LiFe is Not as Bad as it SeEms: cdc continued
Saturday, August 04, 2007
「 Life is Not as Bad as it SeEms =) 」
Hey ppls how've u been ^^
So far im vry relaxed la..
Kinda starting to get use to the
slow pace of CDC...
Dun think thats a gd thing though..
Return to main block ttsh die!! -_-


Ok la actualli nursing HIV pt is
not realli all that scary or
dangerous la...(unless its hiv+mental case)

But like i say they're ok la ..
Ur less likely to contract wad infections
they have compared to normal pts.

U see ar... Its quite ez to catch
a flu from a patient wif URTI rite..
but its kinda impossible for sum1
wif normal immunity like us to catch
sumthing like Pneumocystic Carnii Pneumonia.
Its a type of pneumonia tt affect ppl
wif severely impaired immunity.
So if u DO get it.. hmmm... somethings
wrong le.


But of cos we hav to take precautions la
when handling body fluid..
But thats what we've been doing for all pts
ma.. or at least its what we SHLD hav been
doing...
Oh yea... not to scare u guys...
but juz becareful k... cos quite a
number of patients came from normal wards
before they're transferred to cdc.
Now u noe y we shld treat all pts like HIV,
cos they REALLI might be 1.


Ytd was also quite relaxing la..
Not much to do..
But we got to watch doctor do
intra-vitreous injecttion for patients
wif CMV retinitis...
COOOL LAAA!!!
they inject ganciclovir thru the
sclera(white eye) into the retina..

Den ltr at nite oso like nth to do so
we take case notes den act like SN pass
report...
haaha quite fun la play play..
but ltr nxt wk die... realli need to
pass report to the next shift STAFFS...


Now let me share wif u sumthings ive
learnt at CDC....
Read on lor if u got the time and if ur
interested....

Confidentiality
this is extremely important ther cos
pts sumtimes dun wan ppl to noe they are ther.
so when ppl call up the ward saying they are
so and so looking for so and so
u cannot tell them the person they are
looking for is ther..
Den if ppl ask if this is a HIV ward
we are not to tell them.
We juz say its a general ward.
If relatives ask for diagnosis
u juz say the opportunistic infection
they are suffering from
eg chest infection, skin infection.
Nurses are NEVER to reveal diagnosis for
HIV cases...
onli the doctor can do that.


Opportunistic Infection(OI)
like the name states.. opportunistic..
meaning the infection nid the immunity to be
impaired for it to hav the opportunity
to take place.
These infections usually onli happens
in ppl wif low immunity..
For example... HIV, those on immunosuppressant
drugs..
HIV pts death are caused by
these infections most of the time..


These are sum of the OIs

Pneumocystic Carnii Pneumonia(PCP)
Its a protozoal infection of the lungs...
Of cos S&S are other like pneumonias...
If u have this, HIV screening will most
likely be offered..
This is 1 of the predictors of HIV...
As in usually ppl wif this will
hav HIV..


Pulmonary Tuberculosis(PTB)
This is also very common in HIV cases..
U guys shld noe rite PTB...
Cos by mycobacterium bacilli...
the bacteria go into the lungs n
get engulfed by alveolar macrophages, where
they are not killed..
they juz live inside the macrophages...
this is latent TB.. not infectious..
But when immunity goes down..
the bacteria comes out n play so u have
PTB... can spread to other prts of
body oso like spine n stuffs...
this is disseminated TB.. meaning
TB bacs affectting multiple parts
of body...

Cytomegalovirus(CMV)
This virus is actually vry common..
Some sources say 80% of the american
population are already infected by the
virus...
It can cos sore throat at first or
can be totally asymptomic...
But it wont be a problem to most
of us...
onli affect the immunosuppressed/impaired
pts again..
CMV can cos CMV retinitis...
the inflammation of the retina..
it can detach the retina cosing the
person to go blind...
So they hav this intra-vitreous
ganciclovir to delay this process..
juz delay, thers no cure..


Candidiasis
This 1 is the fungal infection..
Caused by the normal flora of the
GIT if im not wrong...
In layman's term its oral trush..
Its normal for babies to hav it
but not for adults..
ther will be white growth on the tongue
and even the oesophagus..
so pt might say its painful to swallow so
they might want soft diet..
Its treated wif niastatin...


So this is wad i learnt so far la...
hahaa....
quite lengthy hor..
But if u got nth else to learn
this is quite interesting la...
hahaha...

Hope this might come in handy sumday ^^
tc guys