Way Past Time of Death C Diff! Get Out of Here!

January 21, 2010

As a nurse I was caught by the National Public Radio article concerning a highly contagious "BUG" that all nurses are aware of and have the nose for calling it as they see(smell) it! Clostridium Difficile by any other name still makes cold chills run up and down all nurses’ backs. Everyone starts thinking back to a month ago...three months...even six months worth of the patients they had contact with, touched, cleaned, collected specimens...and the list goes on.

C Diff, as it most commonly named, is an intestinal bacteria that everyone carries within them at all times. Yes, it is true, you have this bug from the time of birth...your birth, not the bug' birth...at any rate it is caused usually by a patient whose immune system has been decimated to the point that anything can cause them to get sick, wiping out all the "GOOD" bacteria from their intestinal tract. When the smoke clears and your immunosuppressed patient starts to look a bit better that is when you, as nurses, as patients, as family members all of us have to become the most vigilant of all!! That is when the handwashing must REALLY begin!

Never mind the gels, the foams, and that cute little purse hand sanitizers in your pocket...ever cultured your pocket? Ever cleaned the cute little bottle?  Ever notice housekeeping cleaning the containers stuck to the walls where you pump the stuff into your hands?

No. I didn’t think so either...So what does that leave us with...uh...let me think (mental image of know it all teach tapping her finger against her temple and eyebrows going really wide)


"I've got it! We should wash our hands with soap and water! It is the only thing left to do!"

Smart aleck....

So, once identified and of course no one is responsible...then what? The patient has to receive another antibiotic that is worse than all the other antibiotics they received to get rid of whatever infection they had while they were immunosuppressed!

Whew! How is that for a doosey of a run on sentence?

That antibiotic is called Flagyl...given in several forms but for C Diff it is most effectively given intravenously. It attacks the clostridium in the intestine of your patient. Remember the number one side effect of any antibiotic in any form? That is correct.
Gastric Distress.

Great. You have a patient with diarrhea and no, you do not need to confirm how many loose stools during your shift and why is that? Right, because you are in there every hour in your PPE...

That is as GRPHIC A PICTURE AS THIS OLE NURSE IS GOING TO PAINT FOR ALL OF YOU NON NURSING TYPES OUT THERE!
YOU'RE WELCOME.

All of this scary 'the world as we know it' stuff and the point is? Exactly. The whole point that NPR skirted around is the fact that all of our antibacterial and all of our sanitizers has only done one thing, that is to make the BUGS smarter, and they are LAUGHING at us!

The Best way to prevent the spread of ANY infection is...

What?
 I can't heaaaaaarrrrrrr YOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!

Thank you and Good Night!
barbara bethard