Emetophobia and Nursing

daisygirl5 · Dec 26, 2015

I do. Honestly I do better when it's vomit due to surgery etc. it's a fear I'll probably always have but I just try to keep my patients on anti emetics at the first sign of nausea! Honestly there's more poop than vomit in my opinion!

middleagednurse · Dec 26, 2015

You do get used to things after a lot of exposure. You learn to not breathe, and to not think too hard about what you are experiencing.

brownbook · Dec 26, 2015

I have no evidenced based practice to base this on, but it seems like normal human instinct for people to feel nauseated, hate to see or hear, other people throwing up. I suppose there are different degrees of reaction, from ew, that is gross, but going about your business, to running to the toilet.

It might even be a built in safety mechanism. I imagine primitive humans eating around the fire, the food is "bad," the first person to eat throws up, the rest throw up at the sight, sound, of the first person even if they have not eaten much.

Anyway, I do think you will get used to it. There are areas of nursing where it might happen a lot. There are areas where it is rare. Even working in PACU where nausea used to be expected, today with improved anesthesia and pre-medicating with anti-emetics, I rarely see it. I still don't like to see or hear it, but I can handle it.

Karou · Dec 26, 2015

I hate throwing up, and seeing someone throw up. If I see or hear a patient throwing up or gagging, if they show me their emesis, then my mouth starts watering with that "I am about to retch" feeling and my abdominal muscles tense/cramp.

My aversion to vomit has never entirely gone away, but has gotten better. I have some tips that I do to avoid wanting to barf right in the patients room myself.

I don't look at it unless I need to (to see if there is blood in it, or measure it). I do not breathe through my nose to avoid smelling it. Cleaning up vomit is one task that I almost always delegate... Everyone knows it's my weakness! I'll clean up a c-diff patient for the PCT though

You learn to handle it better and hide your disgust (because seriously, the patient doesn't want to know you want to hurl also).

I had a patient projectile vomit tomato soup on me recently. I froze at first, then totally dissociated myself from the situation so I could help the patient. I threw away my jacket after. It was white :tears:

At least I didn't throw up in the patients room! Lol.

Serhilda, ADN, RN · Dec 27, 2015

I don't have this particular phobia but many years ago I did have agoraphobia, the fear of going outside. I've fully overcome my phobia now and it took me a few years for the panic attacks to completely stop. I don't even question going outside now. The only solution, and the solution I used, is to desensitize yourself to it through something like cognitive behavioral therapy. I'd highly suggest trying this yourself first by looking up youtube videos of people vomiting or something similar to that effect. There was a great TV program that showed people with OCD and phobias overcoming them through exposure therapy. It's all the same concept. Find something that induces extreme anxiety within you and do it. Rate your anxiety each time and stay in that uncomfortable state until your anxiety starts to come down.

The only way to overcome a phobia is to expose yourself to it again, and again, and again. You have to. There's no magic pill, there's no easy way around it. Good luck, you can do it!

Lulu Belle, RN, EMT-B · Dec 27, 2015

I used to have panic attacks at the mention of nausea, I kid you not. Full out hyperventilating, dizzy, nauseous, sobbing, panic attacks.

After dating someone who used to barf at the drop of a hat, and after becoming an EMT/CNA, I've become fairly desensitized to non-contagious vomit. I still avoid it at all costs and become nauseated at the sight but no more panic attacks.

My point is you will, believe it or not, get used to it. If I can do it anyone can!

pookyp, LPN · Dec 27, 2015

I have emetophobia. It has held me back from having my dtr so late. Was afraid that I was going to vomit. I had no Morning sickness thank god! I still have the fear but is getting slightly better since having my dtr. I never thought in a million years I would be cleaning someone's vomit! But kids are unpredictable. As a nurse, I try to zone out and find my happy place. I used to run at the sound or sight of vomit! No lie! Like full blown running! Lol

When it's contagious like norovirus I wash my hand constantly and wipe everything down. I'm super paranoid still.

WishUponMyRN7 · Dec 27, 2015

I worry about the same thing. I feel like I can get past my squeamishness at times. I've heard horror stories already. I hope I can deal with it.

emmy27 · Dec 27, 2015

Anything that you deal with frequently you gradually desensitize to, although if you're starting from the level of true phobia, some sessions with a cognitive-behavioral therapist who specializes in phobias might be a good idea.

I've been a nanny, a vet tech, a human tech, and a nurse- all jobs that involve a lot of cleaning up bodily effluvia- and it feels very different at work then it does in your personal life. I clean up bodily waste at work without a second thought, but I still get grossed out by it happening at home or in public- it's very context-dependent. At work, you're in your professional role considering why the patient produced this mess and what you can do to fix it, you're wearing scrubs and closed-toe shoes, you have all the right equipment to clean it up, almost all the surfaces are wipe-clean, and you have a big blue laundry bin to toss things in to, never to worry about again. It's just not the same, not nearly as horrifying, as realizing a member of your family has tossed their cookies on the couch or whatever.

ponymom · Dec 30, 2015

First time I ever handled a bedpan (diarrhea too) in clinical I really did vomit in my mouth. My partner handed the bedpan to me because she was worse off than me! And then the toilet wouldn't flush! and the poor resident kept going and going...and the smell. And I had vomit in my mouth...My instructor said she had never seen anyone's eyes get so big LOL. That was the first time I ever changed anyone (I never had children) and oh boy what an initiation. We both handled it with dignity and get-er-doneness for our resident, but we were both sweating when we left that room. I was actually a *little* bit nervous about the next day, but I focused on the how the poor resident must have felt.

I am a farm girl and have handled fire hose diarrhea in cows and horses, cat vomit on the floor (barefoot in the dark of course), scraped the hog pen, pumped out the manure pit and have since followed behind the cna picking up peices of human feces as she helped a resident to the bathroom, but that first bedpan in clinical was truly a seminal event. Now, not so big a deal, just one more task.