Which types of patients should I not take care of while pregnant?

anurseuk · Apr 22, 2008

I'm not an expert on pregnancy or anything and I'm sure someone else will be able to give you a much broader explanation but I know you CAN look after patients with norweigen scabies (from experience) :wink2:

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Apr 22, 2008

My hospital policy is that ALL pregnant nurses are to take the same assignments as non-pregnant nurses. Certainly help is expected and received for moving patients, and where bellies just get in the way , but when it comes to isolation rooms, the same universal precautions that keep me from contracting the germs will keep you from getting them, too.

There's always a pregnant nurse or aide that tries to get out of certain assignments, but it's generally noted that they're the same types of assignments they never wanted when they WEREN'T pregnant, either. The assignments stand, and somehow, all the babies get born without Mom having contracted anything dire!

allnurses Guide · Apr 22, 2008

You definately want to be careful when taking care of someone with chicken pox or shingles IF you've never had chicken pox or had the vaccine for it. But, again, using the same precautions that everyone else is using, should protect you adequately.

There are certain medications that you might want to be careful handling while pregnant. Any medications you give that you aren't familiar with, consult your local friendly neighborhood Drug Guide. The pharmacy at my hospital puts little stickers on any meds that need to be handled with gloves, and also puts warnings in the electronic MAR.

scribblerpnp · Apr 22, 2008

It might be a good idea to go to the doctor or health department and have your MMR and chicken pox titers drawn to see if you are adequately protected. That is not harmful to the baby, though it isn't recommened that you receive the vaccines if you are pregnant. If your titers are low, you have "proof" that it would be risky for you to care for those types of patients (shingles included). In most of the hospitals where I worked, preganant women were not allowed to care for shingles/chicken pox or do chemo/radiation.

Your nurse manager or employee health can probably tell you what your hospital allows/ expects.

On the other side, if you are around or have any children, you want to be careful about Fifth's disease, which is a viral rash common in kids. If in the early part of pregnancy, it can cause severe anemia in the fetus and result in spontaneous abortion, (but this is only about 5%- most people are already immune to it).

But really, if you follow all the appropriate precautions, it shouldn't be an issue.

nurserynurse55 · Apr 22, 2008

What type of unit are you going to be working on? I ask, because I am wondering about what special infections or diseases you might come across. For the most part I take any asignment in NICU. P.S. I am preggo. I would not take on cytomegalovirus, chickenpox or the mumps or BABY ( not mama) being GBS + for example. The problem is that you may not know that the patient has the infection or disease until afterwards. You need to be very careful and wash your hands frequently. Also my unit has x-ray coming and going non-stop. People hold my babies for me during x-ray. Good luck!

kristenncrn · Apr 22, 2008

=) I work in peds - super infectious!

I'd second things like 5th disease and CMV, but seriously, you 1st need to ask your midwife or OB, then Occupational Health. And just be open and calm with your co-workers - I'd imagine they'll try and shield you from VRE, C-diff, etc.... at least I'd hope so!

I'd say don't stress in general - wear gloves for everything. Watch other pills... hydroxyurea (I guess it's hydroxycarbamine now?) is prescribed for sickle cell and other heme disorders as well as psoriasis, not just as chemo.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Apr 22, 2008

We limit our nurses who are pregnant from kids with CMV and chickenpox, most things of that nature.

For the poster that said GBS baby....I'm curious as to why? There are no pregnancy precautions for that, and there is a good percentage of kids with exposure to it if you work in a high risk area.

nurserynurse55 · Apr 22, 2008

We try to shield pregnant nurses from babies who are GBS +. I mean the babies are really infected with GBS, not just exposed to to it. There is a huge difference between being born of a GBS mother and actually being a positive GBS infection baby. The risk is that the pregnant nurse might be exposed and by chance. It is just to reduce the exposure of the mom just in case she delivers fast and doesn't have enough time to get antibiotics. The whole thing is a long shot. It is a good thing thing that we do not often have actual GBS + infected babies. On the other hand, about half of our mothers are positive or unknown. We play it safe at our hospital, and that is the only way that I will have it!

SillyStudent, ASN, RN · Apr 22, 2008

I understand that you should not be in a room while Ribavarin is being administered. When I worked in a pediatric setting as a tech, I am reasonably sure they never assigned pregnant nurses to patients getting aerosolized ribavarin. I might be mistaken, though.

Other than that, universal precautions. :)

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 22, 2008

That is what universal precautions are for. You ought to be able to care for anyone.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Apr 22, 2008

That is an interesting take on GBS...but you do know that some kids are latent and come up with it at a later date, as meningitis or such don't you? In all the years I've been doing this, I can tell you that no one has "caught" GBS from a patient, and everyone of us have taken kids with it when we were pregnant, and not all of us were positive when tested. Just food for thought.

We do use universal precautions on everyone, but there are some things that ID does deem to need pregnancy precautions if known. Most of the time you don't know, so you are just extra careful.