Catching illness during rotations....common occurance?

I got strep throat while on peds, pneumonia right after I finished up in the ICU, and bronchitis during a family med month (right after finishing up surgery).

The strep was definitely a case of tons of exposure, but I think the other two had much more to do with being physically worn down.

What is the procedure for missing days in rotations when you are contagious and "out-of-order" because of an illness ?

I was sent home by the pediatrician when I had strep. That is the only day I missed for illness, which was ironic b/c I wasn't that sick then but was much sicker later with pneumonia.

At my school, it is up to the preceptor to decide if we're too sick/contagious to be working. We don't have any days alotted to us. I know of one classmate who had to repeat a rotation b/c she missed too many days (3) on a rotation when she was sick.

I caught rota on my peds rotation

I didn't miss any days on my rotation when I had rota, just spent a lot of time in the bathroom. In two years of rotations I only missed one day due to being sick, and that was the time I had a vicious gastro and was puking every ten minutes or so... I just called the med ed secretary and told her I was sick.

Your illness is a sign of your weakness and lack of interest in the rotation.

You should be happy that you were not failed immediately with no opportunity for remediation, which is exactly what I would have done to you. There were plenty of healthy people that wanted your spot in medical school.

One of my classmates got pertussis during her peds rotation (thanks to all those anti-vaccine parents). She ended up having to use her MS 4 vacation time during her MS3 year to get well. In all, she had to take off 6 weeks.

That would not be fun.

DrMom said:

At my school, it is up to the preceptor to decide if we're too sick/contagious to be working. We don't have any days alotted to us. I know of one classmate who had to repeat a rotation b/c she missed too many days (3) on a rotation when she was sick.

Click to expand...

That is pretty much how it is here too - though it is somewhat rotation dependent. I missed a day on one rotation because of gastroenteritis with no consequence. But now I'm on surgery, and they said that we are not allowed to just call in but have to come in and round with the team. Since "they are doctors and can tell if we are really sick."

wash your hands - be more professional next time.

automaton said:

wash your hands - be more professional next time.

Click to expand...

Oh, really?

I didn't get sick on any of the classic 'sick' rotations. Once on outpt psych. Once on PM&R.

But I only get sick once or twice a year. This has kind of held up in residency as well.

unk_fxn said:

Your illness is a sign of your weakness and lack of interest in the rotation.

You should be happy that you were not failed immediately with no opportunity for remediation, which is exactly what I would have done to you. There were plenty of healthy people that wanted your spot in medical school.

Click to expand...

Is this a joke?

I got the worst sinus infection of my life the first week of my peds rotation. I missed 10 days and still felt bad for about a month afterwards. Took 3 courses of antibiotics to clear it up. I had the most horrendous smelling nasal discharge that persisted for about 3 months....I hated peds because of it.

loveumms said:

Is this a joke?

Click to expand...

Um, yeah, I think so.

I caught a cold with a really bad sore throat and a 3-wk cough from none other than my fellow 3rd year on the team.

Only one person has mentioned "wash your hands!"

Guys, wash for 3 minutes and watch where your hands go! Do not touch your eyes, mouth, or even face - you guys are catching stuff quite possibly because of bad hygiene - no disrespect intended at all; docs are laden with germs and bacteria due to bad hand-washing: there's tons of literature on this. Do you know how rota is transmitted?

Wash for 3 minutes the CDC says If you use purel or any gel, the first 5 uses are sanitary and acceptable; after that, you must wash!!! Can't go purelling all day long - a lot of us do that! If you wash a lot, it will show to your team how professional you are. Be a pro!

kaos said:

I caught a cold with a really bad sore throat and a 3-wk cough from none other than my fellow 3rd year on the team.

Click to expand...

DOtobe said:

I caught rota on my peds rotation

I didn't miss any days on my rotation when I had rota, just spent a lot of time in the bathroom. In two years of rotations I only missed one day due to being sick, and that was the time I had a vicious gastro and was puking every ten minutes or so... I just called the med ed secretary and told her I was sick.

Click to expand...

OMG -- they let you into the hospital with rota?

Anyway, I had shingles when I was a student, so I got a week off of clinical duties.

Ed

Ignacio said:

Only one person has mentioned "wash your hands!"

Click to expand...

I, and I'm sure this applies to most everyone else, do wash frequently and well. There's only so much you can do when some kiddo coughs on your face when you're examining them.

