Do you get hit/spit on? Does body fluids splash on you?

[KatFUTUREnurse]

Does that ever happen to you as a nurse? I was told by an ICU nurse that she was punched/spit on by a patient before or sometimes when her fellow nurses try to insert some type of chest tube in, blood will potentially splash on you. Isn't that not safe if someone else's bodily fluids get on you though?

She didn't go into much detail because we we're on an elevator and I told her that my major is nursing and we just went our separate ways after we got off the elevator... But I want to know much more, so is that true?

[GoldenRoya]

Tumor juice.

Large, weepy tumor that the little old fall-risk pivot-with-strong-assist-of-one lady can't stop messing with...and she grabs your arm to steady herself with a hand that's still damp with the tumor juice.

Thank goodness for gigantic scrub sinks, that's all I can say.

[emmy27]

Swearing, spitting, choking: ER nurses endure this and more - NBC News

In a study in 2010-2011, more than half of ER nurses reported having encountered verbal abuse in the last week, and more than 10% reported having encountered workplace violence in the same period.

This lines up pretty accurately with my own experiences.

The majority of people who physically attack healthcare workers are confused, intoxicated, or otherwise mentally altered, but that isn't a huge comfort while it's happening. Spitting, vomiting, throwing waste, and inadvertently bleeding/leaking/oozing/smearing things on staff and surfaces is common, too.

Now you know why we don't wear white anymore.

(Seriously though, you get good at predicting what will be messy and dodging projectiles, you wear appropriate PPE, and once in a while, you get super unlucky, order a new set of scrubs from OR and just... burn the ones you were originally wearing).

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I've never been choked. But I was hit or swatted at and kicked or kicked at on multiple occasions. Still happens in the OR, though not as much as it did when I worked the floor. To be honest, sometimes it's compounded or caused by drugs patients receive (example anesthetic agents) - at least in my current environment.

I've been splashed, and cleaned up some horrific messes. I've been exposed to bloodborne pathogens as an OR nurse (unfortunate needlestick). The monitoring that followed that was not fun, but it was monitored, documented and I was cleared after I had the required number (and time frame/spaced) blood draws without conversion to what I was exposed to. While caution is ALWAYS a good idea and using the appropriate precautions for your situation is a MUST, it is probably a "when" and not "if" question as to whether nurses (or other healthcare professionals) will get stuck or otherwise exposed to body fluids. It is relatively unlikely and rare that healthcare workers who are exposed to something (HIV, Hep C, etc) actually seroconvert and develop that disease themselves. Of the people I work with - I can count on one hand who hasn't had a needle stick (though working in the OR we're at higher risk of exposure because we have all kinds of non-safety sharps we use). Many of my coworkers have been on post-HIV exposure protocol (prophylactic antiretrovirals).

[Farawyn]

Blood squirt in my eye

Sputum in my hair

Had a phone thrown at my head... Twice.

Bit by an 101 year old woman, and I was taunted by her as well!!!

Hit

Purple nurple

Had my finger bent back

An old man purposely peed on my leg

Vomit near my mouth and nose

And poo. Always poo.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Arterial spurters.

Blown esophageal varices.

PPE works just fine, don't forget the booties.

[Karou]

I have gotten urine, feces, blood, vomit, and sputum on me. Sometimes because I had NO reason to assume I was about to have contact with those fluids (vomit especially), I wasn't wearing any protective equipment. It doesn't phase me much unless that person has an infectious disease.

I have also been cursed at, threatened, had things thrown at me, punched, scratched, punched, slapped, and kicked. Usually from confused and/or demented patients who don't truly know what they are doing.

Some of the other posters have really wild stories!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

If you are in nursing long enough, no matter the specialty you are likely to have contact with bodily fluids, violence or both. Some areas of nursing it's more common but unless you ride a desk your entire career chances are pretty good you'll be exposed to some of this eventually.

[AJJKRN]

I find that so weird though... I was taught my whole life that it is bad to get someone's bodily fluids on you, but I guess since you guys are wearing protective gear that it will be alright. But it doesn't make me no less nervous that his stuff does happen.

Honey it's not intentional to come in contact with others bodily fluids..just part of being a nurse. Best you find out sooner than later. Sheesh, these colleges and universities should be handing out pamphlets or something to warn these poor unsuspecting students!

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

The honesty of this thread is so refreshing! I am so happy this thread got started because I find on other threads so many nurses claim this "never ever happens to them" and it leaves me bewildered, wondering what kind of LaLa Land these nurses work in where bodily fluids and abuse "NEVER" happens. To the OP: before you invest anymore time and money into becoming a nurse please know you WILL come into contact with bodily fluids, and you WILL experience abuse at the hands of your patients in your career... whether or not you will be able to tolerate it all is really a matter of trail and error. Use your clinical rotations to determine whether you think you can develop a comfort level with these exposures (to bodily fluids and abuse), you might surprise yourself... OR, you might save yourself a world of pain by forcing yourself into the wrong profession. If it gives you any hope, when I started out I was terrified of the prospect that I'd have to clean up human feces when tending to elderly patients, but now (although it's not my favourite thing to do) I can tolerate it. You might just surprise yourself.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Grossest thing to date: Putting an NG down a young lady with a bowel obstruction due to her Crohn's. Young lady projectile vomits a few liters of fecal matter vomit all down the front of me, neck to shoes. I managed to finish putting the tube in, secured it, tossed towels on the floor and went into her bathroom, pulled the assist button and proceeded to vomit myself.

The charge nurse got scrubs for me, we cut my uniform off (no WAY was I dragging it over my head), put on surgical booties, ditched my shoes and went to a residents sleep room with a bottle of Hibicleanse with which I totally poured over my body and scrubbed until I thought I would bleed.

I smelled that smell for a week. I figured if I survived that, I could survive anything.

[Tex.]

Grossest thing to date: Putting an NG down a young lady with a bowel obstruction due to her Crohn's. Young lady projectile vomits a few liters of fecal matter vomit all down the front of me, neck to shoes. I managed to finish putting the tube in, secured it, tossed towels on the floor and went into her bathroom, pulled the assist button and proceeded to vomit myself.

The charge nurse got scrubs for me, we cut my uniform off (no WAY was I dragging it over my head), put on surgical booties, ditched my shoes and went to a residents sleep room with a bottle of Hibicleanse with which I totally poured over my body and scrubbed until I thought I would bleed.

I smelled that smell for a week. I figured if I survived that, I could survive anything.

This is a scenario straight of of my worst nightmare and I don't know what is worse, being the patient vomiting stool or the nurse being coated in said vomit/stool....OMG.

[Stcroix, ASN, PhD, RN]

I've had many experiences being struck. The worst bodily fluid incident I had was when a clogged rectal tube 'blew out' while i had the patient rolled on his side so i could investigate. As the writer above, I got coworkers to get me some OR scrubs and I hosed myself off. I am thankful it didn't hit my face, but otherwise I was baptized in liquid poo. I learned to stay out of the 'line of fire'.