Any tips with smells? Please!!!

[AML2007]

]Okay I have recently started my clinicals for LPN. We're in our CNA rotations and I've never actually had to change anyone. I feel horible for not being able to handle it as well as I would like to, but I can't help it! I've read a couple of the posts about breathing through your mouth, focusing on something else, purfume, and a few other things. I know things are going to get worse when dealing with pressure ulcers and other types of wound care. Does anyone have ANY suggestions? Please! Any type of purfume is out of the question because were not aloud to wear any. I've heard about Vick's, Burts Bees, & keeping a mint in your mouth. I've not tried anything yet, and it wouldn't be something I had to use all the time. I just need a little more confidence when it comes to things like this I guess. I don't want gaging and dry heaving to interfer with my procedures. Any advise is greatly appreciated! Thank You!

[just keep swimming]

We wear masks for almost everything so I just stick an alcohol wipe in there. Works great!

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

I ALWAYS have cough drops in my pocket for just such occations. If you have a menthyl one in your mouth and you are breathing through you mouth, you won't really smell anything else. Anytime one of my PCTs have to clean out a colostomy, they usually come to me for a cough drop.

[Sun_danc3rRN]

I used to worry about my facial expressions when something smelled nasty. I didn't want the patient to feel even worse than they did so I wear a surgical mask when I think I am going to have an issue or gag or something. I have also found that the tissues with Vicks scent on them help a lot. I think Puffs makes them. I take one and fold it up and place it under my nose in my mask. Patient never sees it and I get to smell Vicks for the most part, patient doesnt feel bad that they have a nurse who is gagging or barfing.

[Shannalynn]

I never thought I would get over the "smell" issue. But you do! I wish my nursing student self could see my RN self changing an infected wound dressing, applying a new dressing to a colostomy site while changing a bag full of runny stool, all while conversing pleassantly with the patient. Now, I walk out of the room and make a face but just try to focus on small talk.

Now, lung butter? I can NOT stomach that smell. I have to do the cough drop thing.

[nightbrightener]

It does get better with time but personally in the ED I swear by a bit of original formula Burt Bees wax under each nostril, reapply as needed. it's not cloying enough to overpower you but does tend to help with smells.

[3PRN]

Odors tell us a lot about our patients, especially the bad ones. You will learn to diagnose a pseudomonas infection without a culture, GI bleed without an CT scan, C.Diff without a stool sample, impending death in a pt. that doesn't look too bad. I depend on odors every day. They're part of my nurse's 6th sense. One thing I never do is breathe through my mouth! I figure if odors are caused by bacterial waste they're already going up my nose. I sure as heck don't want them in my mouth. For wretching odors, I wear a mask and save the patient humiliation by telling them I have allergies and I might sneeze, which is usually true.

[Sparrow23]

Keep a little vial of peppermint oil (or mint extract used for baking) with you. Place a few drops in a mask and wear that for extra-smelly tasks.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I don't understand why ur in LPN clinicals & working as a CNA??

Anyway as I've got older smells really get to me. Faeces, blood & rotting flesh when doing massive wound packing is the worse. When I was younger, none of it bothered me, but now I'm older, it gets harder.

You can try scented lip gloss, like strawberry - use the liquid ones with a strong smell. But IMO nothing works.

If u can't handle this type of work, then it will only get worse cos in nursing you have to do it. My advice is if u really can't handle it, get into another career, cos smells don't get any better.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

What smell?

Eventually you get used to everything.

[nurseygurlie]

a mask with a teabag inside, works every time and both are available on almost every floor, unit or facility

[blackbird singing]

yup. time will definitely help that. i carry air freshener in my pocket every day.. one of those small 2 oz bottles that we keep in the clean hold. it doesn't help DURING the changing, but afterwards, i will spray as i am leaving the room. and wait until you smell cdiff the first time. i think that one stuck in my nose about an hour after i left work... but seriously.. it gets better. i just try to breathe normally and deal with it. when i hold my breath, i feel like the smell is worse when i actually DO breathe.

[newtress, LPN]

A few yrs ago, I was on a med surg floor (you get the full bouquet on that floor) and I had quite a few ileostomy/colostomy pts. I started using some different essential oils, a dab under the nose or a dab in a mask. Sometimes it worked well for me and other times not. But now that we have the "coffee for one" little bags like tea bags I tried this and it worked really well. One exception: association with the coffee we might love to drink outside a pts room may now bring the thought or mental smells back to smelling coffee while working and using it to mask the bad smells. If you can separate the two it might work. I have the coffee singles that fit inside your mask. Remember hearing back in the day using coffee grounds in a pan placed under a pt's bed? or little paper cups of fresh coffee grounds at high end purfume testing displays? Well, that's my offerings of the day!