Don't know if this was an exposure?

[LoveMJJ]

Hello everyone,

i work on a medsurg/tele floor.. was helping the CNA clean up an elderly patient. Patient was wearing a diaper full of poop and the CNA grabbed a basin with soap and water and wash cloths. As she was wiping the patient she would dip her glove to grab more wash cloths etc... she did a motion with her glove at me to help turn the patient and I felt a flick of something wet land near the side of my eye. I felt it drip near my eye and I walked to the mirror. I did not see anything bloody or with any obvious body fluids so I wiped the side of my eye off with a paper towel and water and continued to help her... was wearing gown gloves mask and eye glasses.. but I think my eye glasses were falling down my nose which caused whatever splash to happen. Patient is elderly 85 years old with no history of any blood borne pathogen or serious infectious disease other than UTI. Patient has history of stroke so she was contracted and nonverbal, according to doc notes she's cared for at home. Anyway my question is should I have reported this incident ? I feel like it wasn't a significant "exposure" , but I'm not sure and it would be a great help to know whether I should go to employee health Monday morning or not...please help, thank you.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'm sorry this happened to you. But per our Terms of Service, we can not give medical advice.

If you have any concerns as to whether this was an exposure and what risks may arise from it, you need to contact your primary care provider or go to occupational health. In fact, your facility's P&P likely has a policy addressing what to after possible exposures and you should follow it.

It's something you should do (have done) right away after any possible exposure. But better late than never.

IMO, even if you think it was a minor thing or not even 100% sure you'd call it an exposure, it's far better to go get checked out and be told you have nothing to worry about, than to not go and worry yourself sick with "what if's"...or even worse, not go and find out later that you should have gone.

Best of luck.