Do you ever get sick?

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2014

I never got sick during nursing school but I had a clinical instructor who is a neonatal NP who said she vomited before every single clinical due to nerves. This was from her LPN school all the way up to NP

akey77 · Mar 17, 2014

Ugh, well at least if it does happen to me, I won't be alone lol. Thank you :)

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Mar 17, 2014

OK - thread title threw me off .... actually referring to "nauseated". Heck, I have never come across any clinical nurse - including crusty old bats like me - that don't have something that makes them go 'ick'. For me, it's oral secretions. Thank heavens most organizations no longer allow nurses to extubate due to liability issues... cause just thinking about what that mess looks like when it leaves the patient (urp). And lugies... GAH! They're my kryptonite. Give me a GI Bleed any day over a patient that is continually hawking and spitting.

On the other hand, quite a few nursing students actually do contract communicable illnesses when they first begin clinical rotations due to the increased exposure to sick people. If nothing else, it is an object lesson in why infection control measures are necessary.

RunBabyRN · Mar 17, 2014

I have neither vomited nor contracted something from a patient *yet*. However, I have a lot of prior patient care experience, and after working as a lab tech, I have LOTS of body fluid experience, often streaking plates with it. That gets you accustomed to it pretty quickly! We all have our "thing", and that's okay.

That said, I do have classmates that were EXTREMELY nervous in clinicals. A friend of mine confessed to me recently (in our final semester now) that she would cry on the way to clinicals every day because of the anxiety it caused her.

This is why I HIGHLY encourage getting a job as a CNA or something like that before starting school, or while in school. Getting over the initial "weirdness" of touching patients and being that intimate with them can really slow you down and hang you up. It is only once you have passed that that you can really delve into their care and feel competent enough to do so well. It will also get you side by side with nurses, which is great exposure when you want to get into nursing school! You'll be around those body fluids and get used to that.

When I started clinicals, the nurses LOVED that I had prior experience, and they often said something right away about seeing it, because I had no hang ups about doing peri care or taking vitals or giving insulin. Patients entrust us with a lot, and if you're nervous, they're nervous. Nurses have very intimate relationships with their patients, in that we see these people in their most vulnerable state, and are doing things for them that they cannot do for themselves. This is a very difficult position for most patients.

Sorry, tangent.

But my point is that if you can get some patient care experience before you start school, you'll get over a lot of the initial anxiety and gross-out-factor that can slow you down, and you'll be that much more confident when you walk into clinicals.

akey77 · Mar 17, 2014

LOL yes you are right! Sorry I thought about the title after I already posted it. I'm sure that you would catch something with the amount of ill people that you are constantly around.

Oh and thank you for sharing. You did such a good job describing it that it made me want to gag lol. I can tolerate A LOT but I'm not good with people hacking stuff up.

akey77 · Mar 17, 2014

Thank you! While I can't get a job in a hospital setting right now because I am planning on continuing to work full-time until I do start nursing school; I have been looking into any volunteer opportunities that are in my area. Unfortunately, most that I have seen are geared more towards high school kids, rather than someone in their late 30's like me :)

I was hoping that volunteering at hospitals and the like would also help in networking, and possibly make it easier finding a job once I am finished with school.

RunBabyRN · Mar 17, 2014

Thank you! While I can't get a job in a hospital setting right now because I am planning on continuing to work full-time until I do start nursing school; I have been looking into any volunteer opportunities that are in my area. Unfortunately, most that I have seen are geared more towards high school kids, rather than someone in their late 30's like me :)
I was hoping that volunteering at hospitals and the like would also help in networking, and possibly make it easier finding a job once I am finished with school.

From what I know, the volunteering won't help a ton, because you won't have any actual contact with patients. Just a heads up. CNA experience will take you a lot further.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 17, 2014

Very rarely. But I think all of us have some trigger. Tube-feed patients whose stool has that vanilla smell of the TF formula always makes me gag.

TU RN, DNP, CRNA · Mar 17, 2014

It really depends on what grosses you out and your developed "toughness" towards that stuff. I would say the overwhelming majority of nurses I have known who have "grossness niches" find oral secretions and trach secretions repulsive. You will gain the fortitude to endure this stuff with time and exposure, but might still retain a slight weakness to certain things.

For me, visually I can handle anything, but certain odors get under my skin. GIB odor and yeast-that-grows-under-fat odor are my weaknesses. If I were to work in the OR (an area I only have nursing school experiences to draw from) I believe I might have to acclimate myself to the burned flesh smell produced by the Bovie device.

akey77 · Mar 17, 2014

It really depends on what grosses you out and your developed "toughness" towards that stuff. I would say the overwhelming majority of nurses I have known who have "grossness niches" find oral secretions and trach secretions repulsive. You will gain the fortitude to endure this stuff with time and exposure, but might still retain a slight weakness to certain things.
For me, visually I can handle anything, but certain odors get under my skin. GIB odor and yeast-that-grows-under-fat odor are my weaknesses. If I were to work in the OR (an area I only have nursing school experiences to draw from) I believe I might have to acclimate myself to the burned flesh smell produced by the Bovie device.

Ummm the smell of burned flesh - that sounds like a good time lol. Sometimes I sit back and wonder what makes me want to do this so badly lol. No, in all seriousness, I don't think I will have a problem except when it comes to the actual clinicals because I'll be so nervous about it.

I have a BIL that is completely handicapped that lived with me for awhile. He has a g-tube that I have helped with and I am all too familiar with the smell when he needs changed (although I haven't changed him myself), he likes to flirt with me, so it would probably make us both uncomfortable lol.

Anyway, my main point was if anyone else had these concerns before starting nursing school. Just curious if you had anyone passing out or throwing up everywhere.

cardiacfreak, ADN · Mar 17, 2014

Emesis is my nemesis. I can handle all the poo and even lugies, but vomit gets me every time, and I've been doing this a long time.