The environmental services associate came out to my desk area and began to spray something on the floor. I looked at her and asked if I thought she was spraying for what I think she was and she replied, "Oh honey, you don't want to be taking these things home with you!"
There are bed bug problems all over here (as in the region).
What about your hospitals/clinicals/etc....?
What is your management doing to help protect everything and prevent the spread? I think everyone is working really hard to try and keep it from spreading, its just really hard to control.
last night's report on nbc said there was no pesticide that absolutely postively got rid of them.
it also said they were sooo pervasive that it would be darn near impossible to completely eradicate
them completely.
i know! i know! send every difficult, uncooperative, b*tchy, patient home with a tiny box with airholes punched in it, containing a very special surprise.a don't open or even peek until they're all the way home.
this is a lovely idea. now, if we could get the hospitals to install a super hot decontam shower for all employees before they left for the day, we'd be in excellent shape.
The Today Show has been talking about the bed bug infestation in NYC for a while.. This morning they talked about how bed bugs have recently been found in department stores and movie theaters
When I was in Tanzania a few years ago, I get bit up by bedbugs, and apparently I was allergic. Not a pretty site from the bottom of my feet to my knees. Eww.
Southwestern Ohio has them in the hospitals. Patients bring them in with them. It is not an epidemic yet and we usually know which room/patient has them. Nursing homes are spraying for them quite a lot now too. They come in with the new residents when they bring in clothes, pillows, furniture, from home. UHG!!!!
When I was a child in the 70s, I had an overnight in the hospital and came home with scabies. That was gross! Fortunately, it's not an issue for me at work.
OMG I googled bed bugs just now....they can be HUGE! grosssssss
from what I understand, they mostly live on textiles. That makes me think about curtains in pt rooms. Is it common practice to wash those between patients? We don't at my hospital unless an isolation pt has been in the room. Maybe that needs to be a more common practice?
Southwestern Ohio has them in the hospitals. Patients bring them in with them. It is not an epidemic yet and we usually know which room/patient has them. Nursing homes are spraying for them quite a lot now too. They come in with the new residents when they bring in clothes, pillows, furniture, from home. UHG!!!!
Spraying what? omg. around already compromised patients? have we all lost our minds? correct answer is yes.
if you are going to pit one bug infestation against another, bed bug bites are fairly benign.
I swear if I ever get sick I do not want to be a patient in a hospital! if the insects, medication or surgery and stress does not do you in
I work as a cna for an agency and they send us into nursing homes. They tell us to keep all of our personal belongings off the floor, bed, etc. and even in plastic bags if we can. I have NEVER seen one but this is a precaution because other cnas, that work nights, have been bitten. And these are in gorgeous retirement facilities!!
I have been asked to help completely strip the rooms of all washable materials, clothes, sheets, etc because the exterminator was coming to spray. All fabric items were going to be washed.
We are absolutely NOT allowed to talk about it in the facility. They do not want anyone to know. We have to wait until we leave and then call the agency in private if we see them.
Considering bleach and 270 degrees will kill a prion like CJD... I would guess new mattresses and sheets cleaned with bleach and high temperature water would help kill a bug.
When my parents lost their home in the Great Depression, they moved their small family into a shack that was infested with bedbugs--they even found them in the walls. Mom said they got rid of them by using kerosene:eek:, in addition to the hot iron, hot water and sunshine.
The thing about bed bugs is that they are VERY difficult to detect due to the fact that they can hide almost anywhere, not just in beds, and if there are not efforts made to get rid of them as soon as they are detected, they reproduce very quickly. They are very difficult to eradicate once at all established, especially in a place like a nursing home or a hospital, with so many people.
There are things you can do to try to keep from taking them home with you if you work somewhere that has them (or anywhere really, you never know what patient or facility could have them as they are a pest of exposure, not of dirt/poor sanitation- they just want your blood as disturbing as that is): don't bring much to work, and isolate it when at home, including your shoes, with ziploc bags. Put your work clothes in a ziploc bag immediately when you get home and when you wash them, use the hottest water they can stand and dry them an hour past dry; this kills all bugs and eggs.
For very accurate, comprehensive and non-hysterical information on these disgusting creatures, check out bed bug news, information, activism, and support — Got bed bugs? Bedbugger.com. (I don't recommend it right before you're going to bed though, haha.) I don't even want to talk about why I know so much about this topic and am such a fanatic, but it wasn't a job exposure (at least as far as I know), and is not something I am dealing with currently.
But I would encourage you all to get familiar with what these things look like and what other signs to look for, just in case; this is a growing problem all over the country. And if you see one in your facility, or your patient reports a problem with them at home or while they are hospitalized, PLEASE report it immediately!!!!
grandmawrinkle
272 Posts
this is a lovely idea. now, if we could get the hospitals to install a super hot decontam shower for all employees before they left for the day, we'd be in excellent shape.