Finger picking and biting

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Hi everybody, a graduating nursing student here, every excited and scared too about coming closer to graduation and working as a real RN!

I might sound really stupid and nonsense since I am nursing student and I've learned so much about how pathogens are usually spread, but recently as my contamination OCD flares up, I just kept thinking that I might contract Hep c or b virus through open cuts on my hand by touching shared surfaces (such as key boards on COW) that might have invisible blood on them. I am pretty sure I did not come into contact directly with any blood or patient fluid, but I did touch a lot of shared surfaces on the unit I was on (though I did not see visible blood on those surfaces). I am just really having these intrusive thoughts that I am getting virus because of the open wound on my finger. ANY reassurance, or simply just say I am stupid would help!!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I don't know if this helps or just adds to your concerns, but the same patients that are the vectors of pathogens in the hospital also frequent the grocery store, restaurants, etc that you also go to, so your exposure to their pathogens is no different in the hospital than elsewhere. If anything, infection prevention practices are much more reliable in the hospital than in other places where you'll come across pathogens, in both screening for pathogens and hygiene practices, so the hospital doesn't really represent a higher than normal exposure to pathogens.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Please seek help. This is paralyzing thinking. Your school should be able to assist with finding you support.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Have you ever heard of excoriation disorder? It is an actual disorder that features the repetitive behavior of picking at the skin, often to the point of bleeding and scarring. Many people pick scabs and other skin lesions, but with excoriation disorder they will repeatedly pick, pull, or tear at blisters, pimples, even intact skin. It is often seen in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety.

Please see a counselor or therapist soon. They can help you sort through the reasons why you pick and possibly put a stop to it for good. Wishing you well. Viva

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Specializes in ICU, ER, Home Health, Corrections, School Nurse.

How about wearing a band aid? gloves?

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Specializes in NICU.

You are right there is a lot of contamination of surfaces such as keyboards,but you can protect yourself .When we begin our shift we always did a little housekeeping of visible dirt,mess,and wiping down all keyboard ,monitor surfaces as possible,proper handwashing,good care of your skin.I once had poison ivy on my hand,I went to urgent care got note to stay home,due to my broken skin .Use a good emollient to keep dry skin away.If you find your fears getting the best of you then try a good counselor,you are not crazy ,there is a lot of crap out there and not everyone follows protocols.

I remember getting yelled at in school for wearing gloves,they claimed it was "offensive" to the patient,.....and lo and behold look at the protocols today.Nurses were right and we were ahead of our time.

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Specializes in Community health.

Pathogens are not the problem here.
Anxiety is the problem.
It sounds like you already know this (because you used phrases like “contamination OCD” which indicate you’ve had some interaction with a mental health provider in the past). It sounds like you need to find a good therapist (an anxiety specialist) and get into some treatment. You’ve got a lot of stress at the moment (you’re starting a new career!) and it seems like this is bubbling into intrusive and OCD-type thoughts. Don’t worry so much about the specifics (by which I mean, don’t spend your evening trying to calculate the likelihood you could be exposed by some freak chance), but instead make a plan to handle and overcome your anxiety.

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Big thanks to all of you who responded, and I really appreciate that you all suggested me seeing a good therapist, which I will for sure consider doing. I did have cuts on my hand a few times when I was at my clinical site hospital, which was not a very good hospital and that's when I started to get really anxious. Before this semester, I was fine, tho still kinda in a OCD mode. I think I just have to think logically and try to persuade myself every time, that if there is no visible blood on the surface, the chances of getting sth is really really low and plus I should trust hospital's infection control.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.
4 hours ago, fan112 said:

Big thanks to all of you who responded, and I really appreciate that you all suggested me seeing a good therapist, which I will for sure consider doing. I did have cuts on my hand a few times when I was at my clinical site hospital, which was not a very good hospital and that's when I started to get really anxious. Before this semester, I was fine, tho still kinda in a OCD mode. I think I just have to think logically and try to persuade myself every time, that if there is no visible blood on the surface, the chances of getting sth is really really low and plus I should trust hospital's infection control.

Sweetheart, no matter if you are at a "good" or "bad" hospital there are pathogens. You need to take care of your hands - regularly moisturize them, keep the skin intact. That is the best barrier to prevent you picking up something. To do that you need to stop picking and biteing the skin, which means getting your mental health in the best state possible.

Remember, you can't look after others if you are not looking after yourself. See a counsellor, please. You would not be walking on a broken leg would you?

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My primary hobby for the past few years is rock climbing, and I have quite a few nurse friends who share this hobby as well. Needless to say, clambering up rocks and jamming your fingers and hands into small places often leaves you with scratches and other various hand wounds, so I frequently have some small scratches and scrapes on my hands.

Just be mindful. I almost always wear gloves when coming in contact with patients whether they have obvious body fluid or not. I will sometimes put tegaderm over a fresh scratch and change it often, and also wash it often.

Unless you just have a big gaping wound, you can avoid spreading infection and being infected without spending too much time and paranoia, and with pretty basic precautions.

Finally, the single best way to prevent yourself from getting sick in general is to keep yourself healthy. Exercise. Eat well. Treat your body well and it will do a good job at what it was designed to do.

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really thank you for saying all these, it really helps me to just think logically and chase my anxiety away. I too always wear gloves whenever I am in the patient's room, it's just when I am outside patient's room, I still get paranoid because I feel like not everybody clean their COW/WOW and those shared BP machines properly, and I feel like they might become reservoir of virus and bacterias. But I guess I am over thinking about it, cause obviously if blood or other bodily fluid, a considerable amount, got on those machines, whoever was using should have cleaned it cause they themselves too does not want those fluid or blood on their own machines.

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