As I stated before, we tend to let ourselves get rundown which leaves us more susceptible. Combine that with the germ load we're exposed to on a regular basis & we're gonna get sick from time-to-time.

I caught strep throat during my gyn sub-I. I got a shot of penicillin at the health clinic and went back to work. I was definitely hurting though.

Ignacio said:

Only one person has mentioned "wash your hands!"

Guys, wash for 3 minutes and watch where your hands go!

Click to expand...

3 minutes! Who on earth has time to go and wash your hands for three minutes before and after you see each patient?! There are some surgeons that barely seem to scrub for that long.

Anyway, I echo what others have said about working with kids. I just got off a month of pediatric surgery at a children's hospital. The fellow there said just about everyone who works there is expected to take a couple weeks off in their first few months from getting sick. I got a nasty cough in the hospital and I was extra-viligant about hand hygeine because people on my team were sick as well as the patients. It doesn't matter much when stuff is spread by respiratory droplets.

when you get coughed on in the face, wash your face and blow your nose. common sense.

automaton said:

when you get coughed on in the face, wash your face and blow your nose. common sense.

Click to expand...

Right--I'll just carry some face wash and a washcloth around with me and excuse myself to wash my face a few times a day.

Obviously hand washing and good habits and all that reduces the risk of infection. But to suggest that ALL infections can be prevented and that ALL sick medical students must have done something wrong to get sick is just silly.

DrMom said:

I, and I'm sure this applies to most everyone else, do wash frequently and well. There's only so much you can do when some kiddo coughs on your face when you're examining them.

As I stated before, we tend to let ourselves get rundown which leaves us more susceptible. Combine that with the germ load we're exposed to on a regular basis & we're gonna get sick from time-to-time.

Click to expand...

You can say that again. Something also must be said about the manner in which sick people--both patients and our colleagues--handle themselves when they're sick. My fellow MSIII coughed and blew his nose everywhere. While I probably didn't catch my cold by touching something he touched (he was always using the alcohol hand rub), he probably blew his germs my way while coughing without covering his mouth. Not that he was blatantly coughing at me. I've seen plenty of people do it. It completely grosses me out. How difficult is it to just cover your mouth or cough in a different direction? That alone is a huge and often unavoidable means of transmission unless you're constantly wearing a face mask. And it makes a huge difference. After catching this nasty cold, I did my best in washing my hands and covering my mouth etc, and I'm happy to say I didn't pass it on to any other people on the team. Gotta do your best to keep a lid on those pathogens.

edmadison said:

OMG -- they let you into the hospital with rota?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't have it as bad as the kiddies did, and I didn't have the vomiting portion of it. Just 2 days of going to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes.

Was that TMI?

are those alcohol-based hand sanitizers effective in killing the gastroenteritis bugs? i can deal with colds now and then. but the gi stuff... uuuuuugh.

and please remember to get your flu shot this year, everyone.

pillowhead said:

Right--I'll just carry some face wash and a washcloth around with me and excuse myself to wash my face a few times a day.

Obviously hand washing and good habits and all that reduces the risk of infection. But to suggest that ALL infections can be prevented and that ALL sick medical students must have done something wrong to get sick is just silly.

Click to expand...

washing your face and blowing your nose are not that difficult. how many times do you get coughed on directly per day?

nobody made the latter claim.

i finished peds without so much as a fever. got coughed on a few times. worked with sick kids.

nobody cares about your excuses.

automaton said:

washing your face and blowing your nose are not that difficult. how many times do you get coughed on directly per day?

nobody made the latter claim.

i finished peds without so much as a fever. got coughed on a few times. worked with sick kids.

nobody cares about your excuses.

Click to expand...

Do you want a trophy for not getting sick after finishing peds? Congratulations. You obviously must just be a cleaner person than the rest of us.

I have never ever seen a physician or nurse washing his/her face in a hosptial with soap and water after being in contact with a patient nor have I ever heard the hygiene brigade at our school even mention doing that. If anyone on here does that on a regular basis, please let me know how that works out for you.

I got croup at the end of my peds rotation. Didn't have much stridor, but coughed so much at the start of my ob-gyn rotation that they sent me home early (4pm) from clinic one day because I couldn't stop coughing into the ladies' hoo-ha. I always wondered. If I cough on vaginal mucosal surface, does that increase the rate of viral transmission?