Help! Student nurse and symptomatic partner

[MandUs]

Are there any nurses able to help as I can't find clear guidance on this.
I'm a student nurse on a hospital placement and my partner has a high fever with a cough (and some other symptoms). He's had a Covid test today but if the result doesn't come back before my next shift, am I expected to go in or stay at home and isolate as I've done so far?

Any guidance I can find only talks about health care providers being symptomatic but nothing about household members. Thanks.

I have and if it was up to me I'd stay home but sadly

there genuinely is no guidance given on this

WTAF

I'm sorry OP but you are a student nurse and you don't know the very basic NHS advice? I mean even if you don't know it, surely you know where to find it

Thanks to the people who understand how I feel.

I am anything but dim and know that I will be a great asset to the NHS. How ignorant to make a statement like that without actually knowing anything about me other than that I was not given any guidance on this and I don't want to make a bad impression on this placement.

Nurse educator here. Absolutely no way should you be going into practice. I can't imagine either your tutor or placement giving you a hard time over this. However they will take a very dim view if you ignore the Government advice and put your patients and colleagues at risk. You are supernumerary, wait until your partners test comes back. Fingers crossed it will be clear and you can get back on it.

And just to clarify, I know the NHS advice inside out. I've not been asking for that.

I was asking what the real life expectations of nurses are as they really are something different in a lot of ways. I've been working with several nurses on their knees with illness last week and I don't think they'd be expected to turn up in any other job, yet as nurses they were there. I appreciate though that with me being supernumerary, the same pressure doesn't apply to me.

LadyEggs, thank you for your response. It has really reassured me.

Just phone your employer and ask.

My sister is an ICU nurse, and was a COVID ward nurse at peak. When she had symptoms, they told her to come in after her normal days off, she didn’t take any additional time off. Their reasoning was that it would have been too late for her to get an accurate test result at that point so was better for her to come in if she felt well

Sorry op but you deserve the hard time you're getting. My daughter developed a high temperature and went for a test 2 weeks ago. Her younger sister, secondary school age, knew immediately to cancel her plans and stay at home until the result came. It's basic covid advice. Kids know it, everyone knows it. You need to get up to speed. Fast.

Sorry op but you deserve the hard time you're getting.

I disagree. Some NHS employers DO handle potential staff cases differently than the advice given to the general public.

@Thisismytimetoshine

Christ almighty, I despair 😩. A student nurse being so dim is worrying indeed. What an asset you'll be to the NHS.

Oh do fuck off

Are the NHS really giving out official advice to stay at home if someone you live with has symptoms, but expecting their staff to do the opposite, especially in patient facing roles?

OP stay at home until you know it's safe to return. Advise them now so they can arrange cover if need be, don't wait for the result. If you get any hassle for this then report it to a higher level, or HR

@Healththrowaway199

Sorry op but you deserve the hard time you're getting.

I disagree. Some NHS employers DO handle potential staff cases differently than the advice given to the general public.

Exactly this

Guidelines say one thing, expectations are another thing entirely.

OP knows the guidance, she's asking what's actually expected in her real life situation..

These things shouldn't be different, but they are

OP knows the guidance

No she doesn't. She asked in her op whether she should go to work while a family member awaits their test result.

@SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing exactly! I think it’s something only those in the medical industry understand

@Evilwasps Yes. My sister (icu/COVID nurse) presented with symptoms and was sent home; she had that half a day and her normal 2 days off then was asked to return if she felt better. They didn’t ask her to take a test nor to self isolate for 7 days. This was the advice given by both her sister (head nurse) and HR. She was patient facing but worked on the COVID ward at the time.

Scary that you have to ask and think you should go in.
Even if he gets a negative test you have to isolate for 14 days.
You could have already spread it to any patient you’ve cared for in the last few days albeit unknowingly.
Sadly hearing lots of people told to go in whilst symptomatic to care work or not allowed to leave developing a temp.

I'm a nurse but not in the UK, back in April when my young child had symptoms and was awaiting a test/results I was told in no uncertain terms that I would have to come to work.

