I've always thought I had a stomach of steel, so I really surprised myself today.
My clinical group and I were asked to administer a bed bath to a patient on a ventilator, and I've given bed baths before so I thought it was going to be no big deal.
As it turns out, I was completely unprepared for what I saw. This patient had an ulcer on his sacrum all the way down to the bone. This person also doesnt use a bedpan or wear protection, so you can imagine what was all over this patient's body. I don't know how normal that is, but it doesn't seem right at all!!
he was also in so much pain and had zero control over his situation. the sight of unbearable human suffering and the smell of the mess that this person was laying in caused my body to act in such an undesirable way that I almost passed out and became the patient.
I had to remove myself from the room to empty the contents of my stomach no matter how hard i tried, i couldn't seem to perform the task at hand. i knew that this patient needed my help, but i had to leave or else i would have thrown up everywhere...
my question to y'all is how do you keep your body from reacting in such a situation??
A classmate asked me why I was so upset and after I told her what happened, she rolled her eyes and said "you just have to be positive with those patients."
to say the least, that wasn't helpful!
also, is it practice to let bedridden patients defecate everywhere without use of a bedpan or an adult incontinence pad?!
The smells and the sights are just something you get used to over time-I never did the Vicks thing. If I walk into a room that smells horrible, I take a few giant whiffs-after the initial shock, I don't notice the smell anymore.
As for the sight of human suffering though, thats not something you ever just "get used to"-and if you do, it's probably time to leave the profession.
The fact that it affected you on such a visceral level is actually a good thing-it means you care. You just need to learn how to channel that feeling into action-next time you have that patient, hold his hand, stroke his head, talk to him-focus on HIM as a human being, not his wounds and the contents of his bowels.
To further that point, although maybe not really pleasant, I thought assessing the smell of stool (to determine abnormalities) was one of the assessments you're responsible for.
no matter how hard i tried, i couldn't seem to perform the task at hand. i knew that this patient needed my help, but i had to leave or else i would have thrown up everywhere...
semester1kid
215 Posts
To further that point, although maybe not really pleasant, I thought assessing the smell of stool (to determine abnormalities) was one of the assessments you're responsible for.