Risk of getting your family members sick?

[Pete_soon2bRN]

Hi everyone, i am currently working on my ADN right now and i'm starting to learn more about the hospital setting and how it tends to have many pathogens. I have no doubt that i want to be a nurse, but my biggest concern is that i might spread something to my significant other or my children (don't have any yet). I am aware that MRSA colonizes in some facilities and respiratory infections are common as well. I'm told that we build up an immunity to it and that we should be fine, however im still worried that it can spread to my family members and im still not sure how serious it can be. I did some research on my own but id appreciate if someone can give me some insight and clarify some things.

I've research that we should clean our scrubs right away when we get home, if i take them off and throw it in the "dirty pile" how much of a threat is it of causing an infection to other people? i wouldn't want to throw it in the washer every single day due to bills, so if you have a method that works, can you please share. and for shoes i plan to like.. soak em with alcohol or something before bringing them in the house, will that work?

should i wash the scrubs alone?

How serious is MRSA really and should i be worry that it can spread to people in my household if i catch it? is it easily spreaded? can it be suppressed enough? What about the norovirus?

When someone is on TB prophylaxis.. what exactly is being done?

I just really like to know how serious some diseases are that i'm likely or could get, can it be beaten, if it can't really be rid of how likely am i to spread it to my family?

what are some precautions or tips that i can take to prevent my love ones of being infected with something that i might've caught?

Thank you guys, i really do appreciate it if anyone can give me some info or insight.

and please be honest, i like to know what i'm really up against.

[middleagednurse]

I have been a nurse forever. To my knowledge no one has ever caught anything from me. Wash scrubs in hot water when you get around to it. Don't wear work shoes in your hone. Practice good hand hygiene. You will be fine.

[kalycat, BSN, RN]

I was on an immune suppressing med in nursing school - only time I ever got sick that I could directly tie to the hospital; it was norovirus. I changed my meds and lifestyle, don't take that med anymore, and I've been fine. I have pretty severe asthma and I can definitively state that I was WAY sicker when my kids were little than I've ever been as a nurse, and I had an exposure incident where a patient coughed bloody sputum in my face and ended up having something communicable.

I don't shower when I get home unless I've gotten something really icky on myself -- I use great hand hygiene, keep my skin in good shape so I don't have fissures, etc, sleep/eat/hydrate/exercise regularly, and keep my shoes clean. I have "hospital only" shoes that I don't wear around in the community and that I sani wipe as needed. No issues whatsoever. I wash my scrubs in warm, hot dryer. I do wash them separately, but it's because lint is evil.

[Zyprexa]

When I get sick, it's because someone in my family infected me first. Wash your hands people!!!!

[Wuzzie]

I worried about this, also! I am a student as well and towards the end of the semester, one of our instructors said to us, "eventually you all will have MRSA in your nares. It's just a hazard of being a nurse." She also advised that we blow our noses and then do saline washes when we get home if we feel like we may have come in contact with anything that we may have inhaled. I have allergies, so I do this daily, anyway, but it still looms in the back of my mind that one day I may bring something home to my family. Anyway, I thank you for asking, OP, and I am thankful for the responses!

Your instructor is an idiot. That being said I've been a nurse for decades and only once have I gotten sick for certain from a patient (RSV and Mycoplasma pneumonia at the same time:eek:). Any other time I've been sick could have been from work, or my family or my friends or some stranger in the hall. No way to tell for sure. The one thing I do know is that once my local market began offering sanitizing wipes for the cart handles my incidence of URIs dropped to almost nil.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

In forty years, I've never left my shoes outside, segregated my scrubs or brought home an infection -- other than that time I got food poisoning from eating my then-boyfriend's cooking.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

She also advised that we blow our noses and then do saline washes when we get home if we feel like we may have come in contact with anything that we may have inhaled.

This is pointless. If it is already resident in your nares and it has been there for several hours (or more), a saline rinse isn't going to get rid of it. That is like having bodily fluids splash in your eyes and waiting until you get home to rinse them.

[Julius Seizure]

I've never used the antibacterial wipes at the grocery store to clean my cart before touching it. Maybe I am missing out? Then again, I'm never sick really. Hmmm :)

[Wuzzie]

I've never used the antibacterial wipes at the grocery store to clean my cart before touching it. Maybe I am missing out? Then again, I'm never sick really. Hmmm :)

Normally I'm anti anti-bacterial anything but seeing the little snot-nosed, petri-dishes with legs gnawing and slobbering on the handles or, for that matter, adults who likely don't wash their hands after using the toilet I figure why take any chances. I know my experience is purely anecdotal but I'll take it. í ½í¸€

[NurseCard, ADN]

All the talk about Chuck E Cheeses is giving me the heebie jeebies.

That place is SO SO nasty.

As for me... I've never gotten sick from patients at work either,

and I've worked in personal homes, I've worked in state psych

facilities... I've worked on a children's psych unit... LTC...

The only real precaution that I take, besides keeping my

hands washed... is, I keep my work shoes on my front

porch.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I figured as much. It's easy to let yourself get freaked out when you learn about all the germs floating around out there. Try to focus on the amazing things your immune system is capable of :)

And when you're done worrying about germs, you will develop symptoms of MS, brain tumours, and all the worst illnesses of whatever system you're studying that week.

I did get noro from work, once.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Normally I'm anti anti-bacterial anything but seeing the little snot-nosed, petri-dishes with legs gnawing and slobbering on the handles or, for that matter, adults who likely don't wash their hands after using the toilet I figure why take any chances. I know my experience is purely anecdotal but I'll take it. ������

Yeah, I have to use them. If they are out at one entrance, I push my cart to the other entrance. They usually don't run out at the same time.

[Dogsarebest]

Been a nurse for 17 years, NP in primary care for three years now. I've been coughed on, sneezed on, shaken hands ( thank God for Purell), and exposed to who knows what. Been sick twice. I'm blaming a patient for one, the other who knows. Like other posters said, stores and the general public scared me more than work when it comes to germs. Relax, our bodies are pretty amazing.

I don't know why my creds are backwards, can't fix it.