C Diff

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defiantbadgirl -> C Diff (2/20/2011 7:46:09 PM)
Can you get C Diff from changing someone's diaper that has it if you're not wearing gloves? A client I care for at work was puking and had the runs. I thought he had the stomach flu. I work the graveyard shift and the glove box was empty so I had to change him and treat his diaper rash without gloves. I immediately washed my hands and forearms with soap and warm water. The client ended up in the hospital and has been diagnosed with C Diff. I looked it up and learned it's contagious, infected hospital patients are kept isolated, it's considered a disease, and it often comes back because of spores that can live in the body for extended periods of time even after the bacteria is killed. Most antibiotics are dangerous to people with C Diff Disease and none are 100% safe. Does anyone know if C Diff can be absorbed through the skin? Also, since bleach is the only thing that kills it and spores can be present on furniture, how can furniture be disinfected? I've been accepted at a local university and I don't intend to work at this crappy job forever, but that doesn't do me alot of good now.

Aylee -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 7:50:43 PM)
What you need to do is contact your employer and file worker's comp papers. Go to the doctor they tell you to and get tested or whatever you need to do.

littlewonder -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 7:53:04 PM)
why isn't your place of employment telling you more about this and what you need to do if you were in contact??

Aylee -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 7:54:35 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: littlewonder why isn't your place of employment telling you more about this and what you need to do if you were in contact?? Because asking her employer about this rather than us would make sense.

defiantbadgirl -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:02:18 PM)
As of right now, the client is still in the hospital. They posted an email telling everyone to wear gloves and keep everything disinfected - basic info to keep from getting infected when he gets back.

sirsholly -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:04:53 PM)
quote: Does anyone know if C Diff can be absorbed through the skin? Also, since bleach is the only thing that kills it and spores can be present on furniture, how can furniture be disinfected? I've been accepted at a local university and I don't intend to work at this crappy job forever, but that doesn't do me alot of good now. Can you have your employer arrange for you to talk with an infectious disease specialist? That is the person who should be answering the questions on how to rid your home of the bacteria.

CalifChick -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:06:07 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Aylee What you need to do is contact your employer and file worker's comp papers. Go to the doctor they tell you to and get tested or whatever you need to do. This. Nothing else. This. This. This.

sirsholly -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:09:37 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Aylee quote: ORIGINAL: littlewonder why isn't your place of employment telling you more about this and what you need to do if you were in contact?? Because asking her employer about this rather than us would make sense. because asking her employer about this would mean admitting she ignored universal precautions, and that is a major freakin blunder.

IrishMist -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:12:56 PM)
CDiff is contagious. However, unless you start to show signs of having contacted it yourself, just go about your work and make sure you use universal percautions. Workmans comp is no good unless you HAVE Cdiff and can prove that you got it from work. Personally, I am disappointed in YOU for not taking proper percautions in the first place. I don't care what shift you worked, when you work in a hospital YOU NEVER care for patients without using the proper precautions. YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE AND RETRIEVED what was needed to properly care for a patient while caring for yourself at the same time.

CalifChick -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:31:03 PM)
I would be surprised if there were an SOP that didn't require reporting it to her employer. Among other things, she needs to report what she did, to establish the "incident" should it develop to an infection. Further, if an infection does develop, it must be reported on an OSHA 300 log, so she needs to inform her employer now. Cali

defiantbadgirl -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:45:49 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: IrishMist CDiff is contagious. However, unless you start to show signs of having contacted it yourself, just go about your work and make sure you use universal percautions. Workmans comp is no good unless you HAVE Cdiff and can prove that you got it from work. Personally, I am disappointed in YOU for not taking proper percautions in the first place. I don't care what shift you worked, when you work in a hospital YOU NEVER care for patients without using the proper precautions. YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE AND RETRIEVED what was needed to properly care for a patient while caring for yourself at the same time. I don't work in a hospital. I provide home care for disabled adults and I work third shift ALONE with clients that can't be left alone while I run to the store. There are home managers we can call in the middle of the night in case of an emergency like if someone falls or has a heart attack or something. I thought changing a diaper without gloves was disgusting but didn't qualify as an emergency. I was careful to scrub my hands and arms immediately after and let the manager know the next morning that I couldn't find any gloves in the house. I had never heard of C Diff until I read the email about precautions Friday night. The corporate office isn't even open on weekends. But I'm sure you're right. I'm probably not eligible for workers comp and it would be hard to prove. Guess I just have to hope for the best.

CalifChick -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:53:23 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl I'm probably not eligible for workers comp and it would be hard to prove. Guess I just have to hope for the best. Well gosh yes, if you get nothing out of this thread but one thing, that is the thing to take. [8\|]

defiantbadgirl -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 8:56:32 PM)
I screwed up by not calling the manager in the middle of the night. The fact that I never heard of C Diff is no excuse. Reporting it will probably get me fired and then I will have no income and a messed up employment record. You're right I'm wrong forget the whole thing. Thanks for the responses.

tazzygirl -> RE: C Diff (2/20/2011 9:07:36 PM)
When did you learn the client had C Diff?

