Gross Me Out ? Contest | Nurses Week

[Joe V]

Month-Long Nurses Week Celebration Starts Today! Nurses Week Contest #6

You ever had those moments that you just want to barf? Of course you have! In this glorious Nurses Week contest, I want you to make us do just that. ? Is that too disgusting? 'Cmon. This will be fun. Share your 'Oh gross' moment and you can win a $100 Amazon Gift Card courtesy of allnurses Ebooks! 

More Nurses Week Contests

Contest Rules

You can submit any story but only those that follow the below rules will be considered for the $100 Amazon Gift Card.

1. Open to registered allnurses.com members only. (Free and quick to Register)
2. Each story will be reviewed for originality.
3. You must share your stories below.
4. You can submit more than one story.
5. One winner will be announced.

This contest is sponsored by allnurses Ebooks.

Quality Nursing Ebooks. Anytime. Anywhere. Our ebooks are created by nurses, educators, students, and healthcare professionals. We have one goal - To help you succeed in your nursing career.

[Terri Greene]

It was the 1990’s when we were still giving tPa for acute MI’s .... and working 8 hour shifts. At 2245 the code blue alert sounds above us. My friend says to me “come with me” to one last code before we go home for the night. I reluctantly agree. We found a 50 something lady in the ED having a Stemi & she kept going into Vtach requiring cardioversion. After 3 times the poor honey was going to vomit and I was checking a manual BP (tPa) and she sat up and vomited straight on the top of my head. All the other nurses jumped when she started to vomit but no one told me and I didn’t hear her. Picture me with vomit on my head and hair walking to the bathroom bent over so it doesn’t run into my face. Good Times! Oh- and she survived! ?

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

New grad in a 500 bed hospital. Lady admitted to our floor after being found at home on the floor for who knows how long. HUGE sacral decubitus, full of maggots....38 years ago so the details are fuzzy but that one stands out! I remember doing dressing changes and the smell being horrid.

[Putthefuinfun, ASN, RN]

I've had sacral wounds I could stick both fists in, and I'm a 6'3 man. Sucks that they get that bad, but you learn which ones are worth trying to fix, and which are a lost cause.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

One word, and one story which did not happen to me but it’s been reported here before. It’s just so outstandingly eeeewwww-producing I can’t think of another worse one. 
Story first: Nurse walks into room and sees patient’s husband standing at the side of his wife’s bed having intercourse ... with her colostomy stoma. 

Single word, which was my experience: Maggots.

That is all. 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Well, OK, there was the woman I had who would swallow sharp things and we had to watch her in the bathroom to retrieve her BMs to find them, like tacks, soda can pop-tops, and such. Once while I was at lunch the nurse covering her for me turned away from her for just a sec, looking back just soon enough to see the woman retrieve a pop-top from the commode bucket — and swallow it on the spot. 

[Davey Do]

23 hours ago, Putthefuinfun said:

 fecal matter shot all over my scrubs.

Reminds me of a time that I was assisting a geriatric psych patient into bed and believe he knowingly, with malice in his heart, aimed his orifice so he could Hershey squirt all over my shoes.

Another geriatric psych patient, who was very entertaining, peed in a cup, drank it, said "Aaaaah!" and gave me an okay sign.

[spotangel, DNP, RN, NP]

OK ! Saudi Arabia, many moons ago, I worked as a primary care nurse in a  big health center  set up for trauma that served five  nearby villages. One night we got a three car accident and we all rushed in to help. We had 2 minor ORs and I went through the swing doors of one grabbing and donning gloves. I saw a man on the OR table and ran to him. He didn’t respond to me and I gently turned his head to get a good carotid pulse and realized that what was on my hands was his brains and he was obviously dead. I backed out of the OR, shaking ,peeling off my gloves and moved to the next room. I can still see his face and the brain! He looked so peaceful! 7 family members died, two of them brothers. The third brother who survived with no injuries died two days later from a snake bite after coming home from the hospital where he had dropped his wife who was giving birth! I never forgot that family!

[T-Bird78]

Wow, just one to pick?  Hmm.

I was getting ready to take my son to school. He was digging in his nose and I told him to stop as I went out to start my car. I came back in and told him it was time to brush his teeth. We go in the bathroom, he gets the toothpaste on the toothbrush, I put him on the counter so I can reach him, and he opens his mouth, and there’s a boogie stuck between his front teeth!  I gagged so hard getting that from between his teeth before we could brush them. 

[T-Bird78]

I work ENT.  We had a pt come in from a local long-term care facility complaining about ear pain. Doc looks and asks me to call the facility and speak to the medical director NOW. Pt has maggots in the ear—AGAIN. We’d seen this same pt a year prior for maggots in the ear. 

[T-Bird78]

Another ENT story, not gross to me but could be to some people. Pt was 13-year-old girl 4 days postop tonsillectomy. Pt mom brought pt into the office carrying a large butter tub in front of pt. Pt had screamed at little brother to leave her alone and ruptured the still-healing area in the throat and immediately began bleeding profusely. This butter tub, a big Country Crock or something like that, was FULL at that point. We take pt to a room and our PA is trying to cauterize as fast as he can, pt is hysterical, and mom is screaming that she can’t lose another child. I make mom leave the room since she’s not helping. Pt is holding mouthfuls of ice water, spitting them out, getting cauterized, repeating with the ice water, for over an hour. We finally got the bleeding stopped but pt had filled the butter tub with blood and clots, the sink was full, the counters were covered, everything. It looked like a crime scene in there. 

[T-Bird78]

Pt, older teenager, came in with itching in ear. Mom saw wax in the ear and tried to dig it out with her finger but couldn’t pull it out and was actually pushing it farther down in the ear canal.  Doc looks in pt ear. It’s not wax, it’s a roach!  Mom was touching the roach and shoving it in kid’s ear!! At least this bug was dead. . .

[PoodleBreath]

On 4/13/2021 at 11:00 PM, Vegan in California said:

I'm a student and haven't seen much yet, but this is my gross experience.

At clinics an RN says she's injured and can't help clean her patient, so she sends in me, my friend, and the CNA. I can smell the room from the end of the hall.
The patient is an obese, bedridden geriatric patient who hasn't had a bowel movement in over a week. He's nonverbal and incontinent, and has had GoLYTELY. There's liquid poop under him, and he's not wearing a diaper. We roll him and find the poop has gone through the chux, the bedsheets, and the waffle, pooling on the mattress and onto the floor. It's on the patient's whole body  - his arms, his back, his legs, etc. We use up all the wipes and half the towels in the unit as he keeps pooping as we clean. The CNA says it's the most poop she has seen in her career. She uses the wall suction, and the canister is filled to the brim with liquid poop.

This is a reminder that CNAs rock!