Ribavirin and pregnancy

core0 · Aug 6, 2007

Hi all, I work on a heme-onc unit and we often give Ribavirin, which is class X as far as drugs go---guaranteed to cause birth defects in pregnant women, basically. So anyone within three months of trying to conceive, anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding, is exempted from caring for pts getting it. My question is--isn't that some sort of weird legal/privacy thing? So if I try to have a baby I have to tell ALL of the charge nurses about it so I don't get assigned to this patient. Seems kind of like you're shooting yourself in the foot career wise- pretty much announcing you'll be gone probably on leave sometime pretty soon. And what if you are pregnant and then you miscarry or decide to abort? Then you have to tell them again that you no longer need this exemption. Does anyone else face this problem? I really hate to share my personal reproductive plans with our nursing supervisor, seems very private to me. Thoughts?

How is this different from any of the other class X drugs that are regularly used on Heme/Onc. It seems to me if you are considering pregnancy then this might not be a good setting? The particular issue with Ribavirin is that since it is a powder in capsule it is easy to get exposure. We tell our patients to not get pregnant for six months after stopping Ribavirin since it has such a long half life. It is a nasty Tetragoen (probably worse than Accutane). We require patients taking it to be on two forms of birth control and do frequent pregancy tests.

David Carpenter, PA-C

CritterLover, BSN, RN · Aug 6, 2007

hi all, i work on a heme-onc unit and we often give ribavirin, which is class x as far as drugs go---guaranteed to cause birth defects in pregnant women, basically. so anyone within three months of trying to conceive, anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding, is exempted from caring for pts getting it. my question is--isn't that some sort of weird legal/privacy thing? so if i try to have a baby i have to tell all of the charge nurses about it so i don't get assigned to this patient. seems kind of like you're shooting yourself in the foot career wise- pretty much announcing you'll be gone probably on leave sometime pretty soon. and what if you are pregnant and then you miscarry or decide to abort? then you have to tell them again that you no longer need this exemption. does anyone else face this problem? i really hate to share my personal reproductive plans with our nursing supervisor, seems very private to me. thoughts?

i hear what you are saying.

i'm a very private person, too. it would drive me crazy to have to share personal information with my supervisors.

i don't think i see an option, though.

they aren't doing this to pry -- it is for your benefit. you could choose not to disclose, but then would have to accept the risks of being exposed to the drug. if you work on heme-onc, it isn't like you can really avoid exposure "just because."

the only thing i can think of is to try to come up with some other method of protecting pregnant nurses/potentially pregnant nurses.

maybe some of the other onc nurses will have some suggestions, or be able to share how they handle it on their unit.

samarooni · Aug 10, 2007

Well, ideally I wouldn't be on a heme-onc unit but I can't just change my job! I guess I will just have to tell but I just hate it and I know the whole damn unit will know my business. So part of the problem is I don't want to tell because it is private and the rest is because I know once all of the charge nurses know it'll travel like wildfire...some of them have the "gift of gab" a little too much. Ugh. Thanks..