entering nursing, but can't handle vomit

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 19, 2006

hello, evbella,

i have never been able to overcome this. i normally gag and sometimes even vomit right along with them. i try to avoid vomiting individuals at all costs, but sometimes it is impossible.

this is the only part of nursing (smells, sights, sounds, etc) that i cannot handle.

reneemcsquared · Feb 19, 2006

When I entered nursing school, they had us fill out a card of what we were worried about. Mine said something like, "I don't like blood,it makes me feel like I am going to pass out. I don't like vomit, even the smell makes me gag. I don't like sputum, that makes me vomit." My instructors were quite careful the first year to give me only the most non body fluid patients they had. The other students could never figure out why I always got the easy assignments. Ten years later, I have worked med-surg, ChildBirth, and ambulatory care and never thrown up or passed out. I still don't like vomit (even our dogs) but in the workplace, I can handle it. That is such a small part of the job.

thumperRN · Feb 19, 2006

You'll get through it - I've been a nurse for a couple of years now and still have a hard time suctioning someone. I work with someone who has been a nurse about 20 years and still gags and almosts hurls when someone is incontinent of stool. Everyone has their glitches - no one is immune to everything. Just hang in there, you'll find a way to deal with this too. Here is some nice little smilies to help you deal - :barf01: :barf01: :barf01: LOL!

dazedandconfused · Feb 19, 2006

I can't really handle vomit myself. But even worse is suctioning a trach..yuck

I avoid it at all cost. Good thing I don't work in a department that requires it.

holmgirl21 · Feb 20, 2006

I work in a pediatric clinic, and I too, cannot stand the smell/sight of vomit. One day our NP walked out of a room after seeing a young boy and she told me that he had vomitted all over the floor and that it would need to be cleaned up. Ok so I sucked it up, gown...gloves...double mask....and cleaned it. I made it through. The very next week, I was sitting at my desk, and I heard a mother ask her young son, "Are you going to throw up?" Without even thinking, I grabbed my garbage by my desk and ran over to the child who was about to vomit. I got the garbage in front of the child right in the nick of time...thank goodness. Cleaning it once is enough for me to prevent it if I can!!