Scared and need advice

mellyreid · Feb 11, 2012

Really the things you mentioned are not things that nurses are regularly exposed to unless you are working in third world countries or an infectious disease floor. There are only things to be worried about like colds, flu and exposure to blood born diseases. Practicing good hand hygiene, using other PPE (personal protective equipment like gowns, gloves and masks when applicable) are all ways to not "bring" home work with you. In the end you should do what you love whether its nursing or something else...

OKNurse2be · Feb 11, 2012

I am about to become a nursing student, and although I have little fear of "germs" and what not, I am fully aware that I will come into contact with a whole new world of nasty stuff. As a nurse, I believe you have to be very vigilant in terms of hygiene and make sure that you use proper hand-washing technique, gloves, etc. People aren't in hospitals because they are well and healthy, obviously, so it's important to protect not only ourselves, but the other patients in the hospital too. Proper precautions are just going to be alpha and omega in terms of keeping yourself from getting sick and from spreading infections around to others. That is stuff that you should learn in nursing school how to do.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Feb 11, 2012

I haven't been exposed to many of those problems, BUT I will say there are precautions already provided in the procedure manual that deal with them. First of all there is personal hygiene. That's handwashing, proper drying and use of personal protective equipment. Those would be gogglles, hair covers, masks that protect your mouth and eyes from splashes and from inhalants. Gowns made of impermeable paper, shoe covers along with explicit classes in how to use them and dispose of them.

There are specially colored collection bags for items that are taken straight to the place that burns medical waste, others like soiled linen bags are collected in covered roll-abouts that are then taken to special laundry facilities. The soiled items are not touched by human hands and are washed at high temperature and then dried under strict procedures.

About the only thing I have "caught" I suppose at work was a cold, but then that could have been walking down the hall from a visitor or from that famous cold catching place that most colds originate....."the I don't know."

netglow, ASN, RN · Feb 11, 2012

You follow the above universals, but chances are you will get something at some point. There, I've said it. But the seriously bad not so much because of these very precautions, and the fact of isolation and abx flowing in the hospital setting.

Here is the deal tho. You can go for a weekend trip an bring back all you mentioned from your taxi, your hotel, your restaurant, etc. -- and as I've read in the past the higher the "star rating" of your vacation the more chance you'll bring it all back to your home. So, remember for catchy viruses, even bacterial URIs, all you need to do is walk into airspace where someone has just coughed, or touch something touched by someone else... at the grocery store, or in the mall etc.

Merlyn · Feb 11, 2012

okay i am new to this site so if i am posting in the wrong area, i apologize. I need advice i am scare of being a nurse, not because of blood, crap, puke or anything along those lines, but i have a fear of catching diseases..along with other things. How does a nurse avoid getting lice, scabies, and bed bugs when you are right there with the infected patient? I know this sounds immature and silly, but i am sure i am/was not the only one who has had this fear...so please ..advice??[/quote
Probably the worst you will get is a cold, some acute respiratory infection, and maybe lice. But the precautions taken by nurses and hospitals have cut down on these infections have cut down on these quite a lot. If you follow the precautions to the letter the most you will get is a cold. The key is following the precautions to the letter.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2012

okay i am new to this site so if i am posting in the wrong area, i apologize. I need advice i am scare of being a nurse, not because of blood, crap, puke or anything along those lines, but i have a fear of catching diseases..along with other things. How does a nurse avoid getting lice, scabies, and bed bugs when you are right there with the infected patient? I know this sounds immature and silly, but i am sure i am/was not the only one who has had this fear...so please ..advice??

These things are things that you would not be likely to encounter, unless you are working in the developing world. In almost 5 years of inpatient nursing, I have seen lice once and it was in a patient from another country. If a patient has lice, you wear a cap. I have never seen scabies in my job, though when I worked in clinics in Belize, it was one of the most common diagnoses.

It's far more likely for you to catch things like the flu, the common cold, the GI bug. Follow your institution's precautions, that's the best thing you can do.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2012

okay i am new to this site so if i am posting in the wrong area, i apologize. I need advice i am scare of being a nurse, not because of blood, crap, puke or anything along those lines, but i have a fear of catching diseases..along with other things. How does a nurse avoid getting lice, scabies, and bed bugs when you are right there with the infected patient? I know this sounds immature and silly, but i am sure i am/was not the only one who has had this fear...so please ..advice??

Although I did get scabies once years ago.... :eek: . You take precautions, you wash your hands. We don't share the linen with patients nor share personal items like combs and brushes. Depending on where you work can affect what you are exposed to....like the ED is the first line to acute phases and I have been treated a few times in 34 years for meningitis for exposure.....I have not become actually ill with anything more than a cold that can be picked up from door handles and shopping carts.

You build up a natural immunity. You wear gloves for everything. You are exposed to more things in the general public and public seats in a movie theater. You'll be fine.

LobotRN, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2012

Agree with all the above posters here regarding the risk of catching a nasty.....One piece of great advice I got in addition to good hygiene, handwashing, and appropriate use of PPE....Do NOT touch your eyes/mouth/nose while working, ever. So far I haven't caught anything, and I've been doing this for close to a year now as a new Nurse.

cclear2020 · Feb 11, 2012

I keep medicine at home just in case I get a psychological case of scabies!! LOL. I protect myself with the appropriate gear, and block out the worry. the patient comes first, and I strip down and toss my scrubs in the dirty hamper and not even bring them or my shoes in the house.

PeepnBiscuitsRN · Feb 11, 2012

If it makes you feel any better: when I was an LPN working in pediatrics, I was taking a child's blood pressure, doing a throat culture, doing his pulse ox, and listening to his lungs. 20 minutes later the NP I'm working with comes back to the workroom and tells me "alright, we have to close that room for the rest of the day because that little boy had lice, AND scabies!

Oh I itched for the rest of the day. I've had co workers who have taken care of folks and they've actually VISUALIZED the bugs crawling through the hair, be it on the head or beard. The same NP I worked with had a kid cough in her face, a really moist cough where you can feel the...blowby, she was doing a throat culture on him, and of course he had strep. But she never caught it.

I understand though, where you're coming from. I'm always worried about bringing home pneumonia or C-diff from the hospital. But I figure every day I'm around someone who is hacking and snorggling (I made that one up) I'm building immunity.

Of course one can never be immune to the creepy crawlies...

J_nicole · Feb 11, 2012

Lice and Bed Bugs are the biggest fear for me, more so than an disease ...crazy..i know