Feeling scared...I just need to vent a little :(

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Hello, I just wanted to vent and was hoping anyone might have a few words of encouragement. I am a new nurse who is still on orientation with a preceptor. For the past few days I had a patient who was + for hep A, B, C, and HIV 1 and 2 as well as c-diff and mrsa. The patient was on continuous bladder irrigation, and I watched my nurse empy the foley bag the first few times, which was filled with blood. It got emptied into a large container so that we could measure it, and I had to carry it to the toilet each time to empty it. We wore gowns and gloves to do this. By the end of the day I was doing it on my own and replaicing the bags of fluid. The patient also needed a B&O suppository which I gave them twice. I am just making myself crazy because I'm worried that I was only wearing one pair of gloves and am worried that maybe they had microscopic holes in them...and that maybe blood splashed in my eyes and I was unaware. I'm sure that I would have known if it had...I know this must sound crazy and irrational, but there's always the part of me that feels like it's not. My family thinks I'm being crazy but I'm already stressed out with being a new nurse and keep panicking when I think about what ifs and crying. Please help :(, I feel like you guys would understand.

Specializes in PCU.
You'll be fine- I have not once in my life double-gloved, it's not necessary.

[...]

I did have to double glove, but that was to clean chemo drug in another facility. Whole other level of protocols and another thread ;) .

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Specializes in Thoracic Cardiovasc ICU Med-Surg.

The posters above who recomend eye protection while flushing foley are giveing you good advice. I would also add that you should keep the eyewear on while you empty the syringe into the toilet.

9 years ago I had a gentleman on a CBI s/p TURP. He had blood oozing out around his catheter so I was to irrigate foley and suck out clots. Okay, I did that and then went to bathroom to squirt the syringe into toilet. Well, the clots created a lot of pressure in syringe, and when I shot it into toilet, the water richoched up and splashed me in eyes.

GROSS, I know.

I had to go down to our ER where the medics cheerfully attached a suction cup to my eyeball and ran two liters of saline in. And then I had to get follow up labs for months and months.

*Everything was fine, pt had no blood bourne diseases, and my eyeballs are fine and I learned a VERY valuable lesson.

So wear your goggles, nurses! :D

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Hi OP!!

It seemss to me like you are doing a great job :)

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You'll be fine- I have not once in my life double-gloved, it's not necessary.

Also, since when is there "HIV 2?" I have not heard of this...

I never heard of HIV 2 either but here is a link that I found on Google:

http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01335/en/txt/hiv1n2.html

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

WOW! Your patient seems like a Factory of Infection!

ALWAYS wear eye protection. What is the harm in NOT doing so? None. Protect yourself.

Unless you have broken skin on your hands, it isn't necessary to double glove. If you DO have broken skin on your hands, then by all means, double glove.

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Specializes in future OB/L&D nurse(I hope) or hospice.
Remember when you first learned to drive a car? How scared you that you'd have a horrific fatal accident each time another car got close? You grew out of that fear....and you will overcome this one too.

Its very NORMAL to feel this way at first.

I loved that analogy!!! I am still a pre-nursing student and have had the same concerns as the OP, but I will now remember this analogy as I enter my nursing school journey and beyong. THANK YOU!!

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