New Nurses/CNAs! Have you gotten sick?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Acute Care.

This is just out of curiosity, but my floor had a bunch of new grads all hired 9/10 months ago. Over the past several weeks, decent percentage of them (including myself) have come down with various moderatly-severe illnesses, mostly of the Upper Respiratory Infection type. My personal ball of fun is pneumonia.

None of the other staff has gotten sick, just us new grads. The experienced nurse mostly say they went through a similar type of thing, that after 6-12 months, they got really sick a couple times, and have been fine since.

What I want to know is this:

Has anyone else experieced this? Could there be a grace period, when you can fight off infections, but then your immune system crashes a bit and you get sick? Tell me about your illnesses!

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Wow yes i got ACUTE STREP THROAT

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Specializes in LTC, Med-SURG,STICU.

I was sick with some sort of URI for about a month when I was a new grad nurse. I think I had been working as a nurse for about 3 months. I worked in another hospital before starting there and I was never sick. It must of been the stress of being a new grad was the reason that I could not fight off anything. I hope you feel better soon.

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Specializes in LTC.

I've been sick constantly since I started CNA work almost a year ago. The weird thing is I work in a nursing home, not a hospital, so you'd think it wouldn't be as bad. I didn't get this sick working as a cashier, coming into contact with hundreds of people a day and not washing my hands unless I went to the bathroom.

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I had a lot of stress last year with my mother's cancer AND LPN school. I was in bed and up out of bed to the BR with the worst poops and I called my instructor groaning *LOL* OMG school was the worst year of my life. I was getting a severe cold every few weeks so after the last one I vowed I would never compromise my diet or vitamins no matter how little my pay was. I've not been sick since that vow. Never miss the gym or a good home workout either. I think it's stress that makes us noobs sick.

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.

Yes omg I work in pedi for the last year and have gotten sick every month. Then I carry it home with me and my daughter gets sick. U need atleast a good 9 to 12 months to adjust and let ur immunity build up. Esp in pediatrics.

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Specializes in Acute Care.

Thanks for your replies, everyone!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

the first couple of years i started in nursing i got every cold and flu that came along. it seemed like i got sick all the time. i also got a really bad case of bronchitis that almost became pneumonia. i had so many coworkers reminding me to cough and deep breathe and sent me home with an incentive spirometer! the worst part of it is that most facilities have an attendance policy of some sort so if you get sick too much and have to take days off work you can get into trouble for that. i remember having to be off for over a week with a very severe ear infection and had a doctor's excuse because my ears were swollen shut and i could not hear so i was put on probation for attendance because of the days of work that i missed. now, years later, people around me get colds and flu and i stay well. i feel like i am impervious to it all. in actuality, i think that all the stuff i picked up all those years ago gave me immunity. the last few times i got colds they were really mild and i couldn't believe how easy they were to tolerate.

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Specializes in tele, oncology.

Yep, same here. The first several months of working on the floor at an acute care hospital, I got sick repeatedly.

And then when the kids started school, I went through months of getting every little kid illness they brought home.

I hope I'm pretty much immune now, it's been a LONG time since I got sick enough to miss work. :)

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Specializes in Derm/Wound Care/OP Surgery/LTC.

Yep. Got the flu the very first week I went into an ALF. There was a rampant case of the flu going around with the patients and no matter how many times I washed my hands and used a mask I still got it.

Scariest? We had an outbreak of scabies once. Most of the CNA's contracted it. That was horrible!

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Specializes in med/surg, ER, camp nursing.

New teachers go through the same thing the first couple of years of teaching. I think it has to do with building up your resistance.

Good thing is after being a nurse for 8 plus years, I rarely get what ever bug goes through my family any more.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
now, years later, people around me get colds and flu and i stay well. i feel like i am impervious to it all. in actuality, i think that all the stuff i picked up all those years ago gave me immunity. the last few times i got colds they were really mild and i couldn't believe how easy they were to tolerate.

this is exactly how i describe myself as well after 20+ years in nsg,

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