Least infectious floors

[Epona]

Hi. I was reading a post by an RN who has a daughter at home who has cancer and she does not want to bring home any "bugs" to her. She says she is trying to get switched to another floor like post-partum where there aren't as may germs floating around. Can you all tell me which floors are usually the least infectious?? I know you can get bugs virtually anywhere, but I am thinking probably the ER or Med-Surg is where you'd see the most germs. What about Peds or Cardiac?? I am interested in those areas. To be honest, because of my own personal life situation, I too do not want to be around a bunch of germs if I can help it...I am real and know bugs exist in healthcare, but was curious if any floors were better then others. What she talked about peaked my interest. THANKS ALL!

[EmmaG, RN]

Thanks. Those were some good posts. I figured in PEDS they get everything in the world... kinda figured that. What about Cardiac?? Also- what exactly is a post-partum floor? Thanks everbody!! :) I apprecicate the advice as always!!

Cardiac is going to be just as 'dirty' as any other unit.

Post-partum is new mothers. Perhaps I'm showing my age lol. Steve is right, they can be infected as well. In this hospital, they are isolated and moved away from the "clean" moms, though. Though there's still a chance of running up against someone who's infected, at least by policy here that floor is the only one considered "clean".

[Christie RN2006]

At my hospital post-partum and CVICU are the floors with the least known bugs. If they have a "dirty" patient in CVICU, they usually ship them over to my floor (Surgical ICU).

[jlcole45]

Hi there,

Are you new to health care? One thing I have to say is that if you are concerned about the potential of infection then perhaps you need to re think your career path.

Not that any of us want to get exposed to infectious disease, but it is one of the risks of the job. Over the last 20 years I certainly have gotten sick and exposed to many known and I am sure unknown diseases.

The potential for infection is through out the hospital - yes one could say that the skilled nursing floor is probably more infected with say MRSA then the peds unit.

That said, the same housekeeping folks that work on the peds floor are often the same ones who just mopped up the used trauma room in the ER - especially on night shift. So potentially the bugs can be transported from one place to the other.

Yes I know that housekeeping has protocols that they go by and certainly the chemicals they use are industrial strength but they are also human like the rest us. Never mind the others who work in health care and don't wash their hands between patients!

I worked sugurial ICU for years and we had folks in their with VRE and MRSA on occasion. Besides the fact that their are a lot more tubes and drainage bags in ICU's - hence the potential for infection to and from the patient

A doctors office is just as infectious as any ER, peds units are always full of infection - kids don't wash their hands or cover their mouths, and of course they touch everything! I guess the cleanest spot in the hospital would be the OR.

[Epona]

Hi. I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for their suggestions. I will refer back to this post.

Thank you all!! Epona

[ukstudent]

The cleanest part of the hospital that I ever worked in was the NICU. It was rare to have an infected new born. Ped's had every infection under the sun. Adults do get RSV Epona, we just don't need to be hospitalized due to it. You would probably think it was the common cold.

[ZippyGBR, BSN, RN]

elective only ortho perhaps? as the patients should have been on eradication prior to admission ?

[Agnus]

No such place. If there were it would breed complacency about infection control. Better to be super cautions following precaution protocols in a dirty unit than to become complacent in a so called clean unit where even there you will get exposure.

Our cancer unit where pt are very compromised shares the floor with pts who are in isolation for all kinds of stuff. We use universal protocols.

We attempt to not assign a nurse with neutrapenic patients to patients in isolation for infection. Even that does not always happen.

Sometimes as already pointed out it is the compromised neutropenic pt who has the infections.

If you have a compromized family member treat that the same way you would if you had a new born at home. Commonsense and basic hygene.

[Agnus]

No such place. If there were it would breed complacency about infection control. Better to be super cautions following precaution protocols in a dirty unit than to become complacent in a so called clean unit where even there you will get exposure.

Our cancer unit where pt are very compromised shares the floor with pts who are in isolation for all kinds of stuff. We use universal protocols.

We attempt to not assign a nurse with neutrapenic patients to patients in isolation for infection. Even that does not always happen.

Sometimes as already pointed out it is the compromised neutropenic pt who has the infections.

If you have a compromized family member treat that the same way you would if you had a new born at home. Commonsense and basic hygene.

At least in the hospital you know who is infected with what. Out of the hospital you have no idea who is transmitting what to you.

[nurseboudin]

The OR, of course, a sterile environment. At the hospital I work, we cannot leave the hospital in the scrubs we worked in. Nor can we wear scrubs into the OR from the outside.

There are things that can be done to prevent carrying infection from our workplace into our homes and into the community. As nurses, it is part of our responsibility to practice recommended infection control guidelines.