I messed up my ppd site

eriksoln, BSN, RN · May 25, 2011

LOL. I feel bad for you, but can't help but laugh. ;)Just say I'm laughing with instead of at.

But, this made me think of something I did today. I donated blood at my hospital. After the donation was over, it was time to go sit, have a juice and wait 15 min. to leave. I had the nice, tiny pressure dressing on my L AC and the tech. told me "Don't bend that arm for 15 min.".

I sat at the table with my juice and chips acting like I knew what I was doing and.............OMG I caught myself bending my arm about...........oh, 15 times. Thats 1 per minute. As you said, you'd think as a nurse I'd know better. Guess not.

I have a new empathy for pt's with an IV in their AC who can't remember not to bend their arm.

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · May 25, 2011

You would think as a nurse that do many ppds would be able to follow one simple direction. Nope. Not me.
I get the TB injected today. Was advised by the nurse not to scrub it in the shower as this may cause a false positive. I nodded and winked;) and stated " Yes, I know"
Lo and behold I forget about the TB site and I scrub my arm in the shower. Now I have a freakin quarter size, 2mm, red, round, bump on my arm.
I just hope it goes down. Atleast I have the second step next week... If not, chest x-ray I suppose.

I totally didn't know that until now. Thank you for sharing this with us. I'll remember this next year when I get my PPD

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · May 25, 2011

A positive PPD is a raised area of 15mm or more, (unless you have HIV, and then it's 7mm). So with a 2mm raised area, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Edit: I just read the "quarter sized" comment, so I'm thinking the 2mm was typo? 2cm maybe? Try applying ice, and then moist heat, like a warm washcloth.

ckh23, BSN, RN · May 25, 2011

I wouldn't worry it hasn't even been 24 hrs yet. You would be measuring induration at the site, not just the size of the bump.

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · May 25, 2011

A positive PPD is a raised area of 15mm or more, (unless you have HIV, and then it's 7mm). So with a 2mm raised area, I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Edit: I just read the "quarter sized" comment, so I'm thinking the 2mm was typo? 2cm maybe? Try applying ice, and then moist heat, like a warm washcloth.

Its both ! Size of a quarter in diameter and induration is 2 mm. I'm sure it will go down.

suanna · May 25, 2011

I don't know if I would work (ice, heat, whatever...) to get the lesion to resolve. What if you are TB positive. It may not be a false positive from your scrubbing but a real one- how would you know? I would rather get a CXR or 2nd PPD rather than struggle to make my injection look negative. TB is pretty easy to treat now-a-days, and still pretty lethal if you don't treat it.

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · May 25, 2011

I don't know if I would work (ice, heat, whatever...) to get the lesion to resolve. What if you are TB positive. It may not be a false positive from your scrubbing but a real one- how would you know? I would rather get a CXR or 2nd PPD rather than struggle to make my injection look negative. TB is pretty easy to treat now-a-days, and still pretty lethal if you don't treat it.

It went down a lot guys. I'm glad I was able to make some of you chuckle. :lol2:

To answer the question above- no biggie. I KNOW its not positive. lol. Before I got in the shower it was perfectly flat. After I scrubbed the site for about 15 seconds vigorously that is when the reaction happened.

Learning lesson for me. :)

summerset719 · Feb 28, 2017

So, did you have to do it again because you scrubbed the site, and did it give you a false positive test result?