Have you ever puked/fainted/etc at work?

[0.adamantite]

I love hearing gross stories like this. I had a patient with an ileus. When I went in the room the patient vomited and filled a few of those large basins with fecal smelling, brown liquid vomit. As they were hurling, I was dry heaving. Thankfully I had an order for an NG tube and that took care of that.

[Callisonanne]

My anatomy class used cadavers. One day we were removing the head so we could weigh it to disprove the whole "a human head weighs 8 lbs theory". We had removed the head from the neck which had also been cut sagitally. When someone held the head and one side started to spin a girl passed out and face planted the gurney. She ended up with stitches and never lived that one down.

[mom2twins9909]

I have never fainted or puked, but there was a time I felt like fainting. Five years ago, I worked for a RE at an infertility clinic. When a patient took fertility drugs and they had an over abundance of eggs, to reduce the chance of multiples they would eliminate some of the eggs. Multiples like Quads+. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the procedure. It was a VERY VERY long needle. Soooo long. I swear it was the length of an arm. It went through the lady partsl wall to the ovaries to knock out the eggs. The first time I assisted on the procedure I felt like I was going to faint. I could not imagine having it done to me with that long needle!!

[JMECNA]

I was dry heaving with my very first GI bleed and amputation resident. This gentleman had his leg amputated but not stitched shut. You could see all the muscle and bone and I had to help with the bandage change and clean up his bloody stool.

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

Okay I'm almost embarassed to tell my story lol. I've been an ER RN for 6.5yrs and never felt faint during any procedures/situations. However, before I was a nurse I was in a CNA program and when learning about finger stick glucose checks we had to do it on ourselves. Last thing I remember was them telling us to "milk the finger" and next thing I know my face is hanging over the garbage can with an ammonia stick under my nose and my teacher laughing hysterically!

Ever since then, no amount of other people's blood/guts/bones/fluids bother me, but the moment I have to have blood drawn or have finger sticks I get near syncopal! Pathetic, I know lol!

[Lorilo]

Yes. A few times. I'm prone to stomach viruses,catch them every year. This past year,we have been really short and calling out isn't an option. So when stomach flu started going around,I started to feel queasy and light-headed at work. Woke up in the middle of the night,still queasy and sweating. Threw up all over,and puked repeatedly all night long.I work evening shift and hadn't even been able to keep water down all day. Tried to call in as I wasstill leaning over the pail and was told I had to come in as there was no one to cover my shift. I explained again that I was vomiting about every 20 minutes and was reminded that "We have toilets here". So I dragged myself to work and couldn't ger through report without vomiting. The bathroom is offvthe nurses station,so everyone heard and knew I was throwing up. Starred the med pass and had to keep running to the bathroom,and at one point threw up in a patient's toilet. Had a stomach ache (gall bldder attack) 2 nights ago,and vomited my dinner at work.

[LostMyPen,RN, BSN]

Attempting to change the wound vac on a large young lady's sacral decub. She warned me before I started that it was a "heavy flow" day. I assured her it was no big deal and got to work trying to keep her balanced on her side with one hand and removing the old sponge with the other. She said "thar she blows" and before I could react the shear force of her flatulence blasted my face with menstrual blood, no shield, mask or goggles on. Remaining professional in that moment and restraining my gag reflex was a challenge. I quietly got her to a safe position and excused myself to gag and dry heave as I showered in the emlpoyee bathroom sink. Worst day of my career

[verene, MSN]

Never gotten sick at work as a RN, however I have both fainted at work (as a young adult working retail) and sliced open a finger to the point of needing stitches (as a CNA on lunch break). I've also had some instances of having to try very hard to keep a professional face and not gag as a CNA when exposed to particularly foul bowl movements - or the one's that really get me - gangrenous wounds.

[Lorilo]

I've thrown up at work when I was sick. A few months ago,I had a horrible case of norovirus that I came down with in the middle of the night. I threw up everywhere and proceeded to empty my stomach every 20-30 minutes for about the next 4 hours. I work evening shift and planned on going to work anyway,as they don't tolerate callins because we are so short. However,nothing I put in my mouth would stay down. I called in and was told by the supervisor that "we have toilets here",as I had my head in a pail at home

Explained again that I was vomiting,and even did it while I was on the phone. But she won.I went to work and didn't make it through report,when I had to run to the bathroom off the nurses'and vomited over and over. Embarrassing. Everyone heard the heaving and splatter and knew I was throwing up. During the med pass,I actually vomited in a patient's toilet Then,2 nigjts ago,I suffered a gall bladder attack at work,and had another epic instance and vomited a whole bowl of chili into the trash can.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

No, but I've come close.

Once was when I was a new nurse in LTC, and I went in to do a dressing change on a sweet little old man's foot. His toes were gangrenous, and as I unwrapped the bandages two of them fell off in my (thankfully gloved) hand. He never noticed anything. It was all I could do to remain professional and not to gag.

Another time, I had a patient who was dying and he had an ostomy which constantly oozed bloody stool. At one point he started to projectile-vomit feces...the smell was horrific...and it was coming from EVERYWHERE. The bag had popped off. None of the aides wanted to come in and help me with him. I couldn't blame them, but I was almost crying, and the poor fellow was apologizing despite obviously being in distress. I felt awful for him. He ended up passing away later that night, and I'm sure he was probably relieved when it happened. It took forever to get that odor out of the room, they even had to take down the privacy curtains and window coverings and replace them.

But nope, I didn't faint or puke. I did, however, throw away the scrubs I was wearing that night because I knew the smell would never come out. It was a couple of days before I could smell something besides GI bleed.

[TruvyNurse]

I was still in my first trimester and had a sensitive nose and stomach. I had a patient with a tunneling wound infected with pseudomonas. I pulled his old dressing off and irrigated the wound..out came the nastiest green brown discharge that STUNK. I gagged and went to throw up in his waste basket. I was mortified.