Don't Want To Touch Patients!

ShelbyaStar · Mar 28, 2015

ThinBabe, do you have a CNA license yet?
I struggled with some of these issues when I first started my journey 2 years ago and made the choice to start out by diving straight into CNA to see if I could handle it. Turns out that over time I felt more and more comfortable touching patients and I think I was more careful than other students in my class, because I wanted to ensure I was washing my hands correctly each time and taking all precautions needed that I noticed several students skipping.
If you haven't tried a CNA program I highly recommend you try it NOW so you don't find out later that you wasted so much time doing something you won't be able to handle.

Good advice. I've been squeamish in the past and was pretty sure I was better, but not positive. I got a job at a group home, bonus being that I didn't have to pay for certification first but still did a fair amount of cares.

zsoontobeRN · Mar 28, 2015

be a doctor. they can get away without touching any patient. it will be impossible to become a nurse without touching a pt or wipping a butt. i am sorry. its part of the deal.

BigSteve · Mar 28, 2015

I like your user name-Thinbabe, Cute!

Lol at your name... The gooch ðŸ˜‚please google it if you don't know it's a slang term for the area a mans balls and orifice ðŸ˜‚

Eru IlÃºvatar · Mar 28, 2015

I'm a pre-nursing student. I'm also a total germaphobe. Have been my entire life. I want to be a nurse and help others. My personality is very nurturing but I'm not sure I would enjoy touching people. Is there a type of nurse that can help patients without physically coming in contact with them?

Stay away from any medical profession if you have a phobia of touching people. If you really enjoy helping and nurturing others there are plenty of fields out there. .

Eru IlÃºvatar · Mar 28, 2015

be a doctor. they can get away without touching any patient. it will be impossible to become a nurse without touching a pt or wipping a butt. i am sorry. its part of the deal.

Your assumption is incorrect. During MED school you will touch cadavers, people, and something in between.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2015

Speech therapy is another avenue you could consider if you would like to be in a helping profession. It offers job security, a higher salary than nursing and the option to work in many settings such as schools, hospitals, home health and rehab facilities. A Master's degree is required.

I have a friend who's an SLP. She always said she didn't like drool and such, and now she owns her own (big and very successful) SLP practice where, by her own description, she spends most of her days on the floor with drooling toddlers and young children-- and loves it.

And then of course, there's the swallowing evals that involve a certain amount of patient interaction. :)

TheGooch · Mar 28, 2015

The Gooch was a character on Different Stroke.

Dexterosa · Mar 28, 2015

Hi,

nursing is about lot of things people consider disgusting. People will fart in your face, they will poop over you, they will throw up on you, they will bleed over you, they will spit on you, they will have smelly wounds, and many patients well, they do have all sort of bugs and are not the best friend with hygiene.

I have to agree, as a germaphobe - you have two options:

1. to quit - you will suffer and as well will your patients and coworkers with you, because they will have to pick up your slack. Patient because you will not help them. And reality is that one you enter the hospital door it is like entering the germ factory. As is any public place, I am not going to scare you.

The second option:

2. get over it STAT! - can you do it? Can you touch smelly patient with large wounds who is in diarrhea from head to toe and wash him/her up right now?

There is very little opportunities of the nursing without straight patient care, and those are hard to get, they usually hire nurses with lot of experience, and they are not exactly "helping people" positions.

If you are caring, nurturing, psychology could be good call for you, you could be psychologist, not touching or very limited! Just wipe the chair and knob when patient leaves and you could help a great deal!!!

I am sure there are also lot of volunteering opportunities out there and not touching is allowed!

No Stars In My Eyes · Mar 29, 2015

I read the OP to my husband, who stopped dead in his tracks, frowned, and said, "How can you do that, be a nurse without touching a patient?" He paused a moment, shook his head and said, "That's too confusing for me to even think about!"

PG2018 · Mar 29, 2015

Psychiatric nursing is probably your best bet, and you could get a job as a new grad in that field. Addictions would be another option. If you're interested in mental health and totally averse to touching then it'd probably be easier to become a LCSW.

Frankly, I don't like touching people either although I managed to get through nursing school ok. People say "you get used to poop." This guy doesn't want to get used to it. I worked in a medical-surgical unit, did some office work, worked in an ER, and now briefly work on a psych unit while wrapping up my MSN/psych nurse practitioner program. As long as I stay above the waist it isn't too bad, but when excrement, feet, buttholes, or genitals start coming out...it's time to run the other way.

Angeljho, MSN, NP · Mar 29, 2015

I'm a pre-nursing student. I'm also a total germaphobe. Have been my entire life. I want to be a nurse and help others. My personality is very nurturing but I'm not sure I would enjoy touching people. Is there a type of nurse that can help patients without physically coming in contact with them?

1) So... How exactly are you planning to get through nursing clinicals without "touching" people? I think this should be your focus right now because you absolutely cannot become any type, kind, or form of nurse without passing several clinical components which consist of touching patients.

2) A nurturing personality is not a prerequisite for nursing.

Gooselady, BSN, RN · Mar 29, 2015

The OP has got to be a troll, but the question has it's interesting points

Anafranil, an old tricyclic antidepressant, works well to lessen OCD symptoms, of which the OP appears to have a crippling case.

I have run into people and a couple of patients who had strong aversion to 'germs'. Their level of aversion was clearly irrational and fed imaginatively by some serious delusion and anxiety.