I begin an RN program in August. I have worked hard in school and can't wait to start but... the one thing that does have me worried is what if I'm changing a diaper or something and the smell makes me gag??
Some of you may be cracking up right now! But I'm really nervous about that.
I'm not a complete wimp, I do have a son and changing his diapers never bothered me, but I would just feel so badly if a patient were to see me looking green!
I begin an RN program in August. I have worked hard in school and can't wait to start but... the one thing that does have me worried is what if I'm changing a diaper or something and the smell makes me gag??
Some of you may be cracking up right now! But I'm really nervous about that.
I'm not a complete wimp, I do have a son and changing his diapers never bothered me, but I would just feel so badly if a patient were to see me looking green!
Any advise or words of wisdom out there?
Thanks in advance!
:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle :roll :roll :roll Oh, you are right, I am cracking up, first post I read tonight. just hold your breath and be quick! :chuckle
I always stick an alcohol pad inside a mask and put it on. That way if i do mouth breathing i dont feel like im inhaling some nasty phob. If im doing nasal breathing , the alcohol smell helps.....and no it doesnt get you high!!!
I begin an RN program in August. I have worked hard in school and can't wait to start but... the one thing that does have me worried is what if I'm changing a diaper or something and the smell makes me gag??
Some of you may be cracking up right now! But I'm really nervous about that.
I'm not a complete wimp, I do have a son and changing his diapers never bothered me, but I would just feel so badly if a patient were to see me looking green!
Any advise or words of wisdom out there?
Thanks in advance!
Okay, I have one bit of advice, I myself am a gag QUEEN- Halls mentholyptus losenges. They are super strong and cut the smell of anything. I still gag at feces. I can't do poop. Don't know why, it gets me everytime. I can do gooey sputum, C-Diff, blood, brains, bones you name it. Poop makes me go weak in just about everywhere. Well, there was one time that I had a patient with a Jackson-Pratt and the drainage looked like-no lie-KFC gravey with a chicken finger in it! I was green the rest of the month! Dry heaved the entire time I was draining it and felt really bad about it. What can you do? You are human! Also, anyone out there listening: Where do you run into more feces? L&D or ER? Just curious. Thinking about a change but I don't wanna get deeper into it if ya know what I mean! Lol :rotfl:
I am so glad to know that people who are already nurses ..seasoned and what not ...still consider themselves gag queens, have gag reflexes and generally just realize that it is human nature !
I am doing CNA clinicals right now (so I can get into nursing school) and on my second one I volunteered to help change the pads of a woman. She seemed pretty incoherent and the CNA I was working with offered no info (of course) So she pulls down the sheet and I get myself ready, first I saw the feeding tube in her abdomen (shock #1 never seen it in real life ) that was okay but then as I am starting to clean her I start gagging esp when (shock #2) I realized the woman had no legs .. I felt so horrible and the CNA and the other student started laughing at me saying "**** is all you deal with in this job ..get used to it " i was mortified but kept trying to help and got through it . I am sure there are MANY MANY grosser things I have to look forward to. I am already so much less squeamish than I used to be
Shots and blood do not bother me at all any more!!!!!!!!!!
OMGosh! I am so glad I read this thread! I am a CNA now and just started my
LVN program. I have been working as a CNA for 3 years and thought I had seen alot of pretty gross things (I work in a hospital and have floated through all the units except ER and the ICU/CCU. Anyways I thought I was the only CNA/Would be Nurse that can't stand vomit! I am ok with cleaning it up or emptying emesis basins, but I cannot, absolutely cannot watch a patient actually do it. How wierd is that? One of the only things that actully makes me gag is sputum! I can't stand watching people spit and I hate collecting specimens, I can't even look at it through the container LOL!! :rotfl: however, masks seem to work well. I haven't ever had to do anything more. The other thing i hate is emptying suction containers of patients with NG tubes to suction because of SBO. YUCK! But you always get through. I am hopign that my 3 years as a CNA helps me when I get to clinicals!
My best advice - try to find a close friend with an equally strong and opposite gag reflex - my friend can't do poop, so when I can I do it for her. Then I call for her if someone is vomiting because she can work right through it with no problem. Had another friend that couldn't stand to clip toenails. Everyone seems to have something they just can't handle
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:rotfl:
Mandylpn
543 Posts
:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle
:roll :roll :roll Oh, you are right, I am cracking up, first post I read tonight. just hold your breath and be quick! :chuckle