What is the grossest thing you have encountered in clinicals?

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Thought this would be an interesting thread to start to give new students the "harsh reality" :rotfl: of what to expect as we enter our first semester.

obviously i don't have all of the facts but, what if the RN assesed the patient 30 min before shift change report and the woman tried to committed suicide within that time frame? How close to report time is the last assessment supposed to be done? ( i am a student so asking all you nurses) I guess i am not quite sure why the nurse lost her license, you can't be everywhere all the time.....

The question to ask here is what the "suicide precaution" consisted of for this situation. I have worked in some facilities that require a sitter 24/7 when the patient is on regular med/surg floor. Then others where q15 minute checks are required; either by RN or CNA.

If the existing policy was for the RN to check on the patient q 15 mins, then she did have liability issues; not that necessarily that would have prevent the tragic event.

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I have been a nurse for almost 10 years and not too long ago had a nasty experience. I took off a foot dressing on a new admit who came from home. He said he just wrapped his foot cuz it was sore. Well, I take off the dressing and about 1000 skittering nasty little maggots took off!! EWWWWW those little buggers can run, or slither or whatever it is they do! They were everywhere, looked like some one spilled a bag of cooked rice in that dressing!!!

You would be surprised....they probably did more good than harm :)

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My other one was a pilonidal cyst. If you don't know what those are-be glad. If you do, you may be able to identify with me. I'll keep this one to a minimum, though. I was assisting in draining one of those and got sprayed with the contents. Thankfully, I live close and got to go home to change, but I felt contaminated for a LONG time.

I know now!...Pilonidal Cyst

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One of my fellow nursing students, who has experience as a CNA/PCT states that there is a way of breathing that can help you withstand terrible odors. Is anyone familiar with this technique?

I'm not positive, but I think breathing throught your mouth instead of through your nose should help get rid of yucky smells. Bypasses a lot of the olfactory receptors.

Edited to add: Last week I saw something that topped my grossest thing seen so far. I was helping out with a dressing change on a gentleman who had both Necrotizing Fascitis and Gangrene all along his back and buttocks and spread to his front all around his member. The wound was infected with a lot of different bugs including pseudomonas. It was about 1/2 inch deep all along and was undermined by about a full inch all the way along the perimeter of the wound. The poor man was in so much pain throughout, even though he was on a morphine drip. It was just awful.

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Specializes in Critical care.

Okay here is something to think about, I have too many stories but here are a few of them. As an ADN student I saw a pt with a stage 4+++ decub that was lower back maybe lumbar to member midway down femur, while working with the wound care nurse that day the head of his femur fell off, I did not get sick but it made me cringe. The second story comes from the days when I was a paramedic in a small community that also did p/u for the medical examiners, he looked like a short fat african-american that turned out to be a skinny white guy, it was summer time w/o ac, he had died about 9 days prior and had liquified but his skin stayed intact, when we moved him his arm pulled off and his content spilled unto the floor. I was the only one that kept from vomiting, I had to put flexall 454 under my nose which only helped a little. By the way, one of the people helping us move him fainted and fell on the floor, you guessed it right into to gross stuff.:imbar

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Okay here is something to think about, I have too many stories but here are a few of them. As an ADN student I saw a pt with a stage 4+++ decub that was lower back maybe lumbar to member midway down femur, while working with the wound care nurse that day the head of his femur fell off, I did not get sick but it made me cringe. The second story comes from the days when I was a paramedic in a small community that also did p/u for the medical examiners, he looked like a short fat african-american that turned out to be a skinny white guy, it was summer time w/o ac, he had died about 9 days prior and had liquified but his skin stayed intact, when we moved him his arm pulled off and his content spilled unto the floor. I was the only one that kept from vomiting, I had to put flexall 454 under my nose which only helped a little. By the way, one of the people helping us move him fainted and fell on the floor, you guessed it right into to gross stuff.:imbar

You win the grossest story award. YUCK! :stone

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I concur. Disgusting!

You win the grossest story award. YUCK! :stone
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just wondering from all of those horror stories, if youre a nurse, are you allowed to wear golves and a mask whenever you want (ie. assesing and interviewing the patient and other places, or how about, All The Time!!?) ?

not a nurse yet but i think id like to wear a mask, gloves, and a gown all the time, or at least a mask and gloves.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
The grossest thing I saw was while I was in nursing school in our OB rotation. The doctor that was delivering this lady was a woman doctor and she was quite unique. She never wore anything to cover up. Never wore the gown, or mask or anything and wore birkenstock sandals everyday. So....this lady is pushing, pushing, pushing, and finally the head comes out. And when it does, so does amniotic fluid and it goes everywhere...even in the doctors mouth. So instead of spitting, vomiting, or trying to wipe her mouth clean, she says "yum...yum...yum..." and smacks her lips together like it was the best dessert she had ever had. I had to hold back the gagging....it was disgusting. And needless to say...OB really wasn't my idea of a good time. :chuckle

that is without a doubt one of the grossest things I have ever seen . And I have done OB 7 years. I would had to write this one up; such a blatant violation of universal precautions. I DOUBT this is a dr. who cares a whip about not spreading infection to her patients. UGH. :angryfire

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
, he looked like a short fat african-american that turned out to be a skinny white guy, it was summer time w/o ac, he had died about 9 days prior and had liquified but his skin stayed intact, when we moved him his arm pulled off and his content spilled unto the floor. I was the only one that kept from vomiting, I had to put flexall 454 under my nose which only helped a little. By the way, one of the people helping us move him fainted and fell on the floor, you guessed it right into to gross stuff.:imbar

oh ick, YOU WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UNCLE!!! :chair:

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ewwww i agree!

the coolest thing i ever say was a vascular disease patient with a denuded leg from knee to ankle.... i changed the dressing for three weeks at clinical (she had had the wound for nealry 2 years) and it was REALLY COOL. she had no skin no granulation no sQ tissue...just muscle and drainage and it was really painful so it was about a 30 minute ordeal with lidacaine before you touched it...very very interesting to work with.

(i just finished my first quarter so i was pretty proud to get to play with that and a stage 4 decub where i actually touched a MS patients ischial tuberosity while packing i was like HOLY COW THAT WAS HER BONEEEEE!!! omg COOOOOL) okay if that means i'm kinda gross well.....ok i accept

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This was as a CNA but still fairly sick. I worked with a nurse who was completely burned out and honestly was a little dangerous. Once she changed a patients brief and then took her "dirty" glove off with her teeth :eek: . Another time she was asked to sign the death certificate and check the patients vitals on one of our patients. She came in and removed the IV's and then cut the patients dialysis shunt flush with the skin. The CNA's had already finished preparing the body for the funeral home. The patient bled out post-mortem. She tried to stop the flow of blood, drenching herself in blood, her hair fell in front of her face and she ran her bloody hand through her hair. It was a big disaster. They had to dig the end of the shunt out of the trash and tape it back together. There was so much blood that they had to throw out the mattress and a 5 gallon bucket full of towels. They didn't fire her, oh no, we are too short of nurses. They just put her on another unit away from the skilled pts. She eventually quit because she realized how dangerous she was. Still has here license and could get a job tommorow. :angryfire Something about this just doesn't seem right.

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