A Question to Nurses and Nursing Students.. HELP ME!

[Hannah1991]

Hi AllNurses Community! First off I would like to say that I just joined today so I'm not completly sure I'm posting in the right area.

I am a high school senior. I have pretty much known my whole life that I was made to be a RN. I've just ran into a sticky situation. I get kind of grossed out with blood and veins and wounds. How can I get over this? Now please don't try to tell me "Nursing is just not for you kid". I've tried telling myself that but something in my heart just tells me that Nursing is where I need to go. I'd appreciate any advice you all could give me. Thank you soooo much

Hannah1991

[bradleau]

Forget about the icky stuff....that was not my problem...mine was with the smell of blood...such as huge amounts of it when I worked ER. My coworker had problems with vomit...it would make her vomit...no kidding...but a dab of vicks under the nose helped with the smell problem. And you do get used to it to the point that you will end up grossing out your friends and family. Good Luck...

[paganoid]

One of the pre-reqs for nursing school is Anatomy and Physiology, which at my school included cadaver lab. I had a real problem with the cadaver at first. I just couldn't find it in myself to touch it. And the smell!

Then one day I just had this mental picture of all the hearts and lungs and other tissues on display in the pathology lab at my hospital. Those specimens are fixed in formalin in large glass jars. So I went to cadaver lab and mentally pictured my cadaver as a specimen in a jar of formalin. Almost miraculously I made some kind of a mental adjustment and didn't have any trouble working with the cadaver after that point.

I suspect that you will make some sort of similar mental accommodation with body fluids and odors by the time you finish nursing school. Part of nursing school is the "assimilation" process of turning students into nurses. If you have a little faith I believe you will complete the transition successfully. Good luck!

paganoid

[SanDiegoScrubs2010]

Don't worry! I decided against nursing a few years ago when I signed up to volunteer at a hospital and had to have my blood drawn; I decided I hated needles and blood too much. Eventually I changed my mind and now I'm in my last semester of nursing school. Before I started I watched a lot of YouTube videos of students practicing venipuncture and some of them really freaked me out; I don't know if that helped or not! I was so nervous the day we practiced giving shots on each other, but it was EASY. Then I was so nervous the day we did blood draws and IV starts and of course I freaked out for a second the first time I got blood from someone, but it was fine. I love watching surgery, too, except that it gets boring sometimes. I think it's easier now that I understand everything more and I watched a surgeon handling a temporal artery and saw how resilient it was. You get a lot of opportunity to get desensitized, looking at wounds and line insertions, and you see how calm everyone is about the blood. Now I volunteer for people to practice starting IVs on me because I have good veins...one time I had my arm all pumped up and the other student got in fine but forgot to take off the tourniquet (a common mistake!) and I forgot to unclench my fist, so when she went to attach the line it started GUSHING out of the catheter. I had all these students putting pressure on and mopping up blood (it went all over the table) and telling me not to look because they were afraid I would pass out. Finally I looked and said, "uh, guys, maybe we should take the tourniquet off..." Yep, that did the trick! It stopped bleeding right away. I thought it was hilarious; it didn't bother me at all and I was so happy to realize I'm not afraid of the blood anymore. Good luck! Be glad you already know what you want, and stick with it...I'm 28 and just figured it out! There is so much more to nursing and the blood is far from the hardest part for most people!

[tillyrn2b]

Also try looking into volunteering as an EMT. Youll get exposure to injuries, diseases, and blood. And it cant hurt to have that kind of expirence :)

Good luck!! You're gonna make a great nurse

Where do you plan on going?

[Hannah1991]

Thank you guys for your help, advice, and encouraging words. This is about as much encouragement that I have had in pursuing a career in nursing. I can really tell that you all a great people and I will be praying for you all as you do your jobs. I really respect all that each and every one of you do and how positive you are . Its great to know that some one would care enough about my question to post it. I am truly greatful I became a member of this website. My heart and God are really pointing me into this direction and if any of you all pray, i just ask you to please pray for me if you don't mind. I want to make sure I can do my best with patients. I just want to save lives, help people, and try to help any patient I may have feel comfortable.

