Do the squeamish survive?

goose · Oct 14, 2000

Yes, eventually you get your sealegs. When I was in nursing school, the very first surgical procedure I saw was a C-Section. I don't remember much of it, because I found a wall behind me and slid to the floor!!! Several OR nurses had to take me out of the OR suite on a stretcher. (How embarrassing) Guess what my specialty of nursing I have been in for the majority of my nursing career? OR circulatory/scrub!!! Go For It and Welcome.

Jay-Jay, RN · Oct 14, 2000

You made me laugh, Mona! Also, it brought back some bitter-sweet memories of the first s.c. injection I ever did. My best friend was diabetic, and a nurse. One day, after supper, she plunked her insulin bottles down in front of me, and said, Ok, J.J., I know you're going to have to do your first injection on a patient soon. You can practise on me! 5 units of regular and 10 of NPH...

Now, THAT'S a friend! God bless her, she passed away three years ago, just shy of her 50th birthday.

bunky, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2000

And here's a good trick one of my clinical teachers taught me. When you are starting to feel squeemish, stand straight and go from foot to foot and wiggle your hands. I don't know why but it worked. I too saw cataract surgery and I think the bad part is that it's like YOU can feel it, my eyes kept squinting as I watched thru the microscope. But the worst for me so far? Well two things: Chest tube insertions! The patient looked like a harpooned fish squiriming! I still don't like them but it gets easier. Second, in school we went to a chiropractic college were they use cadavers. These ones were almost totally disected, organs and such all out and in buckets under the tables. They looked like moistened beef jerky. I was hanging in there until they pulled the cadavers face back together! It had been cut in half and folded open and they put it back together for me making it return back to a human being in my mind, and I almost dropped! Had to sit on a stool with my head down for a few minutes.

Exposure makes it easier, although I hope not to see the "beef jerky folks" again in my life!

Newnurse · Oct 21, 2000

As a recent grad working med surg, I sill occasionally get the gags with certain odors. What I do (when possible) is make an excuse to the patient that I need to get a supply or something and leave the room, take some deep breaths and mentally prepare myself-I CAN do this!-and go back in. This has worked for me. However, last week I was assisting a MD dress a particualy nasty infected foot ulcer, and there was no option of taking my 'get it together break' I thought I was going to pass out! I managed to get through it, keep my poker face, and the MD never knew I was so grossed out.I kept saying to myself throughout, "I am a proffessional nurse, and this is what I do". The funny thing is I never was grossed out in clinicals during nsg school. I think I was proboly concentrating so hard on what I was doing, and wether my instructor would walk in while I was doing it, that I forgot to be squimish! My point is, you can find your own coping mechanism for those 'squimish moments' and you'll do fine. Experienced nurses assure me we'll get used to just about anything with time. Good Luck!

ceworden · Oct 22, 2000

Yes you can survive....and by going to school you are not wasting your time. I enjoy ER/Trauma the best but in the beginning it was rough. It does take time to overcome some things that you have to do. As for me, the one thing that bothers me the most is having to suction a patient. Many, Many times I have had to leave the room and get my breath. After 6+ years in the field it still bothers me!!!! As mentioned in other post there are many phases of nursing. However, you do have to go through the other stuff to get there. But, by getting started with school you will have the option to seek another profession should this not work for you. Whether you choose nursing or decide on something else, education is never wasted. Good Luck and hope to see you in our career field which ever way you go.

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C.E.Worden,LPN

ClariceS · Nov 8, 2000

It really does get better, especially when you actually get to do the procedures. I found that watching without doing always was a quick way to the woozies! But once I could get involved in the action, I became more focussed on doing it correctly than how much it might be bothering me. And as I gained experience, then I could shift my focus to making sure the patient was doing okay through it. Sputum samples still get to me but I have survived through years of other squemish stuff.

mustangsheba · Nov 8, 2000

Originally posted by ArleneD:
I have to make a final decision about taking classes toward an ADN (classes start in January.) When it comes to needles, blood, and trauma situations, I'm very apprehensive. Is this normal for someone who wants to make nursing a career? I've read the advise about getting a CNA to test the waters before going to nursing school, but I don't think this will give me the actual hands-on training I need to get over this uneasiness. Also, if I wait any longer, it'll be another year before the next nursing program starts at the local universities.

I was a Candystriper many years ago (took temps, bp, helped set casts, even carried a few bed pans) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've kicked the idea around for a number of years, and it's either now or never (I'm 42!) I desparately need some advice - positive and negative. Am I just dreaming, or do other pre-nursing students go through this uncertainty?

mustangsheba · Nov 8, 2000

Originally posted by ArleneD:
I have to make a final decision about taking classes toward an ADN (classes start in January.) When it comes to needles, blood, and trauma situations, I'm very apprehensive. Is this normal for someone who wants to make nursing a career? I've read the advise about getting a CNA to test the waters before going to nursing school, but I don't think this will give me the actual hands-on training I need to get over this uneasiness. Also, if I wait any longer, it'll be another year before the next nursing program starts at the local universities.

I was a Candystriper many years ago (took temps, bp, helped set casts, even carried a few bed pans) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've kicked the idea around for a number of years, and it's either now or never (I'm 42!) I desparately need some advice - positive and negative. Am I just dreaming, or do other pre-nursing students go through this uncertainty?

ArleneD: Of course it's normal. What nurses do is what's abnormal, mostly because we choose to do it. After 20 years, I still gag when suctioning a trach. Nothing else bothers me much. Every one has a different nemesis. You don't say WHY you want to be a nurse. If you can identify that, maybe you could fill the need in a different profession, as was mentioned before, perhaps social work.

maikranz · Nov 8, 2000

Hello, all!

I got a kick reading everybody's "gag

stimulator". After 25 years, I've managed to get past alot of the gory stuff using alternate imagery, but what is guaranteed to cause me to jet is irrigating someone's ears (I'm getting grossed out just writing it!!!!) YUCK! I still hate to give IMs and deal with broken limbs (soccer).

Press on, Arlene, if you are destined to do this, you will. Much luck

someday1012 · May 14, 2011

Well it's been a long time since this was first posted..I'm curious how things have changed for OP. I'm now in the same boat.