I'm a very healthy guy who is considering a career change into nursing. The aspect of working with people, dealing with stress, and physical labor aren't too much of a concern for me. However, I do suffer from anosmia, which is a lack of the scent of smell. I figure I was born this way, as I've been that way throughout my life. The doctors I've visited said that it's abnormal that I have this condition but seem to have a very acute sense of taste, and they could find no medical reason for this and figure I must have a damaged olfactory nerve.
My question is this--how limiting is this condition in the field of nursing? Of all the sense, I often feel lucky that this is the one I'm missing, but it does impact some avenues of my life. It doesn't officially have disability status (I suppose because it's difficult to prove that someone actually has this and someone may lie about it), but I could see where it might have an impact. I honestly can see where it may have some benefits in this field.
I just want some good advice--those of you who are reading this--if you suddenly lost your sense of smell, could you do your job? I'm still trying to decide on a specialty, any particular ones to avoid?
Thanks
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. Me, I have a very STRONG sense of smell. I swear I was a police dog in my previous life because I can smeel things other people can't. I will definately have to do the vicks under the nose trick!
When I was in college I went to an ENT doctor at a good hospital, because I wanted to give it one big try to see once and for all what may have been wrong and if anything could be done. He took X-rays and said he couldn't see any reason for it. He then gave me a scratch-n-sniff "test" with 50 different samples where I was supposed to say what they were, and he then left me in the room for almost an hour before returning to find me napping because I was so bored. I hadn't filled any of it out, and he asked why. I said I didn't because it was multiple-choice, 4 choices each, and if I got any right at all it would have been pure chance and 25% would have been misleadingly high. He asked me a bunch of questions about taste, and I know he didn't believe me. Oh well.
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