One of the many unadvertised benefits of being a nurse is the constant bombardment your immune system takes. I don't remember reading in any of those wonderful glossy brochures " Along with your salary you will also receive every mutated cold and flu and gastro virus you come in contact with". It seems to me that you have this period where your immune system has been working out harder than Jane Fonda and you have this nice lull where you could walk into a room full of Ebola virus and walk out unscathed. But then... you have a stretch of getting every tiny bug that walks into your ward, happily incubating it, then developing the mother of all colds. In case you haven't picked up on it I'M SICK! and a little irritated.
It all started on Night duty, a little headache, a runny nose, sore ears. I think ' It's night shift its not unusual to feel a little run down'. However, I dose up on vitamin C take some panadol and keep my fluids up. I then head home, climb into bed and wake up an hour later with a pounding headache, a sore throat, a nose I can't breath through and a body that feels like I went a round with Mike Tyson and came off second best, yep it's a cold. So now I sit, with layer upon layer of clothing on and a red nose to rival Rudolphs', feeling sorry for myself.
Of course, I know that there is nothing I can do but rest, drink plenty of water, take my vitamins and dose up on panadol, although my conscience (who is a bit of a diva) tells me I should ring the doctor and demand a magic pill that will make me feel better and suddenly I realise that I have become that patient, you know the one, the one that demands morphine for a headache, IV antibiotics for a cold, heat packs for a sore toe...etc etc. So I lay myself back down and have a little chat to my self "body you need to suck it up, you've been given panadol, vitamin C, a cup of tea and soup" (and chocolate for good measure, my nursing clinical judgement may be a little clouded, but I think I read somewhere that chocolate fixes everything but think if I don't mention that to my body it will ignore those calories and not send them straight to my hips).
It is at this point when my little conscience who is not only a diva but also a little spiteful rears her ugly head and states " it was that germy patient that was sneezing everywhere this is her fault" I tell my conscience to shut up that I used impeccable hand hygiene (I'm kind of a 5 moments of hand hygiene connoisseur) and that it was not that patients fault. She decides to chyme in again the spiteful little cow " a lot of good washing your hands does when patients sneeze and cough in your face"... I concede she has a point.
So it leads me to my conclusion how do nurses prevent themselves from catching everything out there... what tips a tricks do people out there have which will prevent me from catching everything a patient coughs or sneezes (or vomits) on me?
Til next time Happy Nursing!
It all started on Night duty, a little headache, a runny nose, sore ears. I think ' It's night shift its not unusual to feel a little run down'. However, I dose up on vitamin C take some panadol and keep my fluids up. I then head home, climb into bed and wake up an hour later with a pounding headache, a sore throat, a nose I can't breath through and a body that feels like I went a round with Mike Tyson and came off second best, yep it's a cold. So now I sit, with layer upon layer of clothing on and a red nose to rival Rudolphs', feeling sorry for myself.
Of course, I know that there is nothing I can do but rest, drink plenty of water, take my vitamins and dose up on panadol, although my conscience (who is a bit of a diva) tells me I should ring the doctor and demand a magic pill that will make me feel better and suddenly I realise that I have become that patient, you know the one, the one that demands morphine for a headache, IV antibiotics for a cold, heat packs for a sore toe...etc etc. So I lay myself back down and have a little chat to my self "body you need to suck it up, you've been given panadol, vitamin C, a cup of tea and soup" (and chocolate for good measure, my nursing clinical judgement may be a little clouded, but I think I read somewhere that chocolate fixes everything but think if I don't mention that to my body it will ignore those calories and not send them straight to my hips).
It is at this point when my little conscience who is not only a diva but also a little spiteful rears her ugly head and states " it was that germy patient that was sneezing everywhere this is her fault" I tell my conscience to shut up that I used impeccable hand hygiene (I'm kind of a 5 moments of hand hygiene connoisseur) and that it was not that patients fault. She decides to chyme in again the spiteful little cow " a lot of good washing your hands does when patients sneeze and cough in your face"... I concede she has a point.
So it leads me to my conclusion how do nurses prevent themselves from catching everything out there... what tips a tricks do people out there have which will prevent me from catching everything a patient coughs or sneezes (or vomits) on me?
Til next time Happy Nursing!
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