Did you once feel uncomfortable with blood, needles,vomit etc?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Im asking myself if I really want to spend my whole career life encountering blood, needles and vomit on a daily basis.I have the desire to help people , but I just cant help feeling icky when I see blood and smell vomit! Will I get use to it? Do you advice me to consider another career? Did you get use to it???

needles and blood . . .no biggie . .

vomit is my nemesis too ;) i could never binge and purge. never.

dentures - make me queasy. sputum too.

but, you get over it and get on with it. time helps.

steph

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Dentures don't make me queasy, but they do scare me. I'm afraid I'm gonna get bit. I don't know how dentists do it...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

No, blood does not bother me, nor does vomit, internal organs or feces unless the patient is on Golytely--lol. You will get used to it dont worry.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

I used to be deathly afraid of getting my blood drawn - so much that I had more than one family member/friend laugh his or her you-know-what off at me when I announced that I was going to nursing school.

You get over it VERY quickly, I'm happy to say. 'Tis better to give than to receive!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in MICU/SICU.
... even at a young age was helping with the laboring and pulling of pigs.... ...I also worked them over which consisted of giving shots and clipping teeth... only now, it's on people instead of animals! ;-)

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

:lol2: :rotfl: :lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Dialysis, Home Care, Hospice.

sputum is my thing. I'd rather chop off my right hand than deal with a trach and God help me if Pseudomonas is involved. I literally suctioned a pt, went to the bathroom and vomited then went back in to finish. Uuugghhh.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

:lol2: :rotfl: :lol2:

;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Guess whose 6 year old son woke up at midnight and vomited a huge amount of chunky emesis? And continued all night long. And just did the same thing at noon when we tried to see if he could tolerate chicken soup?:o

steph

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.
Guess whose 6 year old son woke up at midnight and vomited a huge amount of chunky emesis? And continued all night long. And just did the same thing at noon when we tried to see if he could tolerate chicken soup?:o

steph

Awwww poor little guy, I hope he feels better soon!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.

i can remember as a child (third grade) on a field trip to the school of medicine (usc) and seeing all these various procedures on tv screens, having an md pull out a healthy and unhealthy lung out of a jar filled with formaldehyde and his explaining the bleak ramfications of smoking; i can remember having to excuse myself and wait outside, the nausea was unbearable.

i can remember being at the oakland children's hospital after my 3 year old daughter had had a febrile siezure; how steril the place looked with babies crying and nurses commanding us to leave the room while they drew blood and having my wife in a state of dread not allowed to be there for her daughter who screamed over and over for her mommy. now this was in progressive oakland ca mind you!:uhoh3:

so i became a nurse and i no longer have feelings of nausea. excuse me, i'll take that back. sputum, lots of it oozing out of a mouth or trache causes me nausea! and so does having to get a stool sample; it's just gross dealing with it. i've found ways to deal! like concentrating on doing the dirty task quick and efficiently less time will be spent recovering. taking big breaths of fresh air and holding my breath while in a stinky room to gather quick facts, like the level of the foley (urine output) bag. and breathing through my mouth not my nose has definitely cured me of gagging in the presence of my patients.

good luck to you; hope you make the right choice! if i had it all to do over again, i would still have chose nursing. it's just to cool a field of endeavor to trash for a little nausea now and then again!

ps, i only once had a patient's family member leave the room. ok more than once for dressing changes lol and new admit assessments. for the most part families are your best support as the nurse. they'll back you up if you are teaching something to the patient that the patient is reluctant to hear.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I can take pretty much anything, but when manipulating a quadriplegics leg to take photos of a massive bedsores, his leg made a noise, and i was scared that it was going to come off in my hand that and the smell from the necrotic pusy bedsores, did it for me, had to leave the room get a duck mask on and go back and finish, needless to say, ididn't eat anything that night.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

i'm like you, frodo.

nothing bothers me visually.

but to this day, i've never adjusted to certain smells and sounds.

leslie

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment