What are the odds?

[mom4josh]

What are the chances that a bedside nurse will contract HIV/AIDS?

What are the chances a police officer will be shot in the line of duty?

Any statistics to back up either one?

My BF and I are having this debate and we could use an objective third party answer.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Check the CDC website on healthcare workers' risk of contracting HIV on the job.

I don't have statistics, but my gut says that a police officer is at much higher risk of getting shot. HIV transmission is not all that easy unless you are sharing needles or having sex with someone who is infected ... neither is likely behavior in a healthcare setting ... we hope.

[picurn10]

I would suggest you read the CDC website about HIV transmission, there is a lot of good info there. HIV once outside the body is a very fragile virus and dies within minutes, it's just when introduce via sexual contact or IV drug use that it's such an issue. There are lots of myths (even among healthcare workers) about how HIV is spread. For instance, lots of people are afraid of the saliva of an HIV pt, but did you know you'd have to injest about 1 gallon of saliva to be at risk?

Just knowing what I know about HIV, I would have to say it's far more dangerous to be a police officer than a bedside nurse (assuming you don't stick yourself often). Even with a needle stick, what are the odds that the pt. is HIV positive and you manage to contract it even after going through the months of medication therapy that follows a needle stick? I'd take my chances as a nurse anyday.

My xh was a fighter pilot and so I would always come across "the most dangerous jobs" lists, and I never remember seeing nurse on there, but I know police officer was.

[gregmotz]

It would seem your debate might be stoked after a visit to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities website.

Without occupational restriction, I'm saddened at the reminder suicide is the second leading cause of all deaths among 15-34 year olds with alcohol, opiates, cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines secondary, contributory causes in about a third of those.

MVA is of course tops until 30 y/o where heart disease begins to take over the top spot.

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

I don't know anything exactly, but even if a nurse got stuck with a needle that was contaminated by a patient that was infected with HIV, his/her chance of contracting it is less than 1%, I believe (I thought it was something like 0.3%, but that might be in general with a needlestick, meaning that the patient's HIV status isn't known)....the number is ridiculously low even in that case. The rest, I do not know.