For those of you who have I asked me ... I really feel that I'm being pointed into Neonatal nursing. I also feel I'm being lead to nurse in nursing homes.

Again thank you sooooo much for your support. You guys are AMAZING!

[kellyskitties]

I have a CNA working with me that even I thought wouldn't make it this far, and I'm usually the super supporter for giving everyone a chance.

She screamed and ran from a deceased pt's room when she realized they were dead - ran down the hall screaming. Not kidding. She cringes at poop. She gasps when u tell her "yes, u have to do that" when things get gross.

But I'll tell u what she is doing right. She keeps going back in. She keeps showing up. I can admire that in her. She's not giving up.

The last expired person she had to help with, she asked if she could remove their IV. She's come a long way, even though every once in awhile she still cringes, she keeps coming back. She no longer gets nauseated from blood.

I'm telling u if this girl can acclimate - so can u.

Afterall, it only seems kinky the first time - (haha)

[debragan]

Do you faint or pass out? If so that may make it hard. But if it just grosses you out you can learn to deal with it. Believe me we all see wounds and other things that make you want to toss your cookies and even pts that are smelly or gross. Even after years of being a nurse. The first day of nursing school they are not going to throw you in the pit! so maybe as you learn to be a nurse you can learn to overcome the icky part.

Deb

[RuralNP4KIDS]

Don't worry your will find some way to manage. I was not very good with people throwing up or really strong adverse smells but I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was 5. In fact when I worked as an aide in college I used the hum the theme from St. Elsewhere as I walked up the steps to my unit (OK so you are probably too young but it was a hospital show that my family watch regularly). I went from college right to the PICU which has plenty of puking and adverse odors involved. You will end up loving your job so much that you end up not noticing the things that bothered you before

Follow your calling.............you will not regret it!

Kathy

[dawnsternlpn]

I am such a bad patient myself...when i have my blood drawn I bring a spoon wrapped in gauze and paper tape(to bite down on) ...On saturdays I draw blood on 40-50 patients ....you see the regs changed and they needed a nurse to draw blood...I was the nurse so hello I had to do it. It took me a few saturdays but believe me you will get used to it and even if you never get used to the gore you can do several other aspects of nursing. During the week i work at a job where i do telephonic nursing and do not even see a pt. yet alone blood or wounds . Just do it.

[NICU_Nurse_3986]

i'm sure by now you have gotten all the encouragement you need to reinforce your desire to become a nurse, but i just wanted to add my thoughts. i was like you in the way that i always wanted to be in the medical field. my only problem was a big problem with vomit. i'm talking like it gives me an anxiety attack when someone says they are going to be sick. i had people tell me that because of this, maybe i shouldn't be a nurse. i knew i could some how work around it, so i did. i was in fact desensitized in nursing school and while working as a tech, just a little. but i also picked an area where vomit, although common, doesn't really bother me. (for some reason baby vomit is ok :) ). i think every nurse has something that kind of grosses them out, whether it is blood, vomit, sputum, etc. really, the trick is deciding if actually being a nurse is for you, and then not letting anything stand in your way. good luck.

[goodgrief]

My human anatomy lab helped me to get over a lot of things. I had to get in there and actually play with the cadavers, it was super disgusting at first but then it got easier and easier each time I went into the lab. You learn how to stomach a lot of things and then soon they just don't bother you. One thing that I still can't get over is airway secretions, I hate suctioning intubated or trached patients, just the sound alone is enough to make me vomit, I just always get the RT to do it for me....LOL. Everyone has something that bothers them, you'll eventually get over it.

[kf15]

.. but I know that i'm meant to be a nurse.. idk if you believe in God or not but I do. And over the past 2 years ive tried to talk myself out of nursing but it seems as if HE keeps pulling me back to it.

Um, no I personally do not believe that way, not do I believe that I was "pulled" or guided or whatever to get into nursing. Not to be overly philosophical, but if you are completely "meant" to be a nurse by some higher power then every detail will fall into place by itself; I'm thrown off track by your conflicting messages and it just doesn't click.

Let me suggest that you listen to and trust YOURSELF for a few weeks, that's the ultimate guide.