Should I be THIS freaked out over vomit????

Nurses New Nurse

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OK, so I'm not even in Nursing school yet, I'm still working on my pre-requisites... BUT I am excited to start and have really been reading a lot of these forums and researching different fields of Nursing.. BUT the other night I had to take my husband to the ER and we heard another patient down the hall just heaving and puking SO loudly, almost like he was dying. I had to cover my ears and I got nauseous and my heart started racing. Then the WHOLE rest of the day and night I am obsessing over it, and I keep hearing the sounds over and over like it is haunting me, which makes me feel like Im going to throw up. I mean, is this rediculous or what? What is going to happen when I go to clinicals and have to take care of someone like that? I am afraid I will run out of the room covering my ears. Please tell me I will get better. (Im even a mom, and I'm still like this)

P.S. I know you experienced nurses are probably laughing at me right now, but seriously this is my only fear!!! haha

Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

I used to be seriously vomit-challenged. Didn't like seeing/ hearing/ smelling it in others but was morbidly afraid of vomiting myself. Now, it's still unpleasant to me when someone vomits but I've become almost totally desensitized (in the workplace, at least- my stomach rolls when it's a friend or family member!). And at least in Med-Surg you don't see it all that often- I'd say I see it every few weeks or so.

(p.s.- and I get totally queased out when someone posts one of those little barfing smilies!!)

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janfrn's response seems cruel, not to mention unprofessional - INSTRUCTING nauseated patients not to vomit since you don't "do" vomit, and then suctioning their mouth while they ARE vomiting?

Sometimes vomiting is the only thing that cures nausea, and to instruct miserable-feeling patients not to vomit....! And then subjecting them to mouth suctioning when they do just for your own convenience! Unbelievable!

i dont think she is serious shes pro trying to lighten the mood with the patient. if they laugh maybe they wont puke. I dont get the suction thing though.

I havent had to deal with puke yet but im not looking forward to it.:uhoh3:

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....has ANYONE ever seen a patient successfuly vomit into a traditional emesis basin???) ...

I have successfully landed in it but it did not stay. lol.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
i dont think she is serious shes pro trying to lighten the mood with the patient. if they laugh maybe they wont puke. I dont get the suction thing though.

The kids I tell that I "don't do puke" are the adolescents who are old enough to understand that I'm teasing them. It sometimes distracts them enough that they end up not hurling. At the very least it buys me enough time to get a basin or a towel to catch it in.

I do not suction the patient's mouth while they're vomiting... all that's liable to get me is more puke, or even worse, an aspiration event. I hold the suction tubing (no catheter or tonsil suction attached usually) near the downhill side of their mouth so that instead of getting it all over their neck, hair, central line, bed or whatever, it gets caught and goes into the canister. Once they're feeling better, we wash their face and hands, clean up whatever esle got hit and move on. Ondansetron is my friend with any nauseated patient.

And in case anyone cares, I have never had any complaints from patients or parents about the banter I use with the kids or with the parents either, for that matter. Quite the contrary; I have parents asking my manager to assign me to care for their child again.

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Ah! I didn't know you were joking. I usually have a sense of humor; but hearing about all the nursing workplace woes I guess has dampened it lately.

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i kinda guessed that janfrn was kidding. the only thing that confused me was the suction thing. I took it to mean (till it was explained) that she suctioned and looped it back into the mouth again. that seemed wierd to me though so i am glad it was explained.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Ah! I didn't know you were joking. I usually have a sense of humor; but hearing about all the nursing workplace woes I guess has dampened it lately.

I hear that! If I couldn't laugh about some of the wretched situations I find myself in, I'd cry. And cry. Maybe until I puked!:lol2:

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I posted a thread almost identical to this! I'm not even in nursing school yet but I know vomit is going to be the hardest part for me. So I posted that thread asking for help and I received several good replies!

One person suggested that I figure out exactly what it is about vomit that bothers me. He suggested smell, sight and sound. For me, it is completely the sound! If someone near me even starts coughing heavily it grosses me out.

He suggested that if the smell grosses me out the I breathe through my mouth. If its the sight to cover it quickly. If its the sound to medicate the person quickly.

Perhaps the best reply was when someone told me to remember that I could freak out, or try and help the person who is feeling so terrible. I realize that they are right. As much as I despise vomit, I would rather deal with it then have a patient in pain or seriously not feeling well. No one likes to get sick so its better to help them. And only nurses have the ability to help them by medicating.

Good luck!

P.S. Even though I think I'll get over vomit, I don't want to work on the Oncology floor.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.
Not laughing here. I have been a nurse forever and I still can't handle vomit. (I get nauseous just typing that word.....) I just offer to do something else for another nurse if she will help my pt. that is barfing. Everyone I work with knows I can't do vomit and we all work together. There is still some good natured laughing at me but I can take it.

Everyone has their "something I just can't stand" in nursing. You learn to work with it.

Good luck in school.

Theresa RNC

:yeahthat:

Everyone has something they can't stand. Vomit is my thing...I tend to end up hearing someone say they are going to vomit...pass them the emesis basis & leave the room, lol.

Meanwhile, I can talk about the most giant code brown, staple removal or whatever in the middle of lunch.

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Specializes in Neuro.

My first week of working an a RN I was participating in an internship and my preceptor and I had this fellow who was postop. She and I were both in the room when he started to vomit. I don't even know what happened next, but somehow I ended up WAY in the far corner of the room, by the window, a good 10 feet from my patient, and my sweet preceptor just looked at me and said

"Uh, this.. is your patient. You might want to get over here." I was super embarrassed!

For me it's a sound thing, and a smell thing. I'm a sympathy puker. I just try not to think about it and focus on the task at hand. And I'm pretty good at avoiding breathing in and smelling things when I have to.

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