I cannot get past the "Phelgm" issue.

1Tulip · Nov 9, 2005

Just do it more. Focus on the good it does the patient to get that crap out.

Suctioning is a nursing action. But being able to record what's coming out is part of your assessment. Is there more of it than yesterday? Is it changing color? (can indicate bacterial infection) how well is the patient doing in mobilizing it? Is it getting thicker and drier suggesting the patient needs more hydration?

Everyone has their queasy thing. (For me it's pus.) But you gotta keep your mind in the game and make the observations that are important.

ccurtis · Nov 9, 2005

My hangup is vomit. From what I understand, we all have one. Even our instructors. My instructor also has a "sputum" aversion. As long as she has been doing it, this still gets to her.

I don't know if it helps you feel any better. Just know that we all have that one hurdle. Maintain your focus, and hopefully exposure will help de-sensitize you.

Good luck,

Ccurtis

crb613, BSN, RN · Nov 9, 2005

I am right there w/ya! I stand there gagging & eyes watering...I absolutely cannot help it. Ugggh just the thought......I hope some one has a solution but all I can do is tell ya.....I feel your pain & I mean I really feel it! :chuckle

Josh L.Ac. · Nov 9, 2005

When I did an internship in China, there were spittoons (sp?) in the hallways of the hospital I was at. One time we were observing a very old female doctor treating paralysis...she hacked up some phlegm, put the acupuncture needles down, walked out into the hall, and loudly spit. Then she walked back in like nothing happened and continued to needle the patient along the spine. It was priceless.

Even more priceless was after 4 weeks in China, I started hacking and spitting on the street.

1Tulip · Nov 9, 2005

Ethnic Nursing Issues:

My sister lives in the deep south. One of her chronic lung patients complained she couldn't get the "flame" up from her chest. So don't know what the Chinese call it, but in some parts of the south, sputum/phlegm is known as "flame".

misschelei · Nov 9, 2005

ICK! I can't even stand reading about it and I'm an ICU and PICU nurse. I'm usually up to my eyeballs in it. I just take a deep breath and get it done then go scrub my up to my elbows. When I was in nursing school I used to trade fellow students their diarrhea duty for my mouth care. Once I was suctioning and my clinical instructor waited until after I was finished to inform me my trach pt had spewed in my hair. She knew I would have freaked out.

SS0355 · Nov 9, 2005

I'm about to become a nursing student, and I'm sure I'm going to empathize with all of ya.

Wowser

SS0355 · Nov 9, 2005

I'm about to become a nursing student, and I'm sure I'm going to empathize with all of ya.
Wowser

RN_Jen · Nov 11, 2005

Ethnic Nursing Issues:
My sister lives in the deep south. One of her chronic lung patients complained she couldn't get the "flame" up from her chest. So don't know what the Chinese call it, but in some parts of the south, sputum/phlegm is known as "flame".

LOL....sounds like it might be an accent thing, as in "Ah cain't git the flame (phlAEgm) up" :chuckle

Altra, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2005

Hi guys. I am doing really well in my nursing classes.....but in clinicals I am having a really hard time dealing with pts phelgm(sp). I almost fainted the other week during trach care. It was awful. Does anyone know something I can do to get over this? Please help.

I totally agree with the poster who said that you just have to keep doing it. It does get better.

I'm right there w/ya on the phlegm/sputum thing ... it can send me right over the edge.

PS: I work in the ER. There's a lot of phlegm, as well as every other bodily fluid imaginable. And some you can't really imagine until you've experienced it. Go figure ... :smackingf

Hang in there. :)

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Nov 12, 2005

Interesting to see what my adversion will be when I start nursing school. I heard that practice makes it better though. Good luck