I can smell poop...

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ED, ortho, urology.

Everywhere I go!

I can't help it, but it seems to be the smell that is everywhere.... is it just me?

And the smell of emptying a colostomy bag, it permeates everything. Still on my clothes when I get home!

Maybe I am just more sensitive to it now? It doesn't gross me out like it did before, but I just feel that I can always smell it, particularly when I go to certain places :)

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Carry a small jar of Vick's Vapo rub or Mentholatum with you and smear a bit beneath your nostrils. That's what coroners do to decrease odor.

I've also heard that if you keep your mouth shut while doing these tasks it helps a lot.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ED, ortho, urology.

I will do that!!

I once tried with the alco handwash that we have on the wards, but it just dried out the skin under my nose! (I was desperate at the time!)

Keeping my mouth shut....oh that could be hard, I'm a talker.... :)

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Specializes in LTC, Disease Management, smoking Cessati.
Everywhere I go!

I can't help it, but it seems to be the smell that is everywhere.... is it just me?

And the smell of emptying a colostomy bag, it permeates everything. Still on my clothes when I get home!

Maybe I am just more sensitive to it now? It doesn't gross me out like it did before, but I just feel that I can always smell it, particularly when I go to certain places :)

Try blowing your nose after you finish. That often helps too!

:specs:

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Sales people behind perfume counters have you sniff coffee beans to clear the nose between different scents. Maybe that would work. (Let us know if it does!) :chuckle

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On the floor I work, the poop odor is so foul after breakfast (9:00) and after lunch (2:00), that we can hardly breath. No ventilation is strong enough to vent out this smell. Some of the nurses put on mask and disposbale plastic covers over their clothes to do clean up work. They also have message oil they place in their mask to cover the smell until they finish the clean up.

Joke on our unit, if patient had good bowel movements before they came to the hospital, admissions would be cut in half. Most patients are full of poop and when this is evacuated, they tend to get well and go home.

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When I worked the floor it was always with me. That and sweaty, uriny crotch smell.

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Specializes in LTC/Skilled Care/Rehab.

I have had that smell follow me home even after showering and changing clothes. I don't know if it was all in my mind but it sure drove me crazy.

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I would tell you to breathe through your mouth.... however smells are really just tiny particles of the matter that you are smelling so.... Just be happy you aren't smelling C. Diff. Ugh...

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no, it's not just you michelle.

even if i can't smell it, my family always complains when i come home from work...

that i smell like poop or death.

part of the benefits package, i suppose.

leslie

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

A good saline rinse in the nares will also help get rid of these smells.

I will never forget the first night I started on med/surg....the GI bleeds were everywhere! Smelled that for weeks! EWWW!!!:no:

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Specializes in Acute rehab/geriatrics/cardiac rehab.

Yes.. my daughter used to complain when I'd come in that I smelled like the hospital. I learned to leave my nursing shoes outside the door in the garage... and one pair I retired and simply would not wear anymore... I threw them away though they were fairly new.. (I'll spare you the story behind that....)

Hope something helps you to decrease the smell .... :)

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