Hi... I am a 1st semester student and I had my first clinical yesterday. I do fine with blood, mucous, pee, and such but I can't control my gag reflex when around poop. I even did a foley cath that morning on a little elderly lady who did not smell the best but when I went to help another student hold a lady on her side so that she could be cleaned up I could no longer control the gag after about 5 minutes. I feel so embarrassed and I never want to make a patient feel bad about needing to be cleaned up. What can I do to stop this and will I ever just get used to fecal odor. Becoming a nurse is very important to me I just hoope that I can move past this. It also does not help that I quit smoking 2 months ago so I can really smell now. Please help...
Anyways, I know this is a REALLY REALLY dumb question, but do you put the menthol up in your nose, or just on your upper lip? I heard it goes in your nose, but I would think that would be dangerous!! Also, do you just stick it up like you were picking your nose, or do you put it on the wall of your inner nose, or what? Thanks SO much for your help guys, enquiring minds want to know!! :rotfl:
Thanks to all of you.... Actually I started to gag when I tried mouth breathing... I will try the mints and vicks next week...
Val
I feel for you! I do the same thing! I do breathe through my mouth, but I take very shallow breaths so I'm not huffing it. LOL I've heard great things about Vicks; I need to try it also.
Oh, and I think poop will be a little easier to deal with when you're getting paid good money instead of paying them! LOL
I can soooooooo sympathize, but my thing is scary wounds. I don't get sick, I get faint/sweaty/dizzy. I've been purposely watching surgery shows on TV and even went to both of my boyfriend's recent knee surgeries, and I think it's getting a little better, but then an elderly man came into my restaurant the other day and had some kind of hideous looking HOLE in his head..about 4 inches across that looked like the skull and scalp were removed. I'm sure it's to treat some kind of medical condition, but I about hit the deck right there! (Ack..you'd think a person would cover something like that up in public!!). My instructors' advice?
Sit down as much as possible :chuckle
Seriously though, it's gotta get better with exposure.
Thanks hypnotic!! You've come to my rescue again!! :chuckle
I was reading "How to Survive (and maybe even Love) Nursing School," and the author said to stuff some menthol up in your nose...hmm..maybe she was talking about something other than Vick's...
When I start clinicals, I am going to conquer my fear of poop by picking it up (If its not mushy!) and playing with it like playdoe. I will mash it, make animals or other intersting sculptures, and then dispose of it! Hopefully after that i will be able to deal with poop! What do you guys think of my plan! Would you endorse it!!
Um, LOL. Ok, well hope that works out well for you! I think I kinda got over my fear of poop after I was in my first semester of clinicals last year and we were at the nursing home..... came in to see my patient after his nap and he smeared poop all down my pant leg! EW ICK! It was all over me, and the smell.... ohhhh *gag*. But I guess that was my initiation because it hasn't really bothered me after that!
Thanks hypnotic!! You've come to my rescue again!! :chuckle
I was reading "How to Survive (and maybe even Love) Nursing School," and the author said to stuff some menthol up in your nose...hmm..maybe she was talking about something other than Vick's...
You're welcome! I don't know what the author meant either, but Vicks under the nose is great -- you can't smell anything else!
I swear everyone has one bodily fluid that gags them. For me it is sputum, give me poop, vomit, urine, purulent exucate, but pahleeeeze stay away from me with sputum...
I find it is much better when I'm the one doing the task (i.e. someone coughed sputum in my hand) than watching someone else do it.
As for poop and gagging it's mind over matter. Breathe through your mouth and not through your nose and try not to think about it, and just get the job done... Hope this helps...
BTW, the other day at work, my pt. got Kayexalate and produced the largest BM I've ever seen (it filled the commode). One of the nurses ran from the room gagging. Things grossing you out, does not end a nursing career, just get through it best you can.
Does anything think it's true that nurses with babies or nurses that have had babies have an easier time dealing with poopy situations?
Baby poop really wasn't much on the yuckiness scale. It was the pet poop (and vomit) that really helped me get over my gagging. I didn't see anything in nursing school that was nearly as gross as some of the stuff various pets have excreted...and always on the rug, why is that?
Baby poop really wasn't much on the yuckiness scale. It was the pet poop (and vomit) that really helped me get over my gagging. I didn't see anything in nursing school that was nearly as gross as some of the stuff various pets have excreted...and always on the rug, why is that?
Yep..not once on the linoleum! :chuckle
My cat was perched on top of my Kozier book a couple of mornings ago (she loves nothing better than to "help" me study) and started doing the "heuck heuck" thing..man did I EVER move FAST!!
Peachy720
360 Posts
^Yikes!! I think I'll leave that to you!
Anyways, I know this is a REALLY REALLY dumb question, but do you put the menthol up in your nose, or just on your upper lip? I heard it goes in your nose, but I would think that would be dangerous!! Also, do you just stick it up like you were picking your nose, or do you put it on the wall of your inner nose, or what? Thanks SO much for your help guys, enquiring minds want to know!! :rotfl: