A little worried I won't be able to take the gore

Emcat87 · Sep 24, 2013

Hello!! I had a similar issue but it was more along the lines of the "patient care" aspect of nursing. Until I went to nursing school, I had never even changed a baby's diaper. I was terrified of how I was going to react when I actually had to wipe someones butt and clean up vomit and diarrhea. I was kind of petrified that I would gag or do something inappropriate and embarass the patient and upset my instructors. Well, my first day of clinicals my instructor assigned me a patient that was post bowel resection with only 6 feet of colon left and no ostomy. The pt didnt have enough bowel to digest food so food came out half way digested which is absolutely horrid. It is wet diarrhea with a terrible smell. I went in that room and began speaking with the patient and got to know her some. When it was time for me to clean her bedside commode, I emptied and cleaned it like it was nothing. Yes, it stunk and was gross, but I realized some things. I tried to imagine how embarassed I would be if I was in her shoes and had her bowel problems. Pooping for me is private and embarassing and I don't like to discuss it. I would die if I had to poop in a plastic commode in my room and then have someone go empty it for me. I came to realize that she is a person just like me and she can't help it. It is true that you do get used to things while in school. I've continued to have that same realization over and over again with patients. When they have necrotic wounds that have a foul odor, or chronic diarrhea,or have to poop in a hat so we can get a stool sample, or have to be cathed everyday, and all of the other embarassing bodily functions that all humans share, I have sympathize with them. How would I feel if I was in their shoes? I would be so embarassed so I know they are. I just treat them with dignity and respect and you have to view them as humans with feelings. It will not be as bad as you think it is.

As for what your issue is...the first thing you need to know before you go to nursing school, or into the health care field period is that you have to touch people!!! That is the first thing my LPN instructor told us on our first day. She said "I'm going to let you all know now...you have to touch people in this field, lots of people. You have to deal with blood and snot and poop and pee and puke and would seepage and all kinds of other things. There is no way to get out of touching people in this field. If you don't like to touch people, then this is not the field for you." Now...nursing students are nothing more than glorified nursing assistants. The whole time your in nursing school clinicals, you will be doing aid work. That includes, beds, baths, oral care, peri care (lady partsl/anal care), putting lotion on, washing hair, cleaning and clipping nails, serving meals and feeding patients who need assistance and much more. That is nothing but "touching." It's also nursing. Nurses care for people in every aspect of their lives which includes eating, bathing, dressing, therapies, medications, psychosocial care etc etc. We care for the sick, weak, debilitated, and desperate. The majority of everyone you see in your nursing career, will be at their absolute worst and it is the nurses job to "nurse" them back to health. It is not for everyone I will tell you that right now. I knew nothing about nursing before I went to school and I had absolutely no idea how much it entailed and how much responsibility you have. You can literally kill someone in a second if your not paying attention. I wish the public had a clue what nurses have to learn, know, and do everyday. Ok, im going off topic, sorry :) I just wanted to say that not just to you, but to anyone who reads this. Nursing is not for everyone but if it is for you, you will love it. It is highly rewarding and you get to meet all kinds of different people, wonderful people and you learn a lot about life, yourself, and many other things.

