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?

Tell us where! (not really, don't worry) There are many of us who would like to return to white coats as a uniform that's laundered daily must be far more hygienic than just our own clothes being worn throughout the day and to/from work!

In my whole 15 years as a nurse I've only been ill twice due to work. My children have never been ill after a trip to A&E.

White coats don't transmit any more bugs than any other clothes, of course.
My bug with the white coats is that they clearly go straight from wards to lunch. We, lab people, are conditioned to wear lab coats in labs only.
These doctors carry their stethoscopes with them for lunch too. Sigh!
I wonder how often they wash their hands for example.
I hope it's better in the uk. :)

I used to work in a hospital, but thankfully never picked anything up. There were a lot of recurrent patients who picked up c-diff, or mrsa though, not active mrsa, but in the nose/perineum etc where we had to swab everyone. There was a nurse who had c-diff a couple of times, but she liked it because she lost lots of weight

Countess, as a hca on a medical ward it was my responsibility to clean and disinfect bed spaces when a patient was discharged. Not floors etc but certainly bedside table and bed etc

I was in for an op about 3 weeks ago and was fine despite being immunosuppressed and neutropenic
I did follow the old sort of rules and washed with hibiscrub for about 4 days before and injected a bone marrow stimulant the night before!

Amongst your very many, many responsibilities as well. I'm certainly not criticising my HCA colleagues but, as I am sure you know far better than me, there is only so much work that 2 nurses and an HCA can do on a 24 bedded ward. I think the destruction of the ward team (from the nurses to the HCAs to the cleaner/ward housekeeper to the dedicated clerk) has a lot to with it.

None of us have ever been ill after a stay in hospital (and the four of us have had several admissions over the past 15 years, ranging from 1 to 6 days, with three operations included in that).

After a session at Soft Play however ... entirely different thing!

Completely agree countess, has been awhile since I worked in the nhs and day shifts as a hca were a running around like a headless chicken, nightmare. We did have a housekeeper and clerk, alongside cleaners, no idea if it has deteriorated since 2007.

This hospital has had a norovirus outbreak in the oncology unit more than once.

And... I just found out that it has happened again, as this is the fun she brought home with her.

Well, 2 of us are on the other side of it, 2 more are in the thick of things, and hopefully the last doesn't fall victim.

I bloody hope not cos am posting this from my hosp bed.

I've got cellulitis before from a canula site but that was improper care.