The sight of blood makes me pass out.

TrevyRN, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2013

Ooo OOO! The poopy stories remind me of when an ER doc quietly entered a room, unbeknownst to the ER tech who was taking out a foley from some old, unconscious lady. The tech quickly pulled the foley out and slapped the doctor in the face with the end of it - and with force!

pwned

TrevyRN, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2013

We had a lady that insisted she had maggots up her nose and she kept digging up in there trying to find them. Psssyyyyych patient! I was surprised to find psychological worms and maggots disturb me far more than actual ones.

One of our docs said a lady kept pulling her kids' hairs out of their heads and saying there were little white insects on the ends. She showed the hair with the follicle still attached to the doctor, insisting her children had little writhing insects living in their scalps. She was even like "see it moving!?" while holding up the upside down hair to the doc's face. Best mom ever LOL

Staragate, ADN, ASN, RN · Oct 17, 2013

Better not work in dialysis then!!! :cheeky:

OwlieO.O · Oct 17, 2013

Nothing grosses me out, unless it were to get in my mouth or eyes. *shudders*

kaela_v · Oct 17, 2013

mamagui said:

Unless the pt has HIV or HEP, what is wrong with catching a baby with no gloves (given that you do not have time to put them on)? Sure they are covered in vernix, but that is brand new life in your hands. That is sacred.

I am not sure how all nurses practice, but I think everyone is in the habit of NOT getting the bodily fluids of their patients on them. Not only will a newborn have vernix, but also amniotic fluid, blood, bacteria from the birth canal, bacteria from the perineum, possibly pee or poop from mom, and any STDs or infections mom may have.

Yes, brand new life is sacred...that is why I am a L&D nurse! I get to help mom's bring their children earth side every single day and its amazing. Buuuuut I do not want their v-a-g-I-n-a all over my un-gloved hands!

amoLucia · Oct 17, 2013

emptying a colostomy with identifiable UNDIGESTED food contents

Marsha238612 · Oct 18, 2013

\ said:

I have never dealt with ostomy bags or deep suction or the like but I imagine those are incredibly gross! I am an L&D nurse so I see blood, poop, vomit, placentas, vernix, etc every day. I have found that nothing (that I work with) gets me queasy routinely.... HOWEVER, having to catch a baby with NO GLOVES is not fun!! If you walk into your patient's room and she's already pushing that babies head out, YOU CATCH IT (gloves or no gloves)! Sometimes, you just cant wash your hands enough...
Oh lord. I pictured this one and it made me laugh

TheGooch · Oct 18, 2013

AJPV said:

I can't stand it when I'm trying to get stubborn poop to come off of a bedpan by spraying it with the toilet sprayer thing and I end up feeling some of the splash on my arm - or even worse, on my face! My coworker was changing the bag on a rectal tube and the connector popped off a bit more suddenly than he anticipated. It splashed a small amount of poo on the side of his face.

At least it didn't go in or near his mouth.

Oceansunset · Oct 18, 2013

I get the dry heaves from colostomies!

OfficerRNBSN · Oct 18, 2013

Just rub a little on your face. You'll get used to it.

PenguinsFanRN · Oct 18, 2013

As an ICU nurse I see many many really gross things. Sputum gives me the willies. We had this older gentleman who was a code from the floor with respiratory distress, when we went to intubate him the physician couldn't see his vocal cords and asked for some forceps. He proceeded to pull out a chunk of dried sputum equivalent to one of my dogs raw hides. That was one, another one was the amputation of a patients foot at the bedside( not my patient thankfully). But the worst has nothing to do with nursing. At my daughters swim meet the other day, the man sitting in front of me was picking things out of his mustache and eating it. Still makes me gag thinking of it.

nursefrances, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2013

TrevyRN said:

We had a lady that insisted she had maggots up her nose and she kept digging up in there trying to find them. Psssyyyyych patient! I was surprised to find psychological worms and maggots disturb me far more than actual ones.
One of our docs said a lady kept pulling her kids' hairs out of their heads and saying there were little white insects on the ends. She showed the hair with the follicle still attached to the doctor, insisting her children had little writhing insects living in their scalps. She was even like "see it moving!?" while holding up the upside down hair to the doc's face. Best mom ever LOL

You...TrevyRn made me seriously laugh out loud with your previous posts.

This post reminded me of a lady who thought worms were coming out of her eyes and fingers. The dry skin on her fingers were worms and eye drainage from a plugged/infected tear duct were the worms coming out of her eyes. It was interesting the first time I met her and she had a big magnifying glass. She kept saying, "There! Don't you see them?"

I personally would be grossed out driving home from work with the smell of C-diff still in my nose. I imagined little microscopic particles of C-diff....in my nose. Fun.

At work I could handle most body fluids. Bad/plaque breath in my face...Blech!

I work in Ophthalmology with eye surgeons. Most people are grossed out by eyes but I have always found them fascinating.