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Surely everyone has at least one thing that they can't handle. Maybe you can do blood and guts and poo, but the smell of pee gets you? What is the one thing that messes you up? Did you know going in to school that it was going to be your weakness, or were you surprised when you ran out of the room the first time?
Mine is ortho. I can take all the nursing smells and sights, but I will hit the floor if I hear bones crunching or grinding. I can see them, no problem. But the chiseling/grinding sounds of ortho surgeries...shudder! Even fake TV sounds get me.
Vomit I can't do vomit. To hear the act of vomiting ....to smell the vomit. It doesn't matter if it is pediatric vomit, drunk vomit or geriatric vomit. I will be right their with you puking. I once traded disimpacting a patients for cleaning up puke. I can do everything aspect of nursing but that
I can handle the sights and smells of pretty much anything.... BUT the sound of someone gagging and hacking while they are trying to or actively throwing up makes me want to hurl! My stomach will ache, my mouth waters and I either have to walk away or run because I will be right next to them throwing up if I stay there!
For ME, it's mucus. Not your normal sputum, but the thick, chunky stuff. The stuff that clogs up suction tubes and you have to pull them out and pull it off so you can suction again.
That and oral issues. Nothing like checking mucous membranes and the 7 teeth they have left are rotting out of their skull.
I can handle pretty much anything I think....except for colostomy bags.
I've also recently gotten to watch circumcisions as a nurse tech in the NICU, and although I can handle it...it bothers me.
Surely everyone has at least one thing that they can't handle.Maybe you can do blood and guts and poo, but the smell of pee gets you? What is the one thing that messes you up? Did you know going in to school that it was going to be your weakness, or were you surprised when you ran out of the room the first time?
Mine is ortho. I can take all the nursing smells and sights, but I will hit the floor if I hear bones crunching or grinding. I can see them, no problem. But the chiseling/grinding sounds of ortho surgeries...shudder! Even fake TV sounds get me.
I really don't like mucus. Like from trachs. I had a friend while I was in high school who had a bad wreck and I stayed overnight at the hospital frequently until his trach threw some bloody nasty mucus at me that landed on my face. Oh man was I sick. I don't really want any fluids on me. I hate when people seem to fear deodorant. And I have been tempted to bring bars of soap to hand out to family members.
Wow, I would have had to try so hard not to scream!
I can't do muscus, vomiting, snot....makes me want to puke.
One of the nastiess things is a persons mouth after they have had an NG tube in for days. They are going to be NPO so their mouth and saliva dries up into chunks....
FarmerFNP
28 Posts
Anything that goes into a suction canister. I gag a bit every time I have to get too close to one, no matter what's in it.