All of us have encountered the smells that come with nursing. What I would like to propose with this topic is to gather as many personal opinions of associated smells to diagnosis.
The purpose, to see if enough similarity exists in opinion. If so, that it may lead nurses (and of course myself) to quicken time to treatment.
Here's a few of mine:
DKA: acetone breath (well known, i know; use the nail polish remover packet if you need a reminder)
C.diff: I can smell something similar to cooked ground beef mixed with stool (one strain anyway, there is another that seems to get by me in early stage infection)
Upper GI Bleed, when vomited: beef burgundy soup (this was on one pt experience, NPO several days, with coffee ground appearance)
Bladder infection: if Foley in place, differs from "typical" medicine scented urine