help! i got sick watching a shot!

Furball · Dec 6, 2002

Don't worry...you'll get used to it. If you don't you'll come up with creative ways to adapt. The smell of puke was my downfall. I used to smear vicks under my nose. Worked great!

PS I almost fainted watching a lady partsl birth during a clinical. Don't be embarrassed!

ageless · Dec 6, 2002

eventually, you will become desensitized......

l.rae · Dec 6, 2002

l have been a nurse 22 yrs....and l STILL get queesy if l am just an observer, or worse yet, when l am the pt...don't worry...LR

2banurse · Dec 6, 2002

I biggest fear is vomitting when a patient is vomitting...do you become a little more desentized with that?

CJStudent · Dec 6, 2002

Oh, I do this a lot. I even passed out when they were taking blood pressure on me one time.

It is just your body's reaction to stress. You were probably all worked up about what was happening and the pain he was in.

As far as nursing, I have learned to deal with it. First, make sure you eat something before class or clinicals. I have found that a sugar boost helps me out with this. Also, when I feel it coming on (the hot feeling) I have to either think about something else immediately or even look away for a second if I can. It's almost like a "self talk." Like, I am "not going to let this bother me."

Yes, you will become desensitized. But I think that everyone has a little something that bothers them (mine is blood flowing in tubes, or blood coming out of me!)

Also, you can try carrying a small jar of Vicks with you. Rub a little under your nose if you think a smell may get you (this helps when changing diapers or colostomies.)

Also, an instructor once told me with the shot/injection thing to practice, practice, practice. Meaning, when you are learning to do injections, stab away at that rubber arm they give you. You can also try with a piece of fruit like an orange. Just keep stabbing.

Therefore, I feel you are perfectly normal. Hang in there and don't "sweat the small stuff."

sanakruz, ADN · Dec 6, 2002

It's much harder to watch a loved one in pain or injured than it is a stranger!

Never go on duty with an empty stomach or you WILL lose it.

These are a few tips I've learned over the years.

A lidocaine injection is nasty- it's often given intradermally, at a weird angle and with repeated injections from the same syringe, like the dentist with novocaine (see the 'caines... in the old days people with epistaxsis received cocaine packs in the nose... many abusesers developed nose bleeds...)

Its a good thing to be sensitive to the suffering of others

ucavalpn · Dec 7, 2002

It's much harder to watch a loved one in pain or injured than it is a stranger!

I don't usually have a problem with things bothering me . But when I took my daughter to have pins/staples removed after she had surg. on her feet , I passed out . I have never passed out before. It really didn't look that bad . I don't know what happened to me that day.

Oh , I almost forgot , I still gag when I have to suction someone , but not as bad as I used to.

sbic56, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2002

ams02

Don't sweat it. You'll be fine. I passed out when I was watching my first lady partsl delivery. Talk about feeling like a dumbass. I still have to look away when I see gross stuff like facial surgery on TV. Funny, though, I am fine as long as I'm directly involved.

2ndCareerRN · Dec 7, 2002

I biggest fear is vomitting when a patient is vomitting

Actually, that is a great time to grab a quick bite to eat. As long as they are vomiting they won't be asking you for anything.

Gotta love the ER!

bob

Wuiteroz · Jan 8, 2003

You know I had exactly the same problem.

I want to be a nurse very much, but a couple of weeks ago i was giving a blood test and got sick watching my blood coming out of the vein. Really sick, I couldn't watch.

The doctor even asked me if I was okay.

This was the first time it happened to me, but after that I was watching a movie and there was a very violent scene where a woman sticks a needle into another woman's arm with the intensity as if she wanted to stub her with it.

I right away felt like it happened to my own arm, where the doctor took the blood.

I was wondering how possibly can I be a nurse if I get sick from a stupid blood test or some scene in a movie, when one of the nurses in this forum even wrote "sometimes nurses have to do the kind of things that you won't see in Fear Facto on television.."

But with the things that you wrote here guys, I actually think I can do this now.

Thank you so much :)

THe kind of people that I will work with are one of the reasons why I want to be a nurse. Thanks :)

mark_LD_RN · Jan 8, 2003

don't worry you will get over it. things like suctioning trachs used to get me, now i can eat with one hand while suctioning a pt with the other:)