CRAZY / GROSS / NASTY

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It's no secret. We all know that nurses see a lot of crazy/gross/nasty things when on duty. Would anybody be willing to share their story with us? Please, don't spare any details.

I'm interested in your stories because I know that it's not all rainbows and kittens. There must be things that sometimes you'd wish you could un-see or un-experience (I know that's not a real word). Whether that be sticking your fingers in a patient's wound (for whatever reason), or having phlegm coughed on you, etc. Don't be shy.

I'm very curious to know some of the things I might see and/or experience once I become a nurse. Being a nurse is so exciting!!!!! 😃😃😃😃

Thank you.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Later it is revealed the doctor ordered and was taking drugs in his patient's names and then later did lose his license!

And is anyone else as disturbed as I am, that drug offenses are grounds for revocation of license...but child molestation was not???

Specializes in Hospice.
The most disgusting thing that comes to mind is this brown (sometimes comes in other colors) stuff that comes out of people's rectum.

Ewwwwwwwwwwww

Lol leave it to you to provide comic relief when things get too heavy in here. (But I still wish I'd kneed that creep in the naynays-even if I had gotten fired, would have been worth it). 😈 🐖

My Achilles heel : digital removal of stool.

I double mask with the ones with the attached eye sheild. Drops of mint flavored mouthwash are put on the breathe through panel to mask odor. I double glove and gown. Air freshener on stand by.

About 30 seconds into it my vomit reflex kicks in. I have learned to do as much as I can then have a willing nurse help me finish it. I've learned to have a friendly nurse commit to help me before I start. It's faster plus I don't have to worry about embarrassing the patient as I fight through my uncontrollable reching.

I don't understand why I react like this.Stool,colostomy,urine,sputum....whatever......no problem. But this! Luckily the need to do this task is a rare occurrence.

The most disgusting thing that comes to mind is this brown (sometimes comes in other colors) stuff that comes out of people's rectum.

Ewwwwwwwwwwww

Dude, don't you have "people" to take care of this for you?

When I was a nursing assistant I had a resident who drank milk (lactose intolerant). Well before I knew it the call light was blinking, I find the resident in the bathroom with their diaper down and watery poop was everywhere (all over the toilet, floor, wall, trash can, her wheelchair), not to mention this resident had cdiff. I was about to go on lunch break and I had to clean it all up, it was so awful. This resident goes "I know milk upsets my stomach but they put it on my lunch tray and I couldn't resist." :no:

Nursing school--pt with stage IV pressure ulcer on the coccyx big enough I could fit both fists inside it and see the bone; same facility had the lovely stench of MRSA permeating the halls.

Family--my now-deceased FIL had a massive thoracotomy and surgeon removed two ribs and left the wounds open to heal from inside out. You could put your hand, flat, inside one, and fist through the other one and see all the way inside the chest cavity.

Recently at ENT--maggots in pt's ear--for the second time, which resulted in a complaint being filed against the nursing home where pt was a resident. Maggots don't grow randomly in ears!

Older, at ENT--not sure what was pulled out of pt's nose, but I'm pretty sure it had legs.

Asthma--pt doing spirometry, blowing a little too hard, sprayed phlegm all over the computer screen--and me.

Sigh. Have you done a search at all, new account? Seriously, spend some time poking around instead of posting a beaten down topic. Revive an old thread!

I actually don't mind this often repeated question. We all have new experiences that occur daily. We also have new members with their own/new experiences..

I'm just happy it isn't another PVT thread.

Dude, don't you have "people" to take care of this for you?

Yep. Not my job :whistling:

Specializes in Corrections, Psych.

Just thought of another one!

I work in a large-ish city jail that, while better than some, is not the most sanitary place to practice.

One night the officers brought a gentleman to medical with a complaint of ear pain. He stated that he had been sleeping under a bench in the holding tank, and felt something in his ear.

I took a look and saw something that I was pretty sure I recognized, but wasn't sure of the best way to address it. Concerned about sending the patient into a panic, I very calmly asked my charge to come tell me what she saw; she thought it was a chunk of cerumen, so we set up to do a mini-irrigation.

This poor guy was almost in tears, so we calmed him down enough for me to irrigate his ear. He said "Ooooh, I think it's gone now. What was it??"

I handed the basin to my charge and started to explain that it was a small bug, right about the same time my charge squealed "EEEeek, it's still alive!"

Bless his heart, I don't think I've ever had such a grateful patient!

Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

I had a homeless schizophrenic man in ICU who had stuffed his ear canals with tar and toilet paper to stop the voices. It was very sad. After he was stable and restarted on his meds he let me remove it.

Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Telemetry.

Assisting a urologist with a difficult cath insertion on a male at the bedside. He couldn't get it in, blood everywhere, tells me to clean up and leaves the room to get an OR ready for the pt. I scoop up a handful of trash to throw away, and the guidewire covered in member blood whips me across the face. First time I Sani-wiped my face.

Specializes in Hospice.

Oh yuck. I have never seen the bra part of your story but I have seen tumors that erode through the breast and make horrible smelly wounds. I have changed those dressings more than once. We use crushed flagyl to help with the odor.

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