Vomit and other icky stuff

[JPKC26]

So, Im going into Nursing school and there is just something I need to know. How do you deal with puke?

Having worked in a Medical Office I can pretty much handle anything below the waste. Cleaned out many flexsig machines.

What I want to know is.. How do you deal with puke? The smell? What is your worse puke story? How did you react the first time a patient hurled on you? etc.

Just wondering..

Oh, and Is it ok to gross out?

[shygirl]

Vomit does not bother me. We had this 84 year old patient, IDDM . he had gangrene of the foot and lower ankle. He was getting wet to dry dressing changes at first. Then his brilliant doctor decides to get panafil. The smell of the warm, moist gangrene smell is still in my nose even after 5 months YUK!!!

[night owl]

2ndCareerRN,

That vomit smiley(?) is too d@mn funny!

Puke is the worst for me in nursing, and I'll NEVER over come it no matter what! It's the Re-e-e-etching that gets me...Those noises set my stomach a reelin!!!!

[Jenny P]

My personal feelings are that ALL body fluids should be contained in tubes-- either going in or coming out; they should be contained!

I have never been able to tolerate puke or retching; I warn all of my pts. that if they start retching and puking; I will probably join them, so that at the first hint of nausea they MUST let me know so I can medicate them for it!

And I've been an RN for 33 years and have worked in health care since I was 15! I also had 2 kids, 1 of which had a very queezy stomach when he was little! You'd think I'd be able to deal with it by now.

One hint so you don't get hit by flying puke: if a pt. is hurling, stand as close to the wall at the head of the bed as possible. That way when it comes flying out of the pts'. mouth or emesis basin, you aren't in the line of fire. It took me years to learn that and I haven't been hit for a long time. I once saw a pt. do a projectile vomit a distance of 12 feet (upper GI bleed) and she hit a nurse in the hallway walking past the door!

[RN-PA, RN]

A PCT and her orientee were doing p.m. care for one of my patients who was on a tube feeding-- pt. was confused as well as a language barrier -- and I'd held her tube feeding a couple of hours because I kept getting a fair amount of residual. I had called the doc, he asked if she was nauseous or vomiting and she hadn't been nauseous-- as far as I knew. So I got an order for Reglan and before I could administer it, the PCT's were turning her to finish their care when she projectile vomited the residual Jevity all over the PCT orientee. We called it her "baptism by fire" er, vomit.