Did you contract anything from a patient?

[RNrhythm]

Silly question but I am just curious. I have never directly seen or heard of any healthcare workers I know contracting anything from a patient at work, and I am in frequent contact and air borne isolation. Obviously it happens, like the ebola RN I remember reading about, but have you ever seen anything in your facility?

[Eleven011]

Long ago when I was in nursing school clinicals, I was assigned a patient with shingles. I informed my instructor that I have never had chickenpox, but she told me just to take the regular precautions and I should be fine. Well....a little while later...guess who was out of school with chicken pox???

[cleback]

All I've ever gotten from patients is a steady paycheck and a dry sense of humor.

If, however, a coworker inasmuch sneezes at work, I'm sick the next day.

[dst4ever91]

Yes, I was exposed to tuberculosis while working as a phlebotomist while I was in nursing school. I showed up positive when I had the skin test performed. I am much more careful when working on the floor as an RN.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Long ago when I was in nursing school clinicals, I was assigned a patient with shingles. I informed my instructor that I have never had chickenpox, but she told me just to take the regular precautions and I should be fine. Well....a little while later...guess who was out of school with chicken pox???

I cannot believe your instructor allowed you to care for a patient with shingles, knowing that you had never had chicken pox. Wow.

[HandmadeRN]

Scabies as a student nurse when I had a placement on a long term neuro rehab placement. Judging by this thread, seems like rehab is a popular place for scabies... It didn't present as classic scabies either as it didn't start on the back of my hands - so my handwashing was effective! Being bare below the elbows is what got me! :-)

[Crystal-Wings, LVN]

Nope. I do private duty with peds patients, and none of the kids I ever took care of had any illnesses or diseases that could be transferred to me.

[jodispamodi]

I got violently ill at work once and had to go to the ER in the middle of my shift. The ER doc was convinced I had caught something from a patient, I had no other sick contacts. I just know that was probably the sickest I've been in my life, and even now a few years later I still don't think my body ever fully recovered.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I did once catch strep throat from a patient. He was one of my patients when he was a visiting nurse and had been sitting in my lap/crawling all over me then his Mom told me he had strep. A few days later, I spiked a high fever and my throat was on fire. Of course, I'd recently returned from Thailand so my first assumption was that I had malaria and I went straight to the travel clinic. Turned out to be good old strep.

[Kitiger, RN]

I got ringworm from a home care client. He was diagnosed with eczema - his mom & sister had it too. The doc pointed out that eczema can run in the family.

Then I got it, and went to my own doc who diagnosed ringworm and started me on treatment.

Then everyone got treated.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

My first RSV season as a nurse... YES, definitely!!!! Having a kid's snot fly into your face (more specifically nose, mouth, even eyes) will do that :) Then after about a year, I developed the pediatric nurse immune system of STONE, and it's a gift I still treasure

[Camino77]

When I was pregnant I had a dirty needle stick (shallow insulin needle) from a drug addict whose HIV/HEPC status was unknown. He turned out to be clean but that was terrifying.

Also I once had a sick patient suddenly turn to me and vomit all down my arms and hands while I was helping her off a stretcher. I was out sick for a week with some sorta stomach bug.

Those are my only two fun stories.

[TruvyNurse]

I got cut by a bloody arterial line that some idiot left hanging out of a sharps box on our crash cart. I luckily came back negative of everything.