Need Some Advice! Please Help! I Dont Like BLOOD!

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Hi, I hope to get into nursing school this fall. I do have one problem. The site of blood makes me dizzy. Any advice? Will this pass as I go through school? Do I need to go into anther field? I have wanted to be a nurse since I was a child, but I don't want to be passing out on the job. I would love to hear something positive and any advice.

old-master

38 Posts

How bad is your fear of blood, passing out? weak legs?Someone with longer in school should response to this. But I do not like blood either, but it does not bother me to the point that it will stop my dream.:) Don't let this stop you!

old-master has spoken.....

GGingerSR

34 Posts

I have actually fainted at the site of blood before. I was in Church and my sister's nose started to bleed and I hit the floor. My poor Mom had to deal with her and me at the same time. Another time I was at the doctor and they had to draw some blood. I looked down at my arm and told my Mom I was going to faint. She did not believe me. I hit the floor again. I am 29, married with one child and the site of blood still bothers me. I dont pass out just get dizzy thank goodness ( with a six year old it would be a bad thing to pass out at the site of blood).

micro, RN

1,173 Posts

okay, this is from an oldtimer.........I have a pretty strong stomach..............and I have also been a nurse for 10+ years.........as well as into my fifth decade of life..........

So ask you very very few ?????????

If site of blood just makes you queasy!!!!!!! Join the nursing club.......No one wants to see it and it smells and it is never appropriate unless a patient is getting units of blood or in surgery............

but if YOU CAN'T STAND IT AND YOU HIT THE FLOOR when you do.........then yes sweetie.........

you will see blood, feces, urine, other body fluids, emesis and fluids that you don't even know what they are in your nursing career..

I have grown 99.9% immune to all the whiffs, sights and sounds of the fluids.........

What bothers me more is what the person/patient behind the fluids is going through.........and makes me want to strengthen my drive in nursing even more.

Don't know if I have been any help, but tried.

Micro :-/

KRVRN, BSN, RN

1,334 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

Well, I can't say for sure. But I do think you should go and read the thread "What freaks you out?" so you get an idea for how things CAN be in nursing. I THINK it's in the "off-topic" section of this website. Blood is the least of it. The other body fluids can be much grosser!

mozart

12 Posts

hi, i would say you should not be afraid of the sight of blood. i always ask myself how could some people are afraid of blood? i certainly have no idea. much worse is when you go to the operating room. the smell...only God knows....but i really support KRVRN that other fluids are much more grosser than blood!

berry

169 Posts

Specializes in ER/SICU.

I was a little bothered by blood when I first started. I am one of the students who never worked any kind of medical job and had zero clinical experience when I started school. I was worried more that I would hurl instead of faint. The first time I saw a lot of blood was during my med/surg clinical during my OR rotation. I was already nervous when I went in the room. I was watching a CABG while they took the vein from his leg I was feeling queasy and as they cracked his chest open, the Dr held the saw up after cutting the sternum. I saw the blade with blood, tissue and bone fragments on it. After that nothing bothered me it just kind of clicked I spent the next 2 hours standing on a stool next to CRNA with my head about 1 ½ feet above this guys open heart. I do believe you are desensitized to things. In addition, the school I am attending owns three hospitals and after your first clinical semester, will hire students into a tech pool (you float to different floors and units). This job has given me the opportunity to see everything and clean up everything you can imagine. The only thing that really gives me the "willies" now is suctioning a trach just that sound ughh. I finish my BSN in six months and have developed a strong stomach. I hope this encourages you. If someone had told me a few years ago I would be trying to get a job as a ER nurse I would have thought they were crazy, I guess its funny how things work out.

P.S its those students that talk big "I have been a Home health aide/CNA for years when are we going to see some blood and guts, start IVs, and ect..." are some of the first ones to hand off the task to somebody else.

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