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Discussion

Need Advice!!!!!!

Hi allnurses,

About 3 days ago I had an HIV positive patient who had a trach. I was cleaning the inner cannula, as I was cleaning, I felt a tiny drop of something land above the inner corner of my eye. I was freaking out although my co worker said i had nothing to worry about. The secretions were white and no blood was present. Please help me ease my mind I'm freaking out!!! Even if it was the smallest drop I have tried really hard to maintain universal precautions.

Thanks.

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    • Featured Replies

    you need to talk to the infection control nurse at your facility. We cannot advise here.

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    Definitely contact Infectious Disease (ID) at your facility and explain the situation to them and ask them what they recommend then contact Occupational Health at your facility right away. This should be a documented incident just in case. I have experience with this. Whether the risk is high or low your facility's Occupational Injury Clinic should be made aware and have documentation of when and how the incident occurred. And the reason I recommend contact the infectious disease department is because they specialize in disease and it's transmission. Let me know if you need any further advice. You can message me if you would like.

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    To be on the safe side, I would do what the above posters stated. Contact whoever is on your Infectious Disease team. It may have been nothing, but honestly in a case like that it's always smart to fill out an incident report and get checked out. Generally I think they would have you rinse your eyes out, and start you on a cocktail dose just in case. All facilities are different. Never feel like you can't speak up though. We are all human! :) Good luck.

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    Were you wearing your eye protection at the time? You know that this is required whenever you are doing any "splashy" tasks. I would follow up with employee health ASAP. Report it now if you haven't already... better late than never. I have two nurse colleagues who have suffered serious corneal infections as a result of patient secretions.

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    • Expert

    as per the terms of service we cannot offer medical advice. you need to report this to your facility immediately and filled out a post exposure form. the cdc hs specific guidelines for exposure treatment and post exposure risk. meticulous attention to universal precautions is imperative for your protection. if you don't like the look of goggles i'd get a pair of plain lense glasses to protect you eyes.

    cdc - bloodborne infectious diseases - emergency needlestick information - niosh workplace safety and health topic

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