How do you handle the smells?

Nurses General Nursing

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If you can get over the visuals, how do you manage the smells? To me smells are what usually trigger me to gag so what's the best way to overcome that and remain professional?

I heard someone mention vapor rub or alcohol swabs but I'm not sure how healthy it is breathing that in all the time?

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
OMG I am rolling!!!!You are hilarious!

I just grab a bottle of the odor neutralizer and say "would you like some air freshener?"

Honestly, nobody hangs out in the bathroom after you drop a deuce. You turn the fan on, shut the door and leave the room. Those poor patients are stuck in there smelling that and knowing that everyone who walks in the room is aware they just had a BM.

YOU are the hilarious one! I can't catch my breath! For some reason (perhaps it was because I was raised with only brothers), I never outgrew toilet humor. "Nobody hangs out in the bathroom after you drop a deuce" was off the charts funny to me!

I used to get paranoid about smells too. I took care of a pt with cervical ca, and the smell was CLINGY. I thought that it got in my hair and then I was expecting people to ask me if I had rotten tuna for lunch or something. The doc that was taking care of her had the same issue-she would actually shower before she went home because she thought the smell had gotten into her hair.

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Specializes in OR; Telemetry; PACU.

Breathe through your mouth. The only thing I've ever been able to do. There's no desensitizing some odors anyway. I tried to do that once cleaning up diarrhea and almost lost my cookies. :eek:

When I worked on the floor, I would just grab the spray and use it...no questions asked. And the GOOD blue stuff, not that Febreze they try to use these days! Not much will touch a GI Bleed BM...hit it with the blue bullet right off the bat.

I always worry about "clingy" odors too, especially in the OR. I might catch a whiff of something and I'm turning in circles trying to figure it out...argh!

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I always worry about "clingy" odors too, especially in the OR. I might catch a whiff of something and I'm turning in circles trying to figure it out...argh!

LMAO at picturing you turning in circles smelling yourself... :lol2:

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Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU, s/p Open Heart surgery.

i order a bottle of peppermint spirits from pharmacy to put in the room. i take a piece of 2x2 gauze, unwrap it and dunk it in the bottle, leaving the gauze to act as a fragrance diffuser. works like a charm.

we also set out a bag of coffee on the window sill. we usually pour the coffee on a filter and let it sit.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I am a huge fan of vicks vapo-rub,spirits of pepperment and a mask!!!!!!!! and When all else fails I carry my own odor eliminator! Even after 32 years as a nurse....smells have NEVER been my forte!07584751031_220x220_a.jpgI found this pint sized air purifyer called ozium and it works like a charm.....it doesn't cover them with an even sicker floral sent it really just wipes it out. My daughter is another smell sensitive person and carries her own......I swear it works! I do not own any stock or have any connection to this company although I should for all the medical/fire personel I've turned onto this product. I have found it various stores like CVS walgreens pepboys ect......hope this helps!

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i usually breathe through my nose, but a couple of times the smell is SOOOOO bad, you can almost taste it! i know i know! GROOOOOSS!! and you can even sense a sensation like a warmer temperature! LOL! its horrible!! but i just try thinking, "suck it up!!! dont let the patient notice!" I see this as a small challenge to overcome!!!

but yeah, holding your breath is best so far, since we're not allowed to use perfume i usually put antibacterial gel on my hands, and try and smell that by discretely rubbing my nose! hahaa it really works!!

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Specializes in ICU.

I'll never forget nursing school. I almost quit due to the smells, I couldn't stop gagging! I have an extremely strong sense of smell. I fought through and now am pretty immune to them. I can handle the poop now. But the pee......I ahd this homeless woman once in the ICU who probably didn't shower prior to coming in and was using the bedpan by herself, she wouldn't call. She would also spill it all over the bed. I gagged and gagged. I gave her a full bedbath for like an hour, and I put a mask in and spryed the inside with perfume.

Also some perfume or lotion on your upper lip helps too.

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YOU are the hilarious one! I can't catch my breath! For some reason (perhaps it was because I was raised with only brothers), I never outgrew toilet humor. "Nobody hangs out in the bathroom after you drop a deuce" was off the charts funny to me!

I used to get paranoid about smells too. I took care of a pt with cervical ca, and the smell was CLINGY. I thought that it got in my hair and then I was expecting people to ask me if I had rotten tuna for lunch or something. The doc that was taking care of her had the same issue-she would actually shower before she went home because she thought the smell had gotten into her hair.

You are so right re Cervical Ca. It has it's own distinct lingering odor. We used to put peppermint oil on a 4x4 gauze and tape it above the bed. It helped tremendously. The patients liked it also b/c it was constant vs a short little burst of spray .

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Specializes in Acute Rehab, IMCU, ED, med-surg.

Shaving cream is awesome...great for cleaning BM off skin or out of an ostomy bag...deodorizes as a bonus. Mentholatum just inside the nostrils is good too...not quite as powerful as Vicks, but definitely does the job.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

For once I am highly grateful I have anosmia.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

OK y'all-I just have to share this. I was talking to my supervisor one day in the hallway that was right across from the OR that we typically use for general surgery cases. I have an acute sense of smell. I can tell what someone had for dinner the night before. It is a curse at times. Anyhoo, we were only talking for a few minutes, and all the sudden, I smell a horrible stench. I immediately interrupted our conversation, exclaiming, "OMG, they must be doing a bowel resection in OR X. JEEZ! That is some STANK bowel!" My supervisor oddly becomes very fidgety and can't focus. I asked him if he smelled it too. He said, "Umm...no. I am really hoping that you aren't mistaking my breath for dead bowel." I just laughed, admiring his witty self-deprecating sense of humor. I continued with our conversation while fanning the air in front of my nose and making comments about how sorry I felt for the staff in the dead bowel case.

Wouldn't you know it...IT WAS HIS BREATH!!!! I figured it out later when he was talking to me later in the day and I smelled the same thing. He told me that his wife kids around with him about his awful breath.

So that was an embarrassing moment for me. I thought I would share some humor with y'all since we are talking about stink. Off topic, yes. Thank you OP for letting me hijack for a minute...

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
I'll never forget nursing school. I almost quit due to the smells, I couldn't stop gagging! I have an extremely strong sense of smell. I fought through and now am pretty immune to them. I can handle the poop now. But the pee......I ahd this homeless woman once in the ICU who probably didn't shower prior to coming in and was using the bedpan by herself, she wouldn't call. She would also spill it all over the bed. I gagged and gagged. I gave her a full bedbath for like an hour, and I put a mask in and spryed the inside with perfume.

Also some perfume or lotion on your upper lip helps too.

Oh girl, I know what you mean! I have had countless little old ladies that didn't exactly shower. Ever. The stench became more than obnoxious when I had to position these poor ladies for a Gamma Nail on a fracture bed. I will never forget the surgeon who was almost overwhelmed with the stench from old urine, feces and other odors, and right then and there in the OR made every female in the room PROMISE him that they would never EVER forget basic hygiene when we grew into little old ladies. It was just so funny to see him turn green and then announce this mandate to all of us girls! He later apologized to us, because he was so fearful that we would take offense to his comment. But I will tell you that the ENTIRE hallway was filled with stench. I vowed to keep my promise to him as long as he included me in his trust fund when I got too old to take care of myself. :)

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