question about surgeons

[SindbisV]

I've been wondering this for a long time... What do surgeons do if their patient has an infectious disease? Especially in urban areas, where HIV is relatively high, what do surgeons do with such patients? Are they notified that these patients have potentially fatal infectious diseases and may be at high risk of transmission?

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[njbmd]

Hi there,
You don't have to be in a urban environment to come in contact with HIV! Any patient and even the person seated next to you at McDonalds or that mall food court can have HIV. As a surgeon, I use universal precautions at all times. I double glove on cases and I wash my hands before and after any patient contact in the clinic or on the floor.

I also do not touch my face and I keep my hands and fingers out of my mouth. This cuts down on the more common viruses such as those that cause colds and flu. At our hospital, we place extra precautions (contact isolation) on patients that are known to carry infections such as VRE, MRSA and tuberculosis.

Good handwashing can prevent the spread of disease. I also clean my stethoscope with an antigermicidal solution at the end of each day and alcohol wipe in between patients. My lab coat and scrubs stay at the hospital and are laundered by the hospital laundry service.

njbmd

 

[Winged Scapula]

Surgeons are notified when a patient has a communicable disease. However, bear in mind that most patients are not tested for HIV, Hep, etc. pre-op - thus, there are many more who are potential carriers than we can imagine.

Therefore, simple universal precautions for ALL patients are demanded. Frankly, I'm more worried about Hep C than I am HIV and would be, regardless of my environment.

 

[pjr]

amen...hep c is a lot more scary. no good therapy for that one.

you have to be careful all the time. at one point during my trauma rotation as a pgy4, i was stuck three times in two weeks by our trauma fellow on high risk patients. i took the antiretrovirals for insurance reasons and was sick as hell the entire time. most of that stuff can be avoided if everyone pays attention.

 

[Airborne]

I would disagree with the thoughts on Hep C - I've posted a bit on this in the past....

Check out the link below:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49200

Airborne

 

[ent_doc]

Originally posted by pjr
amen...hep c is a lot more scary. no good therapy for that one.

you have to be careful all the time. at one point during my trauma rotation as a pgy4, i was stuck three times in two weeks by our trauma fellow on high risk patients. i took the antiretrovirals for insurance reasons and was sick as hell the entire time. most of that stuff can be avoided if everyone pays attention. [/QUOTE

Hep H-Z is what worries me. The undiscovered diseases. Heh, it wasn't so long ago that Hep C was called "Non-A, Non-B hepatitis"