[Miss Kitty00]

Here I go with another question.
We had a lecture over phlebotomy the other day and it was like three people who said that the thought of drawing blood made them sick to their stomach. One girl even said that she was scared of needles. Now, I'm a caring and respectful person. I always try to see and understand things from another person's perspective, but seriously , a "nurse" that is scared of needles???? Now, I 'm in a LPN program that will finish in July. So were learning alot of skills pretty quick. I know that in nursing there will be things that scare you or skills that you will never be totally comfortable with. However, I just find it hard to believe that a person wants to be a nurse and the thought of drawing blood makes them sick. I apoligize if I offended anyone.
What do you think about this?

[Nurse`Chief~Chickie]

Everybody has a thing they love and a thing they loathe. I learned phlebotomy before nursing school, and I admit that I am a nurse afraid of needles. it took me two days to even practice sticking. It's a mindset thing. And yes I've made fun of the nursey girls who eeeww at bm or emesis. It's like, grooooowwww up. BUT That's no big deal to some people. You just have to not think about it all encompassing like that. It's kind of like why there are so many specialties out there. I'm all about the IV, blood (now) and GI system, not so much sputum. Like cat or dog people, ya know? Btw, you'll love it when you feel that very first warm rush of blood into the tube. I get tingles.
Good luck in your endeavors

[NickiLaughs]

Yeah, we had a girl in our class that was ridiculously scared of needles. We all called her on it. She wouldn't even attempt to give a shot, she freaked out holding the syringe. In any case she ended up getting dropped because she was incompetent in many other ways.
I have learned that every nurse has a thing. One day in clinicals we had a teacher who actually started puking after she'd seen a BM. I guess even after 20 years of nursing, BM's could still make her sick. My thing is sputum, like cleaning a trach. But I still stick it out and vomit after I'm done.
That's my two cents.

[SillyLilly]

It doesnt make me sick, and i like to watch when i get stuck.

But I had a pt who pulled out his IV and had blood everrywhereee. I realized that I dont like the SMELL of blood. At least it isnt that strong.

[BabyRN2Be]

My mom wanted to be a nurse all of her life, her only problem: she would get sick around blood. She remembered being in HS dissecting for biology and nearly getting sick. She thought to herself, how can I be a nurse and not get sick around blood?

Eventually she did get over it, and she went on to be a nurse for more than 25 years.

[labvampire]

Mucous makes me vomit. I don't mind urine, vomit, feces, just mucous. Blood, dismembered body parts, no prob. Go figure!