I’ve been very anxious and I may just be overthinking. But I am a nurse that works in ind living/ LTC and the other day I was in a residents room and I accidentally touched an item that had fresh blood on it. I was not wearing gloves so the blood did get on my hands. I washed immediately. I’m just wondering if this is a risk for exposure for HIV/Hep? I don’t know the residents status. I’m just overthinking a lot right now and if I should have reported this to work.  Thank you. 

I would have thought your routine nurse training would have provided education about infection control and the risks involved with patient care in general -- and the low risk of infection from the sorts of contact you describe here. Nobody in the world has ever been known to acquire HIV or viral hepatitis from events like this. The absence of such risk is one reason that health care providers -- like physicians (including residents), nurses, etc -- are not required to be tested for HIV and hepatitis B or C as a condition for employment or to provide patients care. And while gloving of course is advised to prevent direct contact with patients' blood or body fluids, the occasional slip-up, with blood on intact skin, carries little if any risk. In addition, washing immediately after such contact would have eliminated any theoretical risk. On top of all this, I would assume you have been vaccinated against hepatitis B, which is the most likely potential risk -- and vaccination is 100% protective.

I have difficulty understanding what sort of item in a "resident's room" might be contaminated with visible blood. Presumably you mean a work station in a clinic or hospital and not the resident's personal living/sleeping quarters, right? What sort of instrument? If indeed there was a possible work related exposure, you probably should have reported it through the standard channels that probably exist at your workplace. On the other hand, the risk probably was so low that it doesn't matter very much.

From all I know so far, I see no risk at all and would not advise you be tested. But if this occurred in your work environment and you remain in doubt, I would advise you to proceed with reporting the event according to the available procedures.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD