I fainted today in the ICU!

[aismail3]

Hi:

I'm currently a nursing student working on my 4-year BSN. I'm only in my second year so I'm not that far into the program. My clinicals start in one year, next spring specifically. Well, for one of my basic nursing classes, we had an assignment to observe/shadow a registered nurse for at least two hours. My teacher's sign up sheet was just for nurses working in the ICU. So, I went this morning to our university's hospital and met the nurse. Everything was going well. Then, when she was going over some records with another male nurse, he told me that I can observe the doctor working with a patient in critical condition. Of course, I got excited and went in. The patient was bleeding in her head, she had multiple fractures and bruises on her body, especially her legs. She couldn't open her eyes and her breathing was going down. At first the site didn't bother me at all, I felt compassion for her. Then, the doctor uncovered her body and started showing me her food tubes and other tubes and needles. That's when I took notice of the smell!!! I started feeling a bit dizzy. I stepped out and there was no where close to sit, so I stood and tried to relax. Next thing they tell me, I had fainted and I hit my head pretty hard on the floor. A bunch of nurses surrounded me and I told them I was fine and just need something to drink. Then, a few moments later, I supposedly fainted again!!! That's when the nurses in the ICU forced me go downstairs and the doctor checked me out.

No matter how much they tried to assure me that this is common considering that I had never been in a hospital for like a decade (literally), I was still very embarrassed and disappointed that this happened! I mean, my professor specifically told us not to pass out!!!

Does anyone have any experience with this? Can you relate? I'm just like hoping this doesn't happen again when I start my clinicals. One of the nurses told me that his wife fainted on the first day of her job, but I think he was just trying to make me feel better. :)

[wildboo]

Oh no, you poor thing! On the up sude, when you get a bit of distance, and a few years from now, you have have SUCH a great story to tell to all of the nurses you are training :)

I am not a fainter, but I am a sympathy puker, and that was a big thing that I had to get over. I was a paramedic before I was a nurse. When I was a student and first doing ride-alongs, I had a patient with heat stroke and a core temp of 108. He was projectile vomiting things he ate 2 years prior - and I was holding the emesis bucket. I was so sick I didn't think I would make it past that shift. I was very heartened to be told by the triage nurse, and later an ER doctor, that everyone has "a thing" that makes them gag/throw-up/pass out etc. For most, it's nasty smells (overwhelming ER concensus, GI bleeds) or certain injuried (for me, crush injuries). I had a medic partner who wouldn't go near the patient if they pooped, but if they had thrown-up on themselves, she was fine!

Later as a nurse, I worked in a large city PICU. On one of my first shifts, I had a child with shaken baby syndrome. I was there like, 5 minutes, and got nauseated and light headed and almost passed out. This, after working years as a medic in the field and in an extremely busy trauma center! It does get better, and it does happen to experienced people too! The ICU isn't my bag either

[mcksmom]

if it makes you feel any better, when i was doing my med-surg rotation in school i almost passed out in the or watching a lumpectomy of the breast. it happens to a lot of people, you are not alone. since then i have become and ICU nurse, it can only get better for you! ;o) good luck

[LauraLiz]

I fainted in my anatomy lab last semester while the teacher was pointing out muscles on a cadaver leg. Mentally I was absolutely fine, there was nothing about the cadaver that bothered me! I can only assume the smell of the chemicals got into my head and that's what caused it. It was very embaressing and the first time (hopefully only....) that I have passed out. I was standing, leaning against a table, so when I passed out I just fell back onto the table...but when I "woke up" I was sitting in a chair a few feet away...how did they get me into the chair...I don't want to know, but I am embaressed thinking about it! I hope it's not a sign of things to come, that's for sure!

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Thanks everyone! I feel better now! My professor called me to make sure I was alright and she was actually laughing on the phone!!! She said not to worry about it, it happens.

This right here is all that matters. They dont look down on it because it happens. It is said as a joke to everyone I think in every program. I had my ex girlfriend pass out after being in a postpartum womans room just talking to her. Another time when I was doing an internship in cardiac care, someone almost passed out INTO an open chest until the nurse pushed the person backwards. Its something that happens. Take it in stride have a laugh about it and I think you will be fine.

[TheLabeledBones]

Hi Ail--

Try not to feel too bad about it...

