I was at work last night and the nurses were talking as if it was normal.
I love working in healthcare, but as you know accidents happen, like urine splashing on you/clothing, someone spitting on you or rushing in without gloves during an emergency.
I'm starting nursing school next year but seriously thinking its not for me.
They say, that all nurses get it? Is it true?
I wouldn't want to expose this to my family or other patients that why I practice good hygiene. Any insight?
Please someone tell me I'm not the only one who's actually considered picking up a piece of chocolate off the hospital floor and had someone tell me it was gross so I stopped......cdiff and mrsa taste fine on chocolate right?
I have been nursing since 1986 and never had C-diff. If proper precautions taken you should be ok. MRSA is very much a community thing and you have more risk in shops than anywhere else of coming into contact with it
Except even if you take proper precautions, that doesn't mean others will. So as you type away charting, and then rub your eyes, wonder just who might have had their dirty little fingers on the keyboard too. Same goes for counters, doorknobs..just ANYTHING you touch. Not to mention spores.
We can't wash our hands after we touch everything.
But, we can take responsibility for a healthy immune system :-)
A few years ago, I was worked up and pan cultured by ID, for some abnormal diagnostic results, following a trip to Africa. Even had a bronchoscopy done with cultures. Amazingly, nothing infectious showed up.
Please someone tell me I'm not the only one who's actually considered picking up a piece of chocolate off the hospital floor and had someone tell me it was gross so I stopped......cdiff and mrsa taste fine on chocolate right?
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
It s not true that all nurses get MRSA or C.Diff. The truth is these organisms as well as a host others ESBL, EColi, VRE to name just a few have escaped the clinical setting and are loose in the community. If you were to swab the nares of 100 average people you would most likely find about 10% colonized but asymptomatic. This does not mean they have active infections or ever will. The spread is due mostly to improper hygiene and improper use of PPE. A study just released showed that mistakes made in donning and doffing PPE leave most nurses with infectious material on their cloths. Also the over use of Germicidal products has lulled people into a false sense of security.
How? How are you going to pass around a collection plate through the internet. You should really think these things through better before you post them.
C diff, no. Colonized for MRSA. Now I have acquired scabies from a pt at work.
My whole family caught scabies back once long before I was a nurse. It left me with a raging case of scabiesphobia. Some people can't deal with mucus or vomit. I can't deal with scabies.
That said, I did not catch scabies from my patient, despite being the first one to notice s/he had it, and having had gloveless contact with the patient prior to that point.
If you follow proper infection control procedures, you'll be fine. I work closely with patients that have tested positive for MRSA or C-diff. It's never been a problem in my 15+ years. There are worse critters that you might come across as you navigate your nursing career, trust me. What's a real bummer is when you work with a patient all day and come back the next day to find contact & droplet precautions ordered! Ugh...
~PedsRN~, BSN, RN
826 Posts
Jelly like stools - that's a whole new ballgame.