:smiletea: After some pondering and a lot of dressing up and back down at work tonight, I wonder, Do you ALL put people on contact iso if they have a hx. of mrsa, no matter what?? Often pts come in and have a wound or pneumonia or diarrhea. Tests are run, one to two days later, whammo, they have MRSA, or cdiff and they are rushed into a pvt. room, contact iso. How smart isTHAT??? or they come in and four years ago they had MRSA pneumonia, but are in for stomach pains, yet they get put in contact iso with droplet precautions... If we all use universal precautions and they dont have TB, active cough, etc, and if MRSA is truly the staph of today and everyone gets or has it, and if all RN's nostrils probably carry MRSA anyway, why do we do this??? Im still fairly new, but don't you wonder? Havent you also seen docs and family members go in and out without the gowns, gloves and masks?? Lets get real, havent we, as nurses, sometimes done the same in a hurry? But we always wash, we always take precautions around body fluids, etc.
So what does your facility do? What do YOU do>>>??? :smokin:
They have a staff member at their door???? Wow.. that's a bit over the top!
To my facilities defense, most of our residents are not mentally capable of understanding they need to stay in their rooms. I work with developmentally disabled adults. That staff member does more than "guard the door". They are there to help the resident with any ADL's they need help with including, but not limited to, using the restroom. They also make sure that precautions are used by all staff members entering said room. Also, most times if we have a resident in iso, they also have some health concern and really do need a 1:1 staff member to help them (Diarrhea, etc...). They also prevent another resident from entering the room and contaminating themselves, thus perpetuating the offending "bug".
I will be a new RN student in about 2 weeks. I am curious.. how often do you all garb up?? Gloves, gowns, masks, etc. on a regular basis for those working in ICU, CCU or ER?? I am curious how often a week you have to do this.
A new policy started at my hospital about 4-5 months ago. Anyone with active diarrhea gets put on contact precautions for C-Diff until it is ruled out. I work in an ICU that was getting alot of C-Diff. This seemed to really cut down in the number of pts with C-Diff. We also use the Purel hand santitizer which doesn't kill C-Diff., so you must wash with soap and water. Many staff didn't know this so now all of our dispensers are labeled "not for C-Diff". The rooms also have to be cleaned with bleach because the standard cleaner doesn't kill C-Diff either. So each C-Diff room get a "clean room with bleach" sign to informe housekeeping.
Ok. I have a question for you all then after reading the last post. Since CDIFF seems to be highly contagious and nothing really kills it but bleach, how do you all protect yourselves?? I know you are wearing the gloves and gowns and so forth, but does washing your hands not kill it?? Wow. Must be a pretty potent germ. And this topic leads me to another question... I developed a bad illness many years ago that attacked my system, especially my gut. Not CIFF or anything. Docs were never really able to pinpoint the exact virus down. Liver enzymes were elevated, I was in sweats, barely conscious... AWFUL AWFUL time. Anyway... not to be gross here, but I had loose stools for over a week and dropped to 80 pounds. Not good for a 27 year old. This terribly depleted my potassium and other electrolytes... I was in the hopsital for a week on all sorts of IV's. K dropped to 2.0. I was fairly critical. To this day, my body does not make OR retain K since this illness. I have to take 5 MEQ of KCl to keep me around the normal range and then it is still a bit low... 3.8. So having said all this, I DO NOT want to get catch an illness that could attack my intestines, stomach and deplete me of electrolytes since I am hyokalemic anyway. I am also a heart patient... so loosing all that K really exacerbated my heart condition. How would you suggest I protect myself.?? I am starting RN school in 2 weeks. Once I start clincials should I mention this to my nursing instructor??
I will be a new RN student in about 2 weeks. I am curious.. how often do you all garb up?? Gloves, gowns, masks, etc. on a regular basis for those working in ICU, CCU or ER?? I am curious how often a week you have to do this.
Thanks! Epona
I would say given 10 ICU patients, that 2 would be isolation patients. So 20% of all ICU patients. You garb up every time you enter the room. Masks are only required for droplet precautions, (TB, rule out TB). Needless to say, you gather lots of materials and drugs for trips into that isolation room. I have had two patients that were both in isolation at the same time before....spent about 1/4 of my time garbing and disgarbing!
We also isolate all potential and actual C-Diff patients - single rooms, isolation bins, gloves and gowns.
And veeeery meticulous handwashing! During our last gastro outbreak (not C Diff) one staff member was rolling over in bed at home to vomit into a bucket and was fecally incontinent. and a nursing student on placement rushed to the toilet to vomit and was also fecally incontinent. Poor girl had to go home in scrub pants.
Ok. I have a question for you all then after reading the last post. Since CDIFF seems to be highly contagious and nothing really kills it but bleach, how do you all protect yourselves?? I know you are wearing the gloves and gowns and so forth, but does washing your hands not kill it?? Wow. Must be a pretty potent germ.
The hospital soap and water handwash does kill the C-Diff. It's the purel hand sanitizer dispensors that do not kill the C-Diff. So just make sure your washing your hands everytime you come out of a C-Diff precaution room.
:smokin:
BJLynn
97 Posts
To my facilities defense, most of our residents are not mentally capable of understanding they need to stay in their rooms. I work with developmentally disabled adults. That staff member does more than "guard the door". They are there to help the resident with any ADL's they need help with including, but not limited to, using the restroom. They also make sure that precautions are used by all staff members entering said room. Also, most times if we have a resident in iso, they also have some health concern and really do need a 1:1 staff member to help them (Diarrhea, etc...). They also prevent another resident from entering the room and contaminating themselves, thus perpetuating the offending "bug".