Almost passed out at clinical!!!

[got4babygirls]

I was so embarrassed!! :sofahider

It was my first time woth this nurse and we were doing a wound change (my first time). The first one was fine, I did great. The second wound was very difficult to get to, pt was contracted and the nurse had to hold his leg up while I cleaned the wound on his ankle. It was very dirty and the smell threw me for a loop!!!!! I almost gagged and the nurse I was with did gag! I cleaned the wound and changed the dressing. After as we were working on the paperwork, I started to get very dizzy and sweaty. I told her I thought I needed some air and she told me to get out of the room and head to the bathroom. I couldn't believe the reaction I had. I was so embarrassed! I think I can still smell it!

Eileen

[NJNursing, ASN, RN]

I think nearly everyone has some sort of story about when they nearly vomited or passed out in clinicals.

I've gagged at C-diff patients (you'll NEVER forget that smell!) and I nearly passed out during OR observation during a total knee replacement. My stomache was chunging over the smell of cauterized skin and the way they just hammer the new knee in so violently with blood splattering everywhere. It looked more like a murder scene than an operating room. I actually had to excuse myself out of that surgery, eat and come back. Our professors always tell us to eat before doing something nasty.

So you're not alone. :-)

[purply_hazy]

nursing school helped me improve my capability of holding my breath for a looooong time.

[missninaRN]

nursing school helped me improve my capability of holding my breath for a looooong time.

Too funny!

[Jolie, BSN]

I've never passed out or gotten sick during patient care, but I did have my knee go out on me once (while I was holding a newborn, no less). The baby's mother was post C-section, and it turned out she was more mobile than I was! She very calmly took the baby, put me in a chair, and called for help-for me! Talk about mortified!

[mattdixon]

I've never gagged or anything like that with puke/BM/trach care/wounds etc., but they do get to me, I just try to turn the patient away from me when I'm cleaning them so they don't see me possibly cringe my nose or something like that, don't want to embarrass them more than they already are.

The only thing that made me get light headed and a cold sweat was when I was viewing a gastric bypass surgery, and the they cut out this HUGE chunk of skin (think tummy tuck, he actually was getting a tummy tuck in addition strangely enough) and I just got dizzy and had to turn away before I passed out. That was about the worst it's been so far, and I don't think I could see worse than that. I've seen decubitus ulcers down to the muscle and even bone, but that big hunk of belly got to me the worst of all.

[bethem]

With every single clinical I have been on, I have almost passed out on the first day. It's usually because I don't get enough sleep the night before, and I don't drink enough water/eat enough breakfast the morning of. Strangely, it's not smell or sight or anything that gets me. Just plain old physiology.