To wonder if it is possible to go into hospital without getting sick?

[ShtoppenDerFloppen]

DD (10) was in hospital for 4 days last week for extended testing.

We returned home (the hospital is 200+km from home) on Thursday, and that evening, she began vomiting. Friday, she began with a fever, and the weekend has been far from pleasant.

She is past the worst of it, but I managed to catch it too.

So... I wonder, is there some unwritten rule that if you aren't sick when you enter a hospital, you must be when you leave?

[Oysterbabe]

I didn't get sick when I was there for a week after giving birth.

[ShtoppenDerFloppen]

Oyster - I am happy to hear it.

Perhaps it is because she is in paediatrics. Her immune system is poor (part of her condition) but it seems if she doesn't go in sick, she comes out that way.

Or maybe I am just tired of the "fallout" from this stomach bug.

[FunnyUsername]

I try wherever possible to avoid A&E because of this. I took my daughter in about 3-4 weeks ago after she ate something she shouldn't have. 24 hours later she was vomiting, 24 hours after that my 2 sons had it and it went on for 10 days. Pure hell I am telling you.

And it's not the first time. I wouldn't enter a hospital unless I absolutely had to. And if you do, stay far far away from the paediatric A&E and any toilets near A&E and the hospital entrance.

[WavingFlag]

I've not known anyone get sick whilst in hospital, some of which had major surgery.
YABU I'm afraid

[Undercooked]

I worry about this a lot. By son is often wheezy and if we go to paediatric A&E or even just the GP then I don't let him off my lap, he doesn't touch the seats or toys. I also wash our hands in warm water and soap every time I can and don't rely on the gels. I never take snacks or drinks in. When he was an inpatient I couldn't be as strict but tried similar. Thankfully we haven't caught anything so far but I know many people who have.

[Beth2511]

I had to take dd once a week for 6 months as a new born and she wasnt sick once. She does seem t9 have super human immune system though.

[Brummiegirl15]

Nope yanbu- DD was kept in overnight on paeds ward. 36 hrs later I was violently sick for 2 days

[sothisishowitfeels]

I've been quite a lot the last few months and not been ill so far !

[Sirzy]

Ds went in for a weeks planned admission last year and didn't pick anything up.

He had to go in for daily iv (profalactic) antibiotics for 2 weeks earlier this year and somehow managed to develop a severe infection leading to 5 days as an impatient just as the orognoal 14 days finished. We aren't sure how that developed though!

[OddBoots]

My brother has Crohn's so is on immune suppression and has needed over 20 operations in about 10 years, he's never got sick as a result. My Grandma developed a chest infection following a stroke and hip fracture but that was more related to her insisting on eating and drinking despite the stroke giving her swallowing problems.

[HackerFucker22]

DS spent 3 nights as an outpatient on a pediatric ward when he was 12m (viral induced wheeze). Half the ward was on lock-down due to an "infectious outbreak" which I assumed to be Norovirus? I'm an emetophobe so I didn't asked as I'd had to have left DS if they'd said yes

We literally weren't allowed past X point (which included the kitchen, I had to buzz for nurses to warm milk and we had to get all out food and cuppas as takeout) but their infection control must have worked as we didn't catch anything!!!

[Witchend]

Ds has been in several times in paediatrics ( including one time in the bed next to someone in for excess vomiting. I was slightly twitch when they decided they wanted to play together including eating dinner) but never has been ill afterwards.

[IthinkIamsinking]

My DD got E coli although to be fair her immune system was non existent at the time

[Sallystyle]

I work in a hospital and I got ill all the bloody time for the first 9 months and I always had a really good immune system. Not so much stomach bugs and I seem to have a stomach made out of steel but viruses and colds.

I seem (touch wood) to be over that now.

Considering the crap going around wards and the fact that things like noro fly around wards often enough it's not really a surprise people often pick something up from hospital.

[NotMeNotYouNotAnyone]

Hacker that must have been awful! The stress of a phobic reaction on top of the stress of a poorly DC! (Mostly-recovered emetophobe here, but outbreaks of norovirus still make me twitchy )

[AntiquityReRises]

Ds2 ended up on a ward after a rotavirus seizure so it's possible with all that germs got spread. Can't say I remember much as he's autistic and once he'd stopped sleeping it was full on behaviour management.

I've never picked up a bug during a hospital stay.

[jimijack]

So given your theory, what about the hundreds of people that work n hospitals every day, would they not be unwell constantly?

Having worked in a hospital for 24 years, I have never become ill from work. Have been assaulted plenty of times, but never been ill.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Yanbu.

every time dd2 went into hospital she came back incubating something else resulting in another hospital stay.

I felt like shit anyway so can't say if I caught anything but if you are small/young/ vulnerable in any way hospitals are clearly dangerous :(

[pantsjustpants]

Dh spent a week on orthopaedic emergency ward in January and was fine. Thank goodness! I'm an emetophobe and found visiting so traumatic. The relief on the days we agreed I wouldn't go in was huge!

[MoonDuke]

Neither of my DC has picked up a bug in hospital. DS1 had salmonella food poisoning and was in several days. the Drs were very impressed that no one else in the family picked it up.

DS2 spent a night on IV drip due to dehydration and he left happy as Larry

[Lweji]

DS has had a few one night stays in hospital and never had any further problems.

Hygiene is very important, though. Patients and visitors should wash their hands frequently and carefully. Also be careful with objects coming in contact with floors and other surfaces.
Hospital infections are a problem and many health professionals are too complacent about it.

[katienana]

I was in yesterday for a glucose test and in the waiting room was a lady who had brought 2 people with her, the bloke she was with was constantly coughing and wiping his nose. It pissed me off I didn't see him using the hand gel and it's all pregnant women who have to use that waiting area. I wish people would think twice before spreading their germs about!

[CountessOfStrathearn]

I've never got sick in almost 20 years of studying medicine then working as a doctor. The one time I got norovirus (bearing in mind that I am a physician so over winter, I'm often in the wards closed due to winter vomiting seeing my patients), I was on maternity leave!

[CountessOfStrathearn]

" "

Puzzled by this statement! Doctors don't wear white coats anymore in any hospital I've been in and when we did, it was far better that doctors did rather than just our own clothes, which, of course, we wear now without the protection of a clean white coat, which apparently have magic bug-repelling powers...

There's also no evidence that white coats transmitted any bugs, not that evidence is an impediment to any infection control nurse I've ever met.

What's far more relevant in terms of hospital acquired infection is that destruction of the ward team so that bed spaces don't get cleaned by what was the integral cleaner in the ward straightaway, rather than an agency cleaner who really can't be fussed and who will refused to touch anything that a patient might have touched. Also most hospitals run on about 105% capacity as so many hospital beds have been cut so there is often not the time or capacity to have the bed space and equipment cleaned properly before the next patient is in there.

[Lweji]

It's not in the uk. :)