Freaking out just a little!

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Ever heard of baptism by fire? I'm in the midst of preceptoring clinicals - just finished two nights on and am off for two nights right now. Catching up on household chores today when the phone rings. It's the infection control nurse at the hospital I'm preceptoring at.

First thing I think is that *I* caused someone to be sick -- maybe poor standard precautions or something. Nope. It seems one of the patients I cared for on my last two shifts has had Neisseria meningitidis bacteria cultured out of his sputum and now has pneumonia. So the nurse asks if I've been doing any "high risk" activities such as suctioning. Well, yeah...I suctioned his mouth and his ET tube (he's ventilated).

She asks if I'm pregnant (no) and what pharmacy I use because they need to start me on Rifampin prophylactically ASAP. When I go back for my next shift, I also need to see employee health about reimbursement for the Rifampin and I need to complete an incident report.

Welcome to nursing, huh? My biggest fear (remember from that thread a while back) was that I'd get something and give it to my kids. After that call, I had visions of my babies in the ER with bacterial meningitis. Called my faculty advisor who reassured me that this kind of thing happens all the time and my family's risk is miniscule. So....there you go!

In the meantime, I'll cry red tears and have orange pee for a couple of days (s/e of Rifampin). :) Are we crazy in love with this profession or what???

giftedRN

310 Posts

PJ,

I am so sorry to hear of your misfortune. I hope everything will be fine. Stay positive.

Ann.

christinemj

154 Posts

First of all... BIG HUGS!!! I hope that all ends well in this situation.

Secondly...... always remember what will save your hide.......Universal Precautions! If you took the appropriate measures when you provided care, then there shouldn't be a problem....and you just have to deal with the SE of the prophylaxis.

The absolutely very first patient I ever encountered (on Day 1 of CNA clinical...way back when) had MRSA in the urinary tract.....and I didn't know it!! Of course, *I* emptied the client's foley! :eek:

Afterward, my instructor apologized for the 'lack of warning.' (It was a *wierd* situation, and I hadn't been afforded the opportunity to obtain this info myself...)

Thankfully, I wasn't too worried. :)....Universal Precautions!! ;)

PJMommy

517 Posts

Thanks guys! I'm fine - it just threw me a little when I got the call. I'm always careful but, unless you know you need a mask, those droplets can get ya'. It's funny how often you run into these things -- you care for a pt for three days in a row and then the very next day they put him in C. diff isolation. Or you change a dressing on a pt and the next day you notice a sign saying they are in MRSA precautions.

Bottom line...always be careful because you never know what they'll find the day after you care for the pt. Hugs out to all of ya.

PJ

HyperRNRachel

483 Posts

I am so happy you feel better. You had a very scary experience and hopefully it will make you a better nurse because of it. Nursing is scary, it makes the reality show Fear Factor look like childs play!

O.k. who wants to eat six cock roaches and wash them down with soured milk? me.me. me.me.

O.k. who wants to be exposed to neisseria meningits? no way.

Stay strong.

nursefiggy

45 Posts

It's one of the hazards of our profession. Earlier this year I was exposed to disseminated varicella. Scared me to death because i've never had chicken pox. My titer showed me to have antibodies, though. I've also had a needle stick from a Hep C pos pt. I work in dialysis and have ALOT of Hep C pts and ther are ALOT of needles. Everything turned out ok. I am even MORE cautious now than I have ever been.

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