little bit.