You asked a question before and was asked to give more info. Please keep to original threads. It gets confusing when a new post is started for every answer. So, for now, just stay with this post.😊
I agree. You need to find out your state regulations and protocols.
GA, when my dad was being prepped for open heart surgery they moved him to the room that he would occupy after he was cut from stem to stern. I thought that I would use those sanity, germ killing wipes that they had at the door to wipe everything that he would be touching.
OMLands, I ended up taking a garbage bag full of filthy rags to the administrator and asking if they bothered to use housekeeping or did that just play Russian roulette with people's lives. I was freaking out that they were going to cut him open in a potentially filthy operating theater. Well, he was as horrified as I was and I watched as rooms got a real cleaning.
I always wonder if these same people live in pigstyes.
I buy hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes by bulk and use them everywhere. You should see the looks I get when I sterilize the salt and pepper shakers in a restaurant.
Better to be safe than sorry.....especially now when there are so many antibiotic resistant strains out there. And if you really want to get sick....an extended hospital stay will usually do the trick.
Re the comments specifically addressing facility protocol, I'd like to share an experience in which protocols, assuming they existed, either weren't conveyed to someone, or he wasn't aware that C Diff was in the picture.
In one of my father's last hospitalizations, at the hospital we've used for years, he was placed in a two bed room. Obviously I could hear everything that was said to the roommate, who had just had a colostomy and expressed difficulty learning to deal with the bag.
I had no way of knowing if the woman who was "counseling" him was a social worker, doctor, NP or what. She wasn't a nurse, I knew that. Nor was she compassionate, telling him in a roundabout way to "suck it up" and deal with it. (I later learned he was a Veteran, and had also worked for the US government, I believe as a career professional.)
While trying to learn how to "deal with it", he dropped the bag on the floor.
Then next day or the day later, my father was D'x'ed with C Diff. Thinking back over the events that were just absorbed but not really processed in my mind, I realized that a new nurse trainee had after the "drop" taken him for a walk, using a walker. That same walker was used for my father. It never occurred to me that it hadn't been cleaned.
The roomie wasn't walking w/o assistance; I don't know how he washed up, if he did, and if he didn't, I'm sure he was the source of my father's C Diff, as he didn't have it when he was admitted.
So, in addition to med pros washing their hands, items touched by people with C Diff need to be washed as well.
The facility should have protocol for C Diff as well as other potentially communicable diseases. You should practice good procedures with EVERY resident. Assume that every resident has C Diff, is HIV +, Shingles, Noro Virus, Salmonella, or any other condition. This is for your protection as well as to protect residents. I would go a step further and assume that visitors do not practice good hygiene either.
Your "rights" are to wash your hands with soap and water, and practice good hygiene as everyone you work with and deal with expects you to! What do you do if someone has HIV? You follow the guidelines and do your job.. My goodness, you got into this field knowing what you may be exposed to I assume? I went into the health field knowing I would be exposed to lots of things I find gross.. blood, sputum, poop and vomit. And lets not forget weekends and holidays at work because the patients need me. If you can not get past this, perhaps you need to look elsewhere for a job, and please don't make the patient feel bad.. you are aware they probably got this in the hospital or facility? Sorry if this is harsh, but I feel compassion is needed, not panic and blaming
You said exactly what I was trying to say but in a much nicer way (which is why I didn’t follow through and post my response. I am bit shocked a professional caregiver is asking about their rights. They should know how to take proper care of the patients/clients/residents whatever you want to call the people living in the facility and they should know their employers protocol for handling c-diff and HIV and hepatitis and so on
I agree with Alvadeer. If you are using good hygiene methods and following protocol for gloves and mask while dealing with this person you should be fine.
Wash with soap and warm water, not just a hand sanitizer. Before and after dealing with every patient.
C diff is not catching unless you practice faulty handwashing, gloving care and etc. I don't see the problem with it. I dealt with many many patients who had C-Diff. Certainly never caught it myself.
I agree. You need to find out your state regulations and protocols.
OMLands, I ended up taking a garbage bag full of filthy rags to the administrator and asking if they bothered to use housekeeping or did that just play Russian roulette with people's lives. I was freaking out that they were going to cut him open in a potentially filthy operating theater. Well, he was as horrified as I was and I watched as rooms got a real cleaning.
I always wonder if these same people live in pigstyes.
I buy hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes by bulk and use them everywhere. You should see the looks I get when I sterilize the salt and pepper shakers in a restaurant.
In one of my father's last hospitalizations, at the hospital we've used for years, he was placed in a two bed room. Obviously I could hear everything that was said to the roommate, who had just had a colostomy and expressed difficulty learning to deal with the bag.
I had no way of knowing if the woman who was "counseling" him was a social worker, doctor, NP or what. She wasn't a nurse, I knew that. Nor was she compassionate, telling him in a roundabout way to "suck it up" and deal with it. (I later learned he was a Veteran, and had also worked for the US government, I believe as a career professional.)
While trying to learn how to "deal with it", he dropped the bag on the floor.
Then next day or the day later, my father was D'x'ed with C Diff. Thinking back over the events that were just absorbed but not really processed in my mind, I realized that a new nurse trainee had after the "drop" taken him for a walk, using a walker. That same walker was used for my father. It never occurred to me that it hadn't been cleaned.
The roomie wasn't walking w/o assistance; I don't know how he washed up, if he did, and if he didn't, I'm sure he was the source of my father's C Diff, as he didn't have it when he was admitted.
So, in addition to med pros washing their hands, items touched by people with C Diff need to be washed as well.
You should practice good procedures with EVERY resident.
Assume that every resident has C Diff, is HIV +, Shingles, Noro Virus, Salmonella, or any other condition.
This is for your protection as well as to protect residents.
I would go a step further and assume that visitors do not practice good hygiene either.
Wash with soap and warm water, not just a hand sanitizer. Before and after dealing with every patient.