Infection Control
The training and lectures we have had recently on infection control must be sinking in for me better than I had expected. I was out at a local high school Friday night covering a game for the newspaper, and something strange happened. I was walking down the sideline during the break between the first and second quarters of the game. When I got to the other end, I noticed that I had blood on my right forearm. I wasn’t cut anywhere and couldn’t figure out where it came from. My only conclusion was that I had been splashed by one of the football players somewhere along my journey down the sidelines. Several recent terms heard in lecture started rushing through my mind…. AIDS, HIV, Hepatitis B, and a host of other nasty words like Bloodborne Pathogens… Lions and Tigers and Bears… Oh My! Needless to say, I just stopped what I was doing and thought about this situation for a moment. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle this. I didn’t have a rag, napkin, or anything else to remove the blood, and I didn’t just want to wipe it off with my hand. I decided to go visit the EMS team who was working this game and get them to remove the blood for me. They were happy to do so. They cleaned me up and sent me on my way :) I told them I wasn’t injured but I just didn’t know where that blood came from…
I wonder if people in the medical profession sometimes become complacent with regards to personal protective equipment. After thinking about my first two clinical sessions, I haven’t seen an RT put on a pair of gloves yet. I put on a pair before I did my first x-rays on Thursday. The RT who was supervising me didn’t question me or ask me about that either. My instructors have been hammering this in, so I think I’ll try my best not to slip when it comes to protective equipment. It will take me a few moments longer to put on gloves or a mask when I need them, but I think it will be worth it…