Almost passed out during clinicals!!

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I'm a second year nursing student, and am currently in my med surg rotation at clinicals. The hospital I'm in now is much more exciting and learning oriented than the previous hospital I had been in. That being said, I'm seeing a lot more than I ever have. Yesterday, I was watching a nurse remove a catheter from a patient's jugular vein in the cardiac step-down unit. I was ok at first, but as she was putting pressure on the neck I started to feel dizzy. I tried to think about other things and looked away from the patient, but that didn't help. I began to fall over and almost blacked out. Luckily my friend was standing next to me and got me in a chair before that happened. I had one of those ensure nutrition drinks and a few scoops of cereal pre-clinical, and only had 3 hours of sleep, but I think the actual removal was what made me faint. Afterwards, one of the nurses was smirking at me and said something like "idk, that's like a sailor being afraid of water." This obviously didnt help my confidence at all as I was already second guessing myself. Has anyone else ever experienced something like this?? Is there hope to get over it? I'm just scared it will keep happening..

Certain smells get to me. Especially sour smells. When I was a tech we did dressing changes. I was precepting a new tech and I had just taken off a g-tube dressing on a new patient. I pressed the call button right before I took the dressing off to have the nurse come in and take a look before I cleaned the room. The smell was unbearable! I stumble back and stood there. The nurse comes in the room and saw me get extremely pale and I had a blank look on my face. She runs over to me and asks if I was ok and boom I go down. She and the new pct help me to the chair. And I would not wake up! Called a rapid response and I woke up in the ER with a bunch of things hooked up to me.

I have several near fainting episodes. Again usually if it is something I smell.

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It goes without saying that the 3h sleep didn't help.

I still pull a night like that but I definitely notice the difference in my ability to handle the day.

When I was in clinicals, my instructor nearly sent me home when I told him I came in on that little sleep. I didn't think how serious that was until he reacted that way.

Specializes in pediatrics, orthopedics.

Twinmom, that sounds like the holy grail of grossness!

Specializes in Cath lab, acute, community.

I am most definitely NOT a fainter, and I have a story where I almost did too!! If I am doing a procedure I am fine, but it seems watching a procedure can make me faint, well it did twice!

First venesection I saw as I was learning how to do it, I felt nausea come across me and then sweaty then my mind started to go, luckily I was sitting on a chair already.

Second time I was watching a surgery (breaking strands inside the uterus from chlamydia in Vanuatu or something similar and strange) and the sounds and skin parting as he was making an incision across her abdomen... I felt it all again and my first thought was "omg I'm going to be SICK inside a STERILE ROOM into a MASK" and I was out of there, and sat on some stairs until I felt better!

I think focusing on the technique instead of focusing on what is making you feel ill is the key. Although the smell of a cholestomy bag will always get me...

I almost passed out twice while I was in nursing school. The first time was while I was observing at an oncology clinic. I was watching a bone marrow aspiration and I started to feel hot. When I started getting tunnel vision I had to ask for a chair because I knew if I didn't sit down I was going to end up on the floor. Then during my L&D clinicals the same thing happened again while I was watching a baby get circumcised. It can be hard to predict what's going to hit you that way. During the same L&D clinicals I observed a c section and I worried that I would get faint watching that too but ended up having no problem with the c section.

That nurse who was giving you a hard time is just a jerk. I bet that there's something in nursing that would bother him too. That's rotten that he kicked you while you were down instead of reassuring you. Good for you for asking him to let you watch the same procedure again. He was trying to upset you and you showed him that you're stronger than that :-)

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I've been an OB nurse for 7 years, and this thread reminded me of when I was doing my preceptorship as a student, and one of the OBs had me deliver the placenta. I nearly passed out, and my preceptor saw my lack of color and led me over to a chair and had me put my head between my knees. My husband, also a nurse, recalled something similar that happened to him while in school (he was in the OR watching a cesarean delivery).

When you're not used to seeing stuff like that, the vagal response does weird things. Don't worry, it hasn't happened to me since, and now it's just part of the job. You'll be fine.

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I get dizzy and want to vomit when I see mucus. I could never do resp. Was suctioning this man the other day.... Almost lost my cookies.

"No day but today"

Specializes in ED.

Before nursing school, I was a pre-vet student that went the animal health technologist route. During my first hematology lab, we had to do blood smears. Blood always made me feel a little iffy, but that day, when I got out my tube of blood and started to make my smear...I almost passed out. I got cold, clammy, felt like I was going to throw-up. I had to leave the room, get a cold drink of water, and lean against the wall. Now? I am the queen of gory IVs. I always leave a towel down when I start an IV because I have not yet mastered the art of starting an IV without making a mess. Doesn't bother me at all. Well, it bothers me in that I don't want my pts to think I'm incompetent because I get blood all over the place, but I usually get my IVs on the first stick, and that matters more to me than being neat and tidy for now. Long story short, I got over my issues with blood pretty quickly, because I had to, there was no choice in the matter as far as I was concerned. You'll get over this :)

Specializes in CICU.

EAT SOMETHING before clinicals. Seriously, an empty stomach will get you everytime.

I pretty much have a cast-iron stomach, but if I know I have to do something really gross or really distressing I go in the break room for a few first and have a quick snack.

Specializes in ICU.

I wouldnt worry about it too much, im sure most nurses have had one episode of this in their life. I did in nursing school too, was watching them snip an older mans foreskin. Felt nauseous, faint, and nearly fainted when one of the nurses knew right away I was white a a sheet and intervened before I could be stubborn and say I was fine lol. Thats the only time it ever happened and I see all sorts of nasty stuff in my job now.

alot of what you said probably contributed, lack of sleep, probably didnt eat a whole lot, and combine that with standing still.

Lol wow all of your stories are great and made me feel 100% better. I'm sure I'll have a few more dizzy episodes because I don't have the strongest tolerance to blood, but after reading the rest of this thread I'm confident I'll get over it. You are all so inspirational, and I really can't thank you enough for sharing your experiences with me. My next clinical is Wednesday--I was nervous to go again before, but now I see it as an exciting challenge! (Ps. The amniotic fluid story takes the cake lol lol I was laughing out loud)

I'm a new nurse and I still make sure a chair is close by if I'm going to have to observe anything involving long needles and digging - like femoral nerve blocks or picc placement - I get hot and vision starts getting dark. The most surprising 'dizzy' spell happened when I watched my preceptor rip an IV dressing off an older patient, giving her a nasty skin tear...I started thinking, "wow, its really warm in here, eh? Whoa, did someone turn down the lights?" Only then did my dense self realize I was about the meet the floor and I mumbled something about grabbing extra gauze and left the room, sat down, head between knees for a minute and then I was fine. Havent had anything like that happen in a while, but it does happen all the time.

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