kc1985

I was there again today with the same patient. This time I did wear a mask. It still amazes me though that none of the other nurses, aides, or guest wear them while in the room.

Now I am worried. I did pt care for about 4 hours without a mask. Its my mistake I assumed that the RN would know and would give adequate advice to a newbie. I will def. wear a mask next time. The pt was not coughing and I did not see resp therapy in the room during the time I was there however I did get close to the patient doing the assessment and such I guess all I can hope is that I haven't caught anything due to that mistake.

I am correct though that it is droplet not air born? In that case the sputum would actually have to get on me to cause me to get infected right?

I was wondering if anyone could answer this question for me. I am a nursing student and was assigned to a patient to care for the other day with MRSA in their sputum. The person was on a closed system trach I believe is what the RN called it. I am super paranoid and asked her if I need to wear a mask while in the room because I had seen 5 people *yes I counted* go in the room without one. They all did wear gloves and gown however. She said that it was not necessary because all of the sputum was being sucked into a closed container. The patient was not coughing while I was there. I am curious if this happens again should I wear a mask to be safe. I don't want to be overly paranoid but at the same time I want to be safe!!!