do you trust your eyeglasses to protect you? do you wear no eye protection around body fluids?
i have been a wearer of prescription eyeglasses for many years now - actually from way back before i started my nursing career. i have come to depend on my glasses to be the barrier - knowing that protective goggles and splash sheilds existed, but not venturing to use them at work, in hospital.
today i have a new outlook on that as i did get body fluid exposure when blood splashed upwards from (i'm not sure which - the iv catheter or the tourniquet) when an iv start was attempted that i was assisting with. the blood came up and did actually leave splash marks on my glasses and on the skin very near my eye, i felt too that moisture did go in my eye ... i hope i'm wrong.
fortunately the patient is extremely low risk so i haven't much to fear, however, i am being cautious and have reported it and am going through the bloodwork and protected sex with hubby now. the paperwork is a big factor too with the incident so.... my advice from this day forward...
wear eye protection where you may get sprayed with body fluid!