@AutumnSuns

Scary that you have to ask and think you should go in. Even if he gets a negative test you have to isolate for 14 days. You could have already spread it to any patient you’ve cared for in the last few days albeit unknowingly. Sadly hearing lots of people told to go in whilst symptomatic to care work or not allowed to leave developing a temp.

Why would she have to isolate if his test is negative?

[quote Healththrowaway199]@SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing exactly! I think it’s something only those in the medical industry understand

@Evilwasps Yes. My sister (icu/COVID nurse) presented with symptoms and was sent home; she had that half a day and her normal 2 days off then was asked to return if she felt better. They didn’t ask her to take a test nor to self isolate for 7 days. This was the advice given by both her sister (head nurse) and HR. She was patient facing but worked on the COVID ward at the time.[/quote]
Yep. Anybody else has no fucking idea what it's actually like

Yes. @Diemme she knows the official guidance. Very different to what actually happens day to day, sadly.

I work with medics. They struggle to have a basic understanding why I need 48 hours after my kid has been home due to vomiting. They're just the same with covid

"oh it'll be alright, don't worry"

And before everyone starts, this isn't just one place. Many many settings

Yep. No offence to anyone but medical staff are important - they aren’t necessarily expected to adhere to the guidance issued to the general public to the letter, as it may be a necessary evil that they return to work earlier - we would be fucked if a significant amount of vital medical staff were self isolating at the same time.

Exactly

Can you imagine if every district nurse (my job) just took time off every time? PPE, all other precautions, etc, is why actually happens.

@SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing

Can you imagine if every district nurse (my job) just took time off every time? PPE, all other precautions, etc, is why actually happens.

And yes I know the alternative.

Still doesn't alter the outcome, sadly. We're expected to just get on with it.

I wish I was suprised at people saying they are expected to break guidance and still go in. Thankfully my usual shit show of a trust seems to have gotten their covid planning spot on. Under no circumstances would we be expected to go to work if it was against the national guidance.

If it makes anyone feel better the trusts that are breaking the guidance will have fun once cqc inspections resume (end of this month so I've heard). They will be paying particular attention to covid planning apparently and if they find evidence that they've potentially put staff and patients at risk by not following guidance i cant imagine it will go down well.

@SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing

Can you imagine if every district nurse (my job) just took time off every time? PPE, all other precautions, etc, is why actually happens.

Our district nurse teams had a 60% absence rate at the height of the first wave. Staff were redeployed from elsewhere in the trust to cover. My trust is in one of the areas in local lockdown with increasing cases and a high risk population. It would be massively failing in its duty of care to our community of we put them at risk by knowingly breaking national guidance.

I urge anyone that has been told to return to work against the current guidance to report the incidences to the cqc.

Bloody hell. I'm shocked at all these answers.

My trust (huge) is sticking to national guidance to the letter. All my friends who work for other trusts are experiencing the same (mostly doctors, smattering of nurses and other HCPs).

There is staff testing available to get you back to work sooner if you can get there without using public transport.

I was symptomatic in April prior to testing capacity being increased and automatically rostered off for the 7 days required at the time. I was pretty unwell at the time but I'm antibody negative so I think I just had another non Covid virus.

@Healththrowaway199

Yep. No offence to anyone but medical staff are important - they aren’t necessarily expected to adhere to the guidance issued to the general public to the letter, as it may be a necessary evil that they return to work earlier - we would be fucked if a significant amount of vital medical staff were self isolating at the same time.

We are absolutely expected to adhere to the guidance issued. The only exception is if a contact trace is from work and we have been wearing the required ppe. When the face mask requirement first came in one of our wards wasn't following the rule and had a member of staff test positive, 27 members of staff then all had to self isolate for the 14 days. It wasn't an ideal 2 weeks, lots of agency, staff moving from other wards, managers coming into numbers etc but we weathered it. Ignoring the guidance to maintain staffing numbers in the short term could really come back and bite.