Area of hospital with minimal vomit...

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Hi. I'm currently on the waitlist for nursing school and I've wanted to be a nurse my whole life...but I have emetophobia and am quite afraid of vomit! I'm sure I could suck it up and deal with it, but I'm just wondering if there are any areas in the hospital that have minimal vomit exposure?

Though, if vomit scares you, I'm not so sure I'd recommend NICU. If you're afraid of a little vomit, would you be able to deal with a 1 kg 24 weeker or a baby born with something like omphalocele where their abdominal organs are on the outside?

This. I can deal with a lot of things but organs outside the body and prolapsed ostomies make me :barf01:I seriously have to force myself not to run from the room when I find out my new patient has something like that going on. Gah.

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I could deal with the guts hanging out. :p

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Avoid school nursing. I am a vomit magnet.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
I could deal with the guts hanging out. :p

Then there you go: OR scrub/surgery nurse :)

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ortho? surely they don't mean ortho post op? less then gen surg i am sure but still happens. avoid all/ any types of medical, surgical, er, icu, step downs,labor delivery telemetry . everything. . any surgery post ops have the potential for vomitting. and if it i s general surgery run far far away. people vomit everywhere. if they aren't vomitting you might even have to stick a tube down their nose and then measure the vomit. ( is it the vomitting action or the vomit itself)? maybe the OR as a circulator/ scrub nurse, def not pacu,, outpatient clinics.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
I could deal with the guts hanging out. :p

So could I...I would even go as far to say I would find it fascinating. These are the kind of nurses that you befriend and trade with.

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Specializes in OB (with a history of cardiac).

I puked when I was in labor with my son- I had developed chorio (they were thinking) and I had a temp, I was queasy already, and they gave me Tylenol, and I'm thinking as I'm swallowing them "I'll be seeing these again real soon I think".

So of course, 3 minutes later, I'm trying to sleep, my husband is trying to sleep on the floor and I'm like "honey, oh...honey I'm gonna..." and it was just...yep, right all over my gown. Poor hubby was frantically trying to find a basin and hitting the call light and I'm dry heaving into my hand.

Oddly enough, I didn't see the Tylenol. They couldn't have dissolved THAT fast, could they?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

So consensus states: Psych nursing, office nursing, NICU.

What about the cath lab? or the -scopy labs (endoscopy, colonoscopy)?

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Specializes in PACU.
So consensus states: Psych nursing, office nursing, NICU.

What about the cath lab? or the -scopy labs (endoscopy, colonoscopy)?

Cath lab might work, but there's no way she'd be able to get hired there without years of experience. Sometimes GI lab patients puke all over the place, even during the procedure.

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.

oh wow, i wanted to make a joke too and suggest working at the morgue but then i thought of how many post mortems i have done and those body orifices leak, spew, and dribble....not to mention turn them over just right and yuck. i have enough nightmares of the dead not quite dead enough to not scare me.

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You can't completely avoid it, anywhere. And I don't think avoiding things you're phobic about works; it just limits your life. If you're afraid of flying and never get on a plane because of it, you miss out on a lot. You might miss out on a lot of rewarding experiences in your nursing career, experiences that will give you confidence and help you find meaning in your life, because this one thing looms so large in your mind.

Don't just assume you have to work around this thing. There are techniques helpful for desensitizing one to phobic situations. It would be a shame to choose your career, a thing that will determine much of the quality of your life, based upon fear rather than your ambitions and dreams.

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No, not cath lab. Vagal reactions.

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