Precautions

i got a call one night from the son of one of my patients. the dood was calling to ask 'what bug is it that dad has?' and we proceeded to have an interesting conversation.......

nurse j, 'clostridium difficile.'

Mr Oblivious, 'is there something easier i can tell the doctor? my son, the one who was visiting his grandpa yesterday, well, he's got real bad diarrhea and vomiting now. we were wondering if maybe he picked up whatever it is that his grandpa has......we're thinking we might have to take him to his pediatrician.'

nurse j, 'well, we call it 'C-diff' for short........how old is the kid?'

Mr Oblivious, 'my son is four. he was, you know, acting like a four year old, crawling around the room and stuff. you know how four year olds can be.'

nurse j, *head suddenly hurting in exasperation* 'yeah, i sure do.'

Mr Oblivious, 'so, it it real bad? this cliff diff thing?'

nurse j, 'well, we have natural bacteria, 'good bacteria,' if you will, in our gut already, including this c-diff, or clostridium difficile. when we put you on antibiotics, the antibiotics don't discriminate between the bad bacteria that is causing your dad's pneumonia and the good bacteria in your gut. so the 'good bacteria' gets killed off, and that give the c-diff an opportunity to take over. that is why your dad also has this slimy mucousy diarrhea. so then we usually have to start yet another antibiotic to combat the c-diff. is any of this making sense.'

Mr Oblivious, 'uh, yeah kinda. so it's bad? i mean, we go in there all the time, and hold his hand and stuff. and we wash our hands too, most of the time after we leave. but, you know, not really good, like 60 seconds and stuff, or use hot water. should we be using gloves or something?'

nurse j, *huge sigh* plus silent *facepalm* 'um yeah, that's why we have a notice on the door that has 'CONTACT PRECAUTIONS' on it, as well as that cart with gloves and disposable gowns in it for visitors and staff to wear........have you seen the cart and the sign?'

Mr Oblivious, 'ha, oh yeah, we pass right by that cart all the time. i guess we should be using it, huh?'

nurse j, 'yeah, that might be something to think about.'

ps, our floor has a no one under 11 years old policy, and this visit did NOT occur on my shift. musta happened on day shift or something. sheesh man.