Ever Gag or Vimit While Doing the Job?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everyone...I am currently a pre-nursing student who cant wait to begin a nurse...but I have one BIG hurdle to get over....my weak somach

This may sound dumb but I was just wondering if during nursing school or even on the job did you ever gag in front of anyone and they saw you or actually vomit? That is my BIGGEST fear right now LOL Because I know I am going to be gagging my like crazy especially in the beginning until I get used to the gross stuff and was wondering if this is a problems other may have had

Specializes in Surgical Telemetry.

I myself am not a poop person. I deal with it because it's just what you do but as an aide many times I gagged while cleaning patients. I just hate it. I even gag at cleaning up dog poop too.

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Specializes in LTC.

I had a cancer pt. with gas once who decided to let go while I was changing him. I gagged through it but finished the job. Some odors get to me much more than others but you do learn to deal with it... try mouth breathing and humming something under your breath.. usually helps me. And then when you're finished... do not think about it! You don't want any latent gags while doing something unrelated... LOL:imbar

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I gagged once and ALMOST threw up while changing someone with a BM. I was surprised that I didn't throw up, usually it doesnt bother me too much but this time I almost barfed

Its natural...we dont have iron stomachs...we are human!

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Specializes in L&D, Family Practice, HHA, IM.
Been in nursing for years and some things still make me gag although it's been a long time since I actually vomited in front of a patient. It's uncontrollable and nothing for which to be ashamed. It happens to all of us...

Absolutely the truth!

Another key point to remember is that you are there for the pt, and if you have to step out to vomit or end up puking right along with them, take a few minutes, rinse out your mouth, and go back to work. We are HUMAN. I think we all tend to forget that and come down way too hard on ourselves.

PS. Leslie, kudos on being there for your pt. I can't imagine how you did it but I think it helped him to know that someone was right there with him, even through the worst of it. :bow:

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I haven't gagged at school/clinicals yet, but I'm sure I will. Last week at clinical I had a patient who likes to 'dig' and had done so during the night, with a full brief...I just said to myself, 'oh, man, that sucks' and got on with cleaning her up. The other student who was helping me made comments about the smell, and said 'that's so gross!' a couple times. IMHO that could be a dignity issue--everyone poops, and needing help is nothing to be ashamed of, and if someone cleaning me up said 'eww, gross!' I would probably feel ashamed. Anyway, the only thing I've gagged over so far was a group home resident (at my job prior to starting school) passing gas. OMG she could clear a room, and she knew it. Even her occasional smearing behaviors didn't gross me out as much as her farts. I'm getting gaggy just thinking about it. Pleh!

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Specializes in Telemetry.
i had a 13 yo hospice pt who was vomiting his feces, blood and tissue/pieces of his tumors.

we're talking about abrupt and projectile vomiting.

those present, either scurried out of the room or turned their backs.

i jumped onto his bed so i could hold him while he vomited...

but the smell made me gag so much that i ended up vomiting.

i chose not to go running in the bathroom, because i didn't want to abandon him.

he was absolutely terrified so i chose to puke with him.

leslie

You are awesome. :heartbeat

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Specializes in acute care.

I gag when patients won't let me clean the poo out of their nails, but they insist on trying to touch my face

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The other student who was helping me made comments about the smell, and said 'that's so gross!' a couple times. IMHO that could be a dignity issue--everyone poops, and needing help is nothing to be ashamed of, and if someone cleaning me up said 'eww, gross!' I would probably feel ashamed.

the "that's so gross!" comment was just soooo inappropriate...

not cool at all.

i'm relieved to read of your sensitivity to your pt's self consciousness.

you're right.

it's all about maintaining one's dignity.

leslie

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Nursing Education.

I did once while I was a brand new grad and giving a milk of molasses enema...

I did not mean to, at all... and I felt horrible. I just handed it over to the nurse who was helping me, said I needed to step out, and stepped out into the hall and barfed. I felt so bad, but every single time I smell MOM I still gag... I cannot do it. It is the one thing I just... can NOT do.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

There are several things that make me gag. I'm not a puker, though, so usually I gag, and/or dry heave, which I'm pretty good at hiding.

For me its other people vomiting, really really stinky things, and anything that involves the sounds of respiratory secretions.

I just keep on working as I'm gagging away....:rolleyes:

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Nursing Education.
I had a cancer pt. with gas once who decided to let go while I was changing him. I gagged through it but finished the job. Some odors get to me much more than others but you do learn to deal with it... try mouth breathing and humming something under your breath.. usually helps me. And then when you're finished... do not think about it! You don't want any latent gags while doing something unrelated... LOL:imbar

I had a patient go who was very elderly, very very sick, and very very emanciated. In palliative care. He went while we were cleaning him up, and we turned him on his second side to finish cleaning him (we were almost done) and we were like.... oh, sorry sir you're not done (so we looked up at him, as we had been busy at the task at hand)... then he rattled... and then he was gone...

it was so sad. i / we felt horrible. we didn't say anything in the room. we finished what we were doing really quickly. Laid him back, and covered him back up. I called out for the nurse while the other girl held his hand and talked to him.

He was there when we started and turned him over. He wasn't there afterwards.

Afterwards the other tech I was with was like... "We killed him!!" We both felt bad, but really, it was just his time to go. I don't think it was the physical activity of us moving him, and I don't think he would have wanted to lay in that as he passed anyway. What was even sadder was that the poor man had no family. :( it was just a coincidence... that it just happened to coincide with a change of briefs.

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Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

I've never gagged or vomited in or around a patient, not that things don't bother me, but I use a trick my husband taught me. He is an EMT, and often has to to "ripe" body removals.

Try holding just the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth for say, ten minutes. Concentrate, it's not easy to do. While I'm concentrating on that, I'm cleaning up GI bleed poop or holding a patient while they vomit. It has helped me.

I've also used Vicks vapor rub on my upper lip for those putrid infected sores that smell like a rotten corpse. That helps too.

Just a couple of suggestions.

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