Have you ever "caught" anything from your patients?

RN from OZ · Jun 27, 2003

Oh yeah I have had rota virus from a stint in Paeds....22 out of 30 pts had it .

When I worked in Resp wards I was so Paronoid about TB that I could get in do what I had to do , fully gowned , masked , and gloved and not take a breath while I was in those rooms.

I have worked in NICU now for 10years and I have not had a thing...although the establishment is too scared to culture us as they would have to have most of their staff off on compo for Stahp colonisation !...It was kaos when they cultured the OT staff

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jun 27, 2003

After 15 years in health care, I thought sure I was going to finally pop positve on my PPD after a recent exposure, but I am clear after 3 months (woohoo!) Otherwise, I was sick with a nagging cough/cold (6 weeks - *not* TB lol) shortly after starting at the clinic, but I chalked that up to new germs/cooties to which my body was not yet immune.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 27, 2003

Nothing here.

Had a coworker cut himself on a piece of equipment in a pt's room that had MRSA. His hand got a wicked MRSA infection.

mattsmom81 · Jun 27, 2003

A coworker of mine got MRSA too... in a hangnail...she was off on WC , on ABX for 10 days on order of our employee health nurse.

I was surprised that WC picked it up to be honest.

vettech · Jun 27, 2003

These stories are interresting yet a bit frightening.

I was really suprised to read of all the cases of scabies. I've been in veterinary medicine for 10 years and have never caught it, nor have I known anyone who has. As scarcoptic mange mite's definitive host is the canine, not the human, the outbreaks y'all describe are puzzling. I'm not doubting it, just really suprised at how many of you folks have had it.

Now ringworm on the other hand... I have chronic mild bouts of it. Seems if I lay hands on a pt with it, gloved or not, I'll break with a mild case.

Spaniel gal · Jun 27, 2003

red rebel, slap face is slang for Fifths disease.

Ruby

toronto rn · Jun 27, 2003

I've had to take rifampin three different times after meningitis exposure. A coworker of mine was exposed to cytomegalo virus while pregnant and tested positive resulting in an agonizing wait to see if her child was born with problems. (thankfully not). We had many floors quarantined because of Norwalk virus over the fall and christmas, many nurses became ill with this virus. And of course the worst of all is the SARS epidemic which has affected many nurses and health care workers, some who still remain in critical condition. Universal precautions are no longer enough to protect health care workers.

kids · Jun 27, 2003

There is more than one type of scarcoptic mite (we treat a lot of scabies at my job), the mange mite that dogs get can infect humans but is a self limiting infection.

A good link (I'm a CDC addict):

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/scabies/factsht_scabies.htm

Caitlin's Mommy · Jun 27, 2003

I haven't caught any serious illness from a patient so far(knock on wood)The only thing I've caught is the common cold ,but I'm not sure if that was from my daughter bringing the germs home from school or not.One of my friends who worked as a CNA at a nursing home inhaled a staff infection.And she was so sick.I never thought you could inhale a staph infection,but apparently you can.

Even though I do wear gloves when it comes to cleaning up bodily fluids and take the nessesary percautions. I still get tested for tb,hep B and C,and HIV every year when I have my physical just to be on the safe side.So far evey test result has come out negative(Thank God)

CCL"Babe", BSN, RN · Jun 27, 2003

Like Badbird my bro who is an LPN in LTC popped up a positive tb test about 2 or 3 years ago. Didn't actually have tb mind you but did take medication for a while. Like Badbird there was a patient on the floor who kept coming up with negative tb test but who actually had it. Some of these people are so immune suppressed they don't react.

Me too. The hospital told me that if I ever got TB that I would not be able to claim it, because I could never prove that that particular patient gave it to me.

Years ago got a really bad GI virus that was going around a local college. It was so bad that it made the news for days. No one knew initailly what caused it. We saw hundreds of students with it. Then all the ED staff started getting it. Never had a GI bug so bad before or since.

MelRN13 · Jun 28, 2003

About 6 years ago, when I worked as an aide in LTC, we had a helluva breakout of influenza, facility was quaranteened, and I was ill, off work for 2 weeks, and felt miserable. But luckily, that is the only time I've been sick in the 7 years I've worked in healthcare.

K O'Malley · Jun 28, 2003

Fifths disease, while not at all serious can be lethal for an unborn child. I know of a tragic case of a pregnant nurse who caught Fifth's disease from a patient.