Have you ever fainted 😕

[KMarieD]

Today was my second day at my new ENT job.

I'm a brand nurse with a few months of LTC experience... I can handle huge wounds, vomit, sputum, blood....

Well today I watched a lip biopsy and had to leave the room. I literally almost fainted on the floor. I started sweating bullets, turned grey, I thought I was panicking.

What am I going to do? This is literally part of my job.

I felt so pathetic.

[kp1987]

I faint when ever I get blood work or IVs started on myself lol never at work tho....yet

[fawnmarie, ASN]

Yes, I fainted while observing a sinus surgery during nursing school. I had eaten breakfast about 3-4 hours earlier but hadn't had anything to drink since. Hydration is very important! My instructors made me admit myself to the ER and I had no health insurance at the time.

[verene, MSN]

I've fainted several times, however only one healthcare related and that was while donating blood. I bounced back quickly and thanks to the number of times I'd previously fainted in my life I was really chill about it; the phlebotomist was amused. I'm pretty good with blood, guts, and weird smells now, but as a child I was obsessed with veterinary medicine and spent a lot of time shadowing veterinarians so I've built up a tolerance over time. The very first time I observed I got through abdominal surgery on a dog just fine. Went to watch a rabbit get its teeth pulled and got incredibly nauseous and dizzy, and had to go sit in the corner for a while.

[Jenniferocious]

I did during my second semester of clinicals. I was watching a breast reconstruction (done by the same surgeon that performed mine.. so I don't know if that was what did it).

Nurses were very nice.. even the anesthesiologist said he passed out the first time he did an epidural.

Also... a PA that I was with once nearly fainted coming out of a patient's room who was totally fine... No blood, no surgery.. nothing. I think sometimes our brains just react funny.

Hang in there.. You'll get used to it!

[brownbook]

Yes, when I get that feeling I move my legs, walk in place, take a few steps back and forth,get the blood pumping back to my head, or just walking away and sitting down a few minutes.

[blondenurse12, MSN, NP]

I fainted twice in my life. The first time was when I gave blood in college. I gave a pint in seven minutes or something like that. I went to eat a cookie and literally passed out while taking a bite. Luckily I didn't choke on it. Apparently I was following commands but I woke up staring at the ceiling wondering what happened.

The second time I was at work. I had been up all night with my new kitten and had drank too much coffee to help keep me awake for my shift. I also take an antihypertensive medication which makes me quite dizzy with position changes and my resting heart rate is only in the low 40s. So I had enough PVCs that out I went, right in a patient's room after I inserted their NG tube. I went from ER nurse to ER patient. But I was discharged in time to admit that patient that had witnessed me pass out. lol

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Never as a nurse, but when I was a PN student watching a skin graft surgery; the other time a near-faint during my BSN studies watching a Ortho surgery-the drilling was too much for me.

Both cases were Pediatric cases.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

I help the anesthesiologists with nerve blocks and I still get nervous when I look at the needle they use to insert into the skin to get to the nerve. Never have fainted, and that is a good thing because I don't want to piss off any of the anesthesiologists.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

I reckon a lip biopsy is pretty bloody. Analyze the scene, is that where you started to get woozy?

Play it over and over in your head until you desensitize yourself. I would use visual imagery , when the scalpel slices the lip.... it's not blood ...it's rainbows and fairy dust.( or whatever works for you)

You can do this, let us know how it's going.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I have fainted twice in my life. The first time I was with my family waiting for a table at a restaurant. I told my mom I didn't feel good and that things were going black. I remember my mom guiding me to the wall in the waiting area. My aunt kept telling my mom that I was being a "teenage drama queen". She didn't really think I was going to pass out. I had taken an antibiotic that morning and hadn't eaten yet.

The other time I had given blood, and did not eat good before hand. I felt myself sliding down in the chair. I ate some juice and crackers and went home. I had to work that day and almost passed out multiple times during the day. I was able to get myself to a place I could sit and kept juice with me.

[michlynn, BSN, RN]

I blacked out once in nursing school, simply taking a tour of the hospital. I started sweating profusely, got that weird feeling in my stomach and turned completely white. I could feel it coming on so I slowly sank to the floor and my instructor made me sit in the corner with my head between my legs and drink orange juice.

I came close a 2nd time while observing a CABG, I had a prime spot next to the anesthesiologist at the head of the operating table and as soon as they started cranking the chest open I felt myself getting a little light headed and got that feeling in my stomach again so I quietly stepped off of my stool and sat down for a few minutes. Thankfully I can always tell when a black out is coming and I sit down before I crash lol.

Oh, actually there was a 3rd time. I gave blood and collapsed in the bathroom afterwards, like completely out of it. That was scary.

[crazin01]

During my OB rotation in nursing school, my patient was getting an epidural. And I knew what it was, but seeing the tube actually remain in the epidural space, just did something to me mentally. I was against the wall, behind the patient, sorta sandwiched in by the nite stand and anesthesia cart... I felt very lite-headed & dizzy. I quietly said to the nurse assisting the doc "I hafta get out of here, now!" and somehow managed to step over the electrical cord 2 feet in the air. I made it to the nurses station, white knuckle gripped the opposite side of the counter, politely said "where is the closest staff restroom?" she answered, I started to leave, then turned back & asked "What's the punch code to enter?" she replies "there is none, just turn the handle"

Next thing I remember, the back of my head is throbbing, smelling salts, hearing my name called over & over... open my eyes, see my instructor and two other nurses over me and I said out loud "Oh, s&*t!" (and a few other choice words). I was only lucky my hair has volume & up in a huge cushiony bun. They said the sound my head made when I hit was not good. Spent remainder of day in ED...

fun times!!! (my car-pool friend was happy, she got out of clinical to stay with me 1:1 in the ED)