Got someones blood in my mouth

[chickj0434]

So we were working an arrest. Guy was a possible drug user. Long story shorts he was spurting out blood from his mouth and nose and pretty sure I felt a drop go on or in my mouth. Pretty nervous I'm going to catch aids or something now. Help guys

 

[NomadicMedic]

So we were working an arrest. Guy was a possible drug user. Long story shorts he was spurting out blood from his mouth and nose and pretty sure I felt a drop go on or in my mouth. Pretty nervous I'm going to catch aids or something now. Help guys

Talk to your agency infection control officer, fill out a report and get your blood draws done.

Do this right now, if you haven't already.

Your infection control officer is should be your first point of contact and ONLY source of information for this.

 

[DrParasite]

What NomadicMedic said....

 

[chickj0434]

Everything i researched said not tobworrym the chances of catching something going in your mouth is very slim. I'm ocd and not sure if it went in my mouth I just felt a splat on my face but there was nothing there when I looked in the mirror. But u guys think I should contact my company and go from there?

 

[luke_31]

Everything i researched said not tobworrym the chances of catching something going in your mouth is very slim. I'm ocd and not sure if it went in my mouth I just felt a splat on my face but there was nothing there when I looked in the mirror. But u guys think I should contact my company and go from there?

Yes

 

[chickj0434]

Can i just get tested myself why do I need to tell my company. Everyone around me is gonna see that I didn't have any blood on my face

 

[DesertMedic66]

Can i just get tested myself why do I need to tell my company. Everyone around me is gonna see that I didn't have any blood on my face

1: if you go through the company your testing fees will be covered by them.
2: companies have safeguards in place and policies for instances such as this.
3: if you end up getting some random disease from it and you did not let your company know then they may not cover anything or help at all. On the other side of that the company will probably say “why weren’t you wearing proper PPEs?”
4: if you are scared to go to your company for an exposure or possible exposure then you may want to find a different place of employment or a different career field because this will not help you in anyway.

 

[chickj0434]

1: if you go through the company your testing fees will be covered by them.
2: companies have safeguards in place and policies for instances such as this.
3: if you end up getting some random disease from it and you did not let your company know then they may not cover anything or help at all. On the other side of that the company will probably say “why weren’t you wearing proper PPEs?”
4: if you are scared to go to your company for an exposure or possible exposure then you may want to find a different place of employment or a different career field because this will not help you in anyway.

Who the hell wears a face mask during an arrest

 

[NysEms2117]

Bsi and scene safety. This guy passed his emt test! No lie tho I have before.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Who the hell wears a face mask during an arrest

As you state the patient was having blood spurting out of his nose and mouth. There is a really good chance that I will be tossing on a mask...

 

[Jim37F]

Why would you be so hesitant/resistant to going through your own services exposure report process???

If on the tiny chance you actually do catch something, there's so many advantages....besides that your service pays for it, if you had reported it to your Supervisor (or whoever you're supposed to per your services policy) immediately after the call, they'd pull you out of service and send you to the clinic, but you're still on shift so not only are you not having to pay to be tested, but you're also getting paid to go get tested.
Then IF it is positive for whatever, wouldn't that be workers comp? Or otherwise covered by your services insurance, be put on light duty if need be, etc etc.
Vs if you just go yourself? Besides paying out of pocket, IF it is positive, what then? Hope your health insurance is good enough to cover whatever treatment? Hope your deductible isn't $500 or you're still paying that much out of pocket for everything, that can add up real fast....and oh yeah, if you now can't work in the field, just hope your service is willing to just take you off the schedule for an office or dispatch spot...what if they don't have any available, or if they do, what about returning to the field? Would you have to reapply from scratch?

There's all sorts of liability and no benefits to doing it yourself if you are worried about potentially catching something. If you haven't already, call whoever you need to to activate the exposure report process NOW. Otherwise you are quite literally on your own...

 

[StCEMT]

Who the hell wears a face mask during an arrest

For a normal arrest? No, I don't. If it is say a traumatic arrest or there is blood/other nasty **** coming out of them, the yea....I would put one on, especially since I am usually expected to make an intubation attempt and have to get up close to do so. I would think after this you would see why it should be at least a consideration at times.

 

[VentMonkey]

Am I the only one who remembers this guy and his utterly ridiculous germophobic posts, or are we all just stringing him along for shytes and giggles?

 

[StCEMT]

Am I the only one who remembers this guy and his utterly ridiculous germophobic posts, or are we all just stringing him along for shytes and giggles?

Admittedly I completely forgot....I do remember now though.

 

[chickj0434]

How come everything I resewarch online says there is really no chance of catching anything if a tiny drop maybe have touched my mouth.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Do some more research and that will tell you why...

 

[DesertMedic66]

Then IF it is positive for whatever, wouldn't that be workers comp? Or otherwise covered by your services insurance, be put on light duty if need be, etc etc.

I’m sure the majority of companies will try to find a way of claiming that it was completely your fault for the exposure. I could easily see them using the “standard precautions were not taken by the employee” so it is their fault.

 

[CALEMT]

I had a meningitis exposure and I'm pretty sure I have AIDS now because of it... thats what this situation sounds like to me.

Honestly dude, wear your proper PPE. 99.9% of the time I roll no mask on a full arrest. But when theres vomit, blood and whatever else spurting from the mouth and nose its safe to say I'll have a mask and eye pro on. Furthermore, if you worry about every little thing in this industry then you'll die of a stress induced incident before you hit the 5 year mark. **** happens, do you best to ensure that it doesn't.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I had a meningitis exposure and I'm pretty sure I have AIDS now because of it... thats what this situation sounds like to me.

Honestly dude, wear your proper PPE. 99.9% of the time I roll no mask on a full arrest. But when theres vomit, blood and whatever else spurting from the mouth and nose its safe to say I'll have a mask and eye pro on. Furthermore, if you worry about every little thing in this industry then you'll die of a stress induced incident before you hit the 5 year mark. **** happens, do you best to ensure that it doesn't.

Straight from healthy to full blown AIDS...

 

[Chimpie]

Talk to your agency infection control officer, fill out a report and get your blood draws done.

But u guys think I should contact my company and go from there?

Yes

And

because this is heading toward medical advice.

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