Since you said you were currently working on your pre-req's and haven't started nursing school yet, I wanted to give you some personal insight on what you mentioned in your post about fainting in certain situations etc. One very cool thing about nursing is, there are about a million different kinds of nursing specialties you can choose from and a million different environments you can work in. Npw, when you are a student you will be required to get a little bit of exposure to all aspects of the nursing field. Meaning, you will spend time in hospitals, operating rooms, nursing homes, clinics, mental institutions, day cares, wound clinics, dialysis centers, cath labs, OB-which is pregnant women and babies, pediatrics, etc. When I was in school, and most schools in the US all have just about the same requirements for nursing students regarding clinical experience. We did a little bit of everything. Personally, I love blood, guts, and gore!!! The nastier, the better! I've always been that way. Wounds and surgeries and burns and countless other gross things excite and interest me. All nurses are not like me. During our surgery rotation, we had a couple students pass out in the OR. Some said they hadnt eaten and got too hot, and some said it was just simply very difficult to watch. Thats ok. You don't fail or anything if u pass out or faint during a clinical. You do however, have to attend everything they assign for you. Meaning, when its your time to go to surgery, you can't say "Omg I have such a weak stomach and I can't go because I'll faint." (example) They will tell you at that point, that you either go to your rotation, or go home and take a failing grade for that day and that is something you cannot afford to do. Plus, every clinical experience you attend, such as surgery, would clinic etc, you are most likely going to be required to write a report on explaining what you saw, what did they do, why did they do it etc. so it is crucial that you attend. Another cool thing is, these experiences are usually one, maybe two days and they pack so much into nursing school that you dont have time to go places more than once usually...So if you know ur gonna get sick, just prepare yourself...eat breakfast, watch a surgery on youtube the night before, do breathing exercises, whatever will calm you down to get you through it. Plus, the things you learn and get to see during those experiences are so awesome and exciting and interesting and its something that not everyone gets to see, so take it as a learning experience. Since you got to see the things with the animals that you mentioned above, you atleast have had some sxposure to it and it wont be such a shock. I also just read the last part of your post, I somehow missed it and I saw that you said your going to get your pre-req's then get your CNA and then i didn't understand if you were then going to pursue a nursing degree or what. My advice...Being a CNA before you go to nursing school is awesome!! More power to you! It will give you your fundamental nursing skills that you learn at the very beginning like how to make an occupied bed and how to do peri care and how to do I & O's and how to take vital signs etc, but...getting a CNA cert is only like 6-8 weeks here in WV. Thats the minimum amount of hours you have to have to get your certificate. It is not a point in your career where you can stop. Being a CNA is the hardest, exhausting, frustrating, underrated and underpaid job other than being a waitress that exists. You are literally an "ass wiper". Now with that said, CNA's are wonderful wonderful people. There is not one part in the health field that could function without CNA's and their job is critical to the health and wellbeing of the resident. I am not downing anyone that is a CNA because it is a damn hard job and they really have a heavy load on their backs. My point was, don't stop at CNA. CNA is just the beginning of nursing. Like I said, I didnt understand if you meant you were going to get your CNA then go to nursing school or what which I assume you are going to get your CNA then go to nursing school but I wanted to tell you just in case. Being a CNA requires no pre-req's. The other thing I wanted to say that pertains to the fainting etc is that the things you do in nursing school are not what you do once youve passed boards and earned your nursing license. You get a broad knowledge of the whole field in nursing school and you do a lot of dirty work, as well. Once you start working, you can choose the avenue that suits you. If you find that you get through nursing school and certain things still make you queesy and you just cannot handle it, you can find a nursing job that doesn't deal with that at all. There are nursing positions that require you to sit at a desk in an office and talk on the phone all day. No patient care what so ever. You can work at a mental hospital which has very little blood and guts and very little touching people. You can work at a methadone clinic and sit at a desk and answer the phone and do vitals and write scripts all day. So, don;t let being nervous about fainting or being grossed out or anything be what makes you decide against going. Most likely, you will go to school and you'll get used to it really fast and you wont have any problems at all. Just follow your dreams and go as far with nursing as you can. By 2020 RN"S will be required to have Bachelors degrees if not Masters' so go all the way if you want! I hope this was somewhat helpful and gave you some insight on the nursing profession and I apologize for it being so long. I really get into nursing. BTW I've been a nurse for 5 years and i've worked on a Med-Surg/telemetry unit in a hospital and have been charge nurse at two different nursing homes. I love it and I couldnt see myself doing anything else.

ShelbyaStar · Sep 25, 2013

Thank you so much for your insightful reply!

It's not that I get grossed out easily. I don't know how to explain it, really. I did get a job at an at home care facility for the mentally disabled to see if I could deal with taking people to the bathroom and stuff like that and to my surprise it doesn't really bother me at all. One client is in a wheelchair and needs help going to the bathroom. I thought he was done and stood him back up and then he ended up pooping on the floor. It was like a bomb in his butt went off- it was EVERYWHERE. While I wasn't thrilled with the situation, I got it cleaned up without gagging or getting upset. So that's good news.

It makes me feel a lot better to know that most clinicals don't take a super long time. I am pretty nervous about OR and ER but think I will do fine for everything else. I can take anything for a couple days though!

My program requires that we have a CNA before applying to the nursing school and I figure CNA experience can't hurt, so that's the plan. I would have it already but I have to take it at the community college and it's hard to fit in. I figure if I do that it will strengthen my nursing school application and if I do it through school it will make it more likely that I'll eventually be hired at the same hospital.

Again thank you so much!