Can Pregnant Nurse Care For Shingles Patient

Pregnant nurses may wish to avoid taking care of patients with active shingles or varicella zoster infections as well as patients on airborne precautions.

Can pregnant nurse care for shingles patient.

Complications that may arise from a shingles infection include vision loss hearing or balance problems or postherpetic neuralgia a longstanding pain in the area of the outbreak after the disease has cleared. Pregnant nurses should be immunized against influenza. It can show up at any time but is especially alarming if it strikes during pregnancy. Pregnant nurses are not allowed to care for patients with shingles in any of the areas i work in my hospital.

I am very early in my pregnancy and i was concern i remember one time someone on the unit saying that a pregnant nurse should not go into an isolation room if the patient is in isolation for shingles. And they get put on airborne precautions depending on the risk which is dependant on how many dermatones are effected and what stage of the shingles they are in. Shingles is not life threatening but is very painful and can be treated with early diagnosis. The live attenuated flu vaccine is unsafe for pregnant women.

Though this is unusual since shingles typically appears after your childbearing years it can happen.