Umpteen years ago when I was a phlebotomist I was terrified at the idea of sticking a needle into someone...terrified that I was going to hurt them. I used to get nauseous everytime I had to give someone a stick. Then finally, as I did it more and more I got used to it. I could be sticking the sickest patient making the worst noises (b/c of the pain of their disease process) and making the worst smell and I would just get in there, get the blood and get out.

So I thought I was over it, right? Thought I'd mastered the weak stomach....

In Fall 2008 I was taking my med/surg clinical and some of our class was asked to assist the wound care nurse with a dressing change and wound debridement. Oy. WOUNDS...need I say more? My pride kept me in the room until I started to see the black spots and stars. Then I excused myself to the hallway to get myself together.

I told my clinical instructor and she encouraged me, saying "Don't worry. You got used to it once, you'll get used to it again." So I'm keeping faith in that.

Now I'm a nursing school grad studying for the NCLEX and wanting to work in the ER--if you believe that! But I have faith that I'll be able to get past it. I've always told myself, with nursing school, passing the NCLEX, getting the ER nursing job....if all those other people can do it, then so can I.

And so can you!

[sassy_pants]

Don't worry about it at all! I almost passed out the other day during a C-section and I have one more semester of school left :) I think it was a combination of the burning smell and the visual of the tugging that did me in. I watched another one and I did fine. I also felt faint during my first IV and I had to go outside. Now I do them all the time without even thinking about it. I think the more you're exposed to something the less it bothers you. If you feel like you're gonna pass out again though, put your back against the wall so you can slide down rather than just falling and conking your head. Good luck!

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I nearly fainted during OR rotation, not so much because of feeling nauseated but because of the mask. I was 8 months pregnant and found it hard to tolerate. I started becoming short of breath and I left the operating room and just sat out in the hall... A surgeon who was passing by asked me how I was feeling and offered to get me a stretcher but I told him I was fine.

[traveler RN]

Poor baby, dont feel bad, we all have had our moments. Like the first time I drew blood and felt the warm tube, I had to sit down quick before I dropped. I remember puking my guts out the first time I had to empty a foul smelling emesis basin. One day, you'll look back and laugh, so keep your head up and carry "smelling salts".:)

[JGarner37]

I did faint in my pedi ICU rotation. It had been like 8 hours since I had anything to eat and was drawing blood hourly from the pt's A-line for serial ABG's. I had drawn the blood several other times that day, so it wasn't the blood. I drew the blood, handed the syringe to the RT waiting at the bedside, started flushing the line and then passed out. Luckily I didn't take the line with me. I was mortified! The pt's mom, two nurses, the RT, a flight nurse and the physician were all at the bedside. The nurses then paged my nursing instructor and she quickly came up there. I was even more mortified when she later casually mentioned it to my classmates! Luckily it hasn't happened since. Just because you passed out doesn't mean you wont make a great nurse!

[worldtraveler]

First, Glad you are OK. As far as those Floor Nurses saying "Its a common thing" I vigorously disagree. In all my School clinicals and 20+ years as Nurse, I never saw a fellow Nurse pass out at the sight of what you describe. I would say its a Very Uncommon thing.

[merrywhiterose]

It's more common than you think. Not everyone will admit it, though. I almost fainted watching a bone marrow biopsy. I had to leave the room. I wondered why the seasoned RN's had their heads turned away from the procedure! Later, they said they can't stand to watch it, either! Don't let it get to you!

[Grumpy's Girl]

As you can see you are not alone. We all have a war story. LOL. I had a few close calls. There is the fear of leaving your assignment and being accused of golbricking. But sometimes you have too. In nursing school Benzoin always did me in. The stress of holding a screaming 18 mo old, in isolation garb, for a spinal tap by a resident was more than I could handle. (now that would be done with sedation) Tried to be tough, but the room was going black. Switched out and left the room just in time. I was sat down on the floor before I hit it. I was really embarrassed. Though the instructor was supportive, way back then a nurse was supposed to be tough, and heavens never cry with a pt or family. Now we are a bunch of mother hens. I work in ICU and and freq am the one who gets the CNA and RN students. I have had several hit the deck during difficult situations. Oops. I guess that was a little too much experience for one day. The last time I got faint in nursing school was the day the instructor asked the newly wed nurse (me), could I be pregnant? Of course not, I hadn't been married very long! HA! Surprise! That WAS the reason that time! I was just helping a little old guy shave behind a closed curtain. So follow the helpful hints, they do help. You may be the one helping a fellow student/nurse slide gently to the floor.