Termyn8or -> RE: C Diff (2/21/2011 12:41:22 AM)
You posted this at 10:36 my time. It's now 3:37AM. Where have you been ? Get some kerosene or deisel fuel and soak your hands in it for a bit. Bout five minutes, swish them arround, rub them etc. Then throw some rags or paper towels in there and go wipe off everything you touched in those hours. If it survives the kerosene treatment you might be in deep shit. But get on it now. A shower doesn't cut it. You need a petroleum distillate. That's the only way to be sure. That's not even 100 % . T^T

tazzygirl -> RE: C Diff (2/21/2011 1:13:06 AM)
quote: I was careful to scrub my hands and arms immediately after That was possibly the smartest thing you could have done. Alcohol based rubs for the hands do nothing to kill this infection, soap and water are best on the skin. On furniture and such, at least a 10% based alcohol solution is required. As far as catching it yourself, from what I remember, its typically the immunocompromised and those on heavy antibiotics who are at risk. C Diff can live as normal flora in your intestines, it becomes a problem when the rest of your intestinal flora are wiped out with antibiotics and the C Diff ones go on a growing spree. This doesnt mean everyone has C Diff. Some people are carriers and may never develop the disease. My advice, for your personal health, look up the signs and symptoms and monitor yourself. But, unless you have been on antibiotics yourself recently, you shouldnt have to worry. But, professionally, you should report the incident. The typical treatment for someone is around 5 days of Flagyl... but these is also the risk of bowel resection. Beyond that, someone screwed up, other than you. There should have been gloves. You should always make sure you carry gloves with you at all times while at work. Bet you do from now on.

maybemaybenot -> RE: C Diff (2/21/2011 1:18:33 AM)
You're chances of having contracted it are pretty slim, if you are in decent health. http://microbiology.mtsinai.on.ca/faq/cdifffaq.shtml None the less: if you are working in healthcare/direct patient contact universal precautions is nothing to take lightly. I always make sure I have my own box of gloves in the trunk of my car... just in case. A coulple of dollars for some gloves is well worth your safety/health and worry. While I agree with most that you really messed up not wearing gloves.... * IF * your employer did not have gloves in the facility, they are in the wrong. Any facility/job that requires direct patient care must provide/pay for PPE < personal protective equipment > per OSHA regs: SUMMARY: Many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) health, safety, maritime, and construction standards require employers to provide their employees with protective equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), when such equipment is necessary to protect employees from job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. These requirements address PPE of many kinds: hard hats, gloves, goggles, safety shoes, safety glasses, welding helmets and goggles, faceshields, chemical protective equipment, fall protection equipment, and so forth. The provisions in OSHA standards that require PPE generally state that the employer is to provide such PPE. However, some of these provisions do not specify that the employer is to provide such PPE at no cost to the employee. In this rulemaking, OSHA is requiring employers to pay for the PPE provided, with exceptions for specific items. The rule does not require employers to provide PPE where none has been required before. Instead, the rule merely stipulates that the employer must pay for required PPE, except in the limited cases specified in the standard. http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=20094 mbmbn

angelikaJ -> RE: C Diff (2/21/2011 4:36:09 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl quote: ORIGINAL: IrishMist CDiff is contagious. However, unless you start to show signs of having contacted it yourself, just go about your work and make sure you use universal percautions. Workmans comp is no good unless you HAVE Cdiff and can prove that you got it from work. Personally, I am disappointed in YOU for not taking proper percautions in the first place. I don't care what shift you worked, when you work in a hospital YOU NEVER care for patients without using the proper precautions. YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE AND RETRIEVED what was needed to properly care for a patient while caring for yourself at the same time. I don't work in a hospital. I provide home care for disabled adults and I work third shift ALONE with clients that can't be left alone while I run to the store. There are home managers we can call in the middle of the night in case of an emergency like if someone falls or has a heart attack or something. I thought changing a diaper without gloves was disgusting but didn't qualify as an emergency. I was careful to scrub my hands and arms immediately after and let the manager know the next morning that I couldn't find any gloves in the house. I had never heard of C Diff until I read the email about precautions Friday night. The corporate office isn't even open on weekends. But I'm sure you're right. I'm probably not eligible for workers comp and it would be hard to prove. Guess I just have to hope for the best. It seems as though your employer has been very lax in their training if you have been working in a residential group home and have never heard of C Diff until now. I worked in residential and it was first brought to our attention back in 2004. While it should be considered an "emergency" and likely will be now, calling an on-call manager because there are no gloves in the house likely would have gotten you into trouble.The agency needs to establish policy in the event that occurs again. Given that your job is cleaning the bathrooms, I am sure it isn't that you were just lax in looking for them. Did you yet find out if the house was out of them, or were they being stored someplace and you did not know where they were (again unlikely)? Who ever is in charge of ordering and the program manager are to blame. There are no excuses for running out. I can understand that with an ill client you can go through them very quickly, but still there is no excuse. Everyone, should be monitoring the glove supply and communicating it. The people who were on shift that night before you came in (if there was more than one) had they taken notice, could have sent a staff member to the store w/ petty cash to go buy a box so you would not run out. Were you to contract C Diff, unless they can prove that you were being just too lazy to go get the gloves from another location, you can not be held accountable and I can not see any disciplinary measures being taken against you.

barelynangel -> RE: C Diff (2/21/2011 5:03:46 AM)
YES you should report the situation, you are caring for the elderly and setting the whole home up for a lawsuit by your negligence especially in NOT reporting same. I don't care if it costs you your job -- you did something stupid in not reporting it right away and you are continuing to put elderly people you work with in danger by not reporting it and taking precautions and getting checked out. Its little negligences like this because you are more worried about yourself than those people in your care, that cause unnecessary harm. Take responsibility for your own actions and report the situation and take the consequences of your actions. Yes, it may have been making due, it may have been a decision you made on the fly and didn't mean harm, but not reporting it while knowing that you could very well contract same because of your actions is negligence and irresponsible and i am speaking of your actions of not reporting it. Yes you made a mistake not finding gloves or calling to see if someone can get you some. That wasn't your negligence, your negligence was not reporting the situation at all. angel

thishereboi -> RE: C Diff (2/21/2011 10:24:41 AM)
Buy a box of gloves and throw them in your car. It won't help this time, but hopefully you won't have to deal with it again.

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