Chicken Pox precautions?

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi everyone -

Can anyone tell me what kind of precautions there would be for a pt with chicken pox in a hospital setting? I'm thinking contact, but not sure, possibly airborne too?

also, if an RN were to go into this pt's room with a dinner tray, would she/he have to wear a gown?

thanks in advance ---

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I do not know offical precautions, but I can tell you that having a little one who just recently had an outbreak (despite having the vaccine) I can pass along what we were told.

We were told by our pediatricians office that as long as we (hubby and I) had chicken pox as a child that the likelihood of us (or anyone who had been exposed to chicken pox) coming down with shingles was very low.

However, they did tell us that we should be cautious in exposing ourselves to those who had not had chicken p ox/had not been vaccinated, senior citizens, pregnant women and those who may have a supressed immune system over the course of the next few weeks when the other two children could potentially break out (even though they also have received the vaccine).

I would think if you were on a floor with individuals who may be in this category that contact precautions would be taken, but that is a guess.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

Years ago, it would have been strict isolation; today it would be airborne precautions.

The issue in a hospital setting would be the immunosuppressed. You would not want a child on chemotherapy, for example, to be exposed to the chicken pox.

The CDC website is an excellent resource for this type of information.

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Specializes in SICU.

Chickenpox is both contact and airborne precautions. A nurse placing a dinner tray would not need a grown, however, most places require all people entering a room with contact precautions to wear a gown. Theres is always the chance that even if you only meant to place the tray down you would come into contact with the pt, the bedding or other surfaces with the virus on it. At ALL times entering the room, which should be on negative air flow, an N-95 or comparable mask should be worn.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

see post #33 on this sticky thread for the links to the official cdc isolation guidelines for hospitals:

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Thanks, everyone - I did know about the CDC site but find it so cumbersome to wade through there ---

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