I am a new nurse. just 3 days ago I took care of stroke pt for 2 days(Wed/Thurs of this week). for the entire 2 days he had watery stools. the med student/resident ordered a rectal tube on the 2nd day I had him and ordered stool samples for c-diff ,among other things. I inserted the rectal tube(my first one), collected the stool sample from the tube. Albeit to say, my gloved finger was soaked with watery stools.Yes, I did wear about 3 gloves to do the deed and washed my hands really well afterwards.! Went back to work today, and the pt is on contact isolation for having tested positive for c-diff. I had never taken care of a pt with c-diff before that.
OK. I am worried, since I was sooo up close the infected stools. He was not on contact isolation when I had him and I did wear gloves all the time, standard precautions, but no gown or mask.
What should I be looking out for, guys? If I did contact the c-diff how long does it take before I have symptoms? I googled s/s of c-diff. I donot have abdminal cramps, bloody diarrhea, etc. Anything I should be doing now or looking out for? I know the pt had watery diarrhea, is it always watery stools?
one thing to do different, unless you did it and didn't mention...
Any time a pt is getting r/o c-diff, put the precautions in effect immediately. Anytime I get an order to test for c-diff....private room, sign on wall, pt confined to room until first negative culture, and depending on the severity, sometimes a dedicated stethoscope just in case (think confused pt who maybe has their hands where they don't belong)
Good luck. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Triple gloves and you are fine, as long as they are nitrile. I have heard the vinyl ones are a little more pourous (although if you wore three of those you are probably fine too!)
Welcome to the world of nursing. Just be sure you're following universal precautions. I work in the ER, I tell people that they may as well plan on being sick with some kind of virous for at least a year. We all had to take Cipro last week because of exposure to Bac. Mengen. It sucks but, It's the world of nursing.
Only things that can top the c diff smell are GI bleeds and the death dumper. C-Diff, ESBL, VRE, MRSA, Acinetobactor, etc. I take care of patients all the time and do not worry about it. Just scrub your hands raw with hot soapy water right after each and every contact with the patient. Always assume every patient has something bad and wear gloves for any and all contact with the patient and anything in their room then when the isolation sign goes up a week later it is no big deal (for the staff anyway!)
Don't scrub your hands raw! You want your skin intact! But do use soap and warm water - you're removing the spores because you can't kill them. (Not that you're likely to run into them, but any other kind of Clostridium - botulism, tetorifice, gas gangrene - also makes spores. So does anthrax. And Bacillus cereus, a cause of food poisoning.)
Probiotics are a great idea for patients on antibiotics to prevent C.diff.
My first clinical patient had C. diff and my second had MRSA - so I got the baptism by immersion. I'm cool with contact now and still terrified of airborne or droplet.
3 gloves huh??? Wow, maybe next time, wear a pair of Playtex living gloves--Just kidding! LOL. well don't work in an ICU, where everyone has C-diff & VRE. :caduceus::barf01:
MIA-RN
245 Posts
one thing to do different, unless you did it and didn't mention...
Any time a pt is getting r/o c-diff, put the precautions in effect immediately. Anytime I get an order to test for c-diff....private room, sign on wall, pt confined to room until first negative culture, and depending on the severity, sometimes a dedicated stethoscope just in case (think confused pt who maybe has their hands where they don't belong)
Good luck. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Triple gloves and you are fine, as long as they are nitrile. I have heard the vinyl ones are a little more pourous (although if you wore three of those you are probably fine too!)