Fellow student is....a little stinky

[wants2BRN]

Well, actually he's a lot stinky. He is a very, very, nice man and smart! He just has major B.O. and he can stink up a whole room. I think it's a cultural thing, he's not originally from the U.S. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm wondering why our instructors haven't addressed this issue because clinicals are around the corner and if I were a patient I would most certainly complain.

[sis N]

HAHA! Body odor is something every human being has but some are just more gifted than others. we all have stunk on one day or the other , just so you know while you are smelling a stinky odor from someone else, guess what ! someone else may have smelt the same stinky smell from you but you just haven't been told . Education is key !

[cmonkey]

I don't bathe every day, and I don't stink. Believe me, I'd hear about it if I did.

I think it's worth noting that if your classmate plans on working in the US, he should be aware that the cultural norm here is to be terrified of body odors of any sort, unless applied. Bathing in Axe is a great example. A hideous olfactory offense, IMO, but proves my point quite nicely: Americans are scared of smelling. We bathe obsessively, slather on lotions, creams, unguents; we spray, spritz, and powder. We cannot stand the smell of the human body.

So if he plans on working here, and I assume he does if he's attending school here, he may want to consider bowing to the cultural imperative. It's not a cap on where he comes from, on his culture, or a personal dig. It's acknowledging that in THIS culture, in THIS country, as a whole, we are a people who want to smell a certain way, and he does not fall into that narrow rubric.

I'll wager he hears about it at job interviews, or at least when he doesn't get the jobs.

Personally, as long as it's not days-old, I don't mind the smell of sweat at all. Go out and chop wood or play a hard game of basketball and I think you smell gooooood. Leave it on overnight and you sleep on the floor. I'm just sayin'.

[mswhite]

i once had a coworker with a terrible BO problem who came from another country. i have worked with a total of 4 people with BO problems. they all came from the same continent. im not stating that americans do not have the same issues...but im reflecting that the majority of people i've encountered with body odors tend to come from a particular continent. the odor was horrible. I never mustered up the courage to tell them about their odor..my 11 year old daughter informed me about a classmate of hers that comes to school smelly...so does her brother..and one time when her mom was called to come to school..she too was smelling real bad...my question is...how could do you tell a person about their hygiene without putting them on the defense? i am not picking on any particular group..im just stating my observation

[SL2014]

just pull him aside and tell him nicely. look up conditions that can cause this and possible solutions to his problem and offer these solutions when you tell him so that he will have the impression that you are not trying to be mean, you are trying to help. do no do not do not just go tell your teacher, that is just all the more embarassing for him because he will know that (a) student(s) told the teacher and he will feel uneasy in his class and around his peers. if you stunk and you were unaware, would you want everyone talking about it or would you just want someone to tell you????

[SL2014]

And as far as it being cultural YES it is. NOT BECAUSE IT IS IN THEIR CULTURE TO STINK, but because they typically eat the same genre of food (you are what you eat) and have the same feelings about deodorants, perfumes and how often to bathe. Also there are some products that some nationalities use that make them smell a certain way, oils ect. JUST TELL THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a lot of cultures like this and it is not a negative thing at all because it is not a character fault, its life.

Go wear perfume/body spray in france, see how many disgusted looks YOU get.

Solution-Don't put it on in france.

conformity to social norms is neccesary, especially if you are living in a place for a long period of time.

[CrazierThanYou]

I used to work with some women who were from Africa and did not believe in using deodorant. We worked in the kitchen of a restaurant and you can just imagine the stench. Management talked to them repeatedly regarding their BO but to no avail. You would think that most people wouldn't want to go around stinking to the clouds but these women just didn't care.

I wonder if an instructor could speak to him about this? I have worked in several different places where managers and such would speak to people about their "offensive odors".

I can totally sympathize with you, as BO can almost make me gag in some situations.

[Miss Chybil RN, BSN, RN]

When we received our clinical instructions they said to shower, wear clean uniforms, use non-scented deodorant, and do not use scented lotions or perfumes. Period.

[psalm, RN]

Sometimes the person may be clean but their clothes aren't laundered properly (not enuff detergent to get the odors out) or not often enough. I have an acquaintence that has a fungal smell to her. It's her dirty clothes on a clean body. No one in her family likes to do laundry and so they just pick stuff off the floor and wear it. I avoid being around her in closed areas (cars, rooms, etc).

Sometimes it is poor hygiene, other times it is the person's food choices. Sometimes it is a disease process...critical thinking! We had a patient who had breast cancer stage 4 untreated...she just ignored her rotting breast. Horrible smell, even with our peppermint sticks...even down the hallway.