As I anticipate starting a direct-entry program in the fall, I'm not too worried about the workload or the sleep deprivation or even being confronted with some very sad cases during clinicals. HOWEVER, what has got me anxious is my ability to handle the dirty (literally) side of nursing. While I don't consider myself a squeamish person, I'm not too confident in my ability to handle certain smells or clean intimate body parts, other than my own - oh, I could just see myself dry-heaving until my face and eyes are bloodshot! SMH......I'm starting a CNA course next week to get some experience and get my hands dirty prior to the fall. I know for most of you, Nursing was the first time you ever had to bathe another human being or were exposed to such smells and sights. How did you overcome the "oh, I think I'm going to be sick" of it all? I'm sure you get used to it after a while, just like changing your babies' poo-y diapers (I don't have kids, so I'm not experienced in this area either, although I do walk my mom's pekingnese from time to time and am ok with scooping up her poop.....although I know that doesn't compare LOL )!
I really don't want my sour stomach to get in the way of my dreams. So any tips you use to hold your breath, while keeping a calm friendly face, and not passing out, would be greatly appreciated!:)
I'm not sure how you handle it, honestly. I just do my job and then leave the room if I have to.
The worst cases so far: CDiff incontinence, and a really really bad UTI (full of sediment and pungent!!!!), and bowel prep on a colostomy ().
I personally would never wear a mask unless that person was on Isolation (since I'm on oncology quite a few patients are neutropenic so I wear a mask anyways). I've never encountered a smell that was quite that bad that really made me worried about losing my lunch.
In CNA clinicals I cleaned some nasty looking male parts, and at work I was bathing a breast cancer patient whose whole chest was burned from radiation. Those are the two sights that bothered me the most. My breast cancer patient was fighting and receiving treatment up until the end, and when I encountered this, she was in uncontrollable pain, all the time. Eyes wide open looking at you, piercing my heart.
I can't control my gag reflex though with sounds (namely emesis), but also wet, phlegmy cough, etc.
Oh GOD the smell of really bad UTI pee is the only thing that still makes me gag. Absolutely gross. You really will get used to most of it though. After about two days as a CNA, the run of the mill poop smell will probably no longer even bother you (and you'll be ahead of people in clinical who are new to it). Occasionally, of course, you're gonna get something nasty like CDiff or a GI bleed, and honestly, I think the bast thing to do is just not think about it too much. You know how you can kind of psych yourself out? Well, I've done that with especially nasty smells, and you can absolutely talk yourself into...or out of gagging. Just concentrate on what you're doing, and not the way it smells (easier said then done, I know).
I have used the chapstick trick and occasionally do smell something that makes me just stop inhaling - LOL. I just wanted to reiterate though that it really won't be a big deal once you get into patient care. I work at a small LTC facility specializing in termally ill patients. We currently have one gentleman who has a disorder that makes him produce a LOT of secretions. He has also lost much of his muscle control.
When I started volunteering (before I worker there), I hated helping with breakfast after he came to the facility because spit made me SO queesy. I once even had to give him a quick "oh, I have to go check on another patient" and excuse myself because I was about to lose it. I was so totally ashamed to admit it, but it grossed me out.
Now I'm working as a CNA at the same facility. This morning this same man took my hand with his (which was covered in secretions and chocolate drink), slowly brought it to his mouth, and gave it a kiss. After thinking that it was so sweet, I couldn't help but think that I would've thought that was really gross just a little while ago.
Ohhh good question! The secret to beating odors in any clinical is (drumroll please) VICKS VAPOR RUB !!!!! Dab some around your nostrils and you are good to go. I learned that from an old cna when I was in cna training. I almost piled everywhere the first time I encountered a colostomy. It literally brought me to my knees. Til my belly got used to all the funky rotten odors I religiously kept a small bottle of vicks in my pocket at clinicals and work. By the time I adjusted I could go empty a colostomy or clean up whatever and think about what I was in the mood to eat. Peppermint oil also works well too . Just don't jam it UP your nose
I used to work summers on a dairy farm...the good news is that the human nose tends to tune out smells after a few minutes or so of being exposed to it. So most smells you won't even notice after a while.
However, this does not apply to GI bleeds. For these, I just don't breathe through my nose, only through the mouth. It took a while to learn be able to do that for prolonged periods, but I can and smell little to none of it. Also, lavender oil or Vicks rub can be your best friend in these circumstances.
I amin my first semester of nursing and today is my 3rd clinical (first 8 hour day). Yesterday was my first time to change a dirty brief and my partner had to finish it. I was gagging so bad. I am a mother and have NEVER gagged at my son! I am taking menthylated cream today and seriously gonna try it!! Glad to know it works for others because I was wondering.
Specializes in Near Future: ED, Future Future: ACNP!.
I am starting nursing school in July. I share your concern! I did study forensic science previously, and I can tell you first hand that nothing dulls the odor of decomp better than vicks under the nose, peppermint oil, and cough drops!! I plan on using any or all of those to deal with the odors of the living as well )
I took care of my first C. diff pt this weekend. When I went to the hospital on Fri to look up my assignment and found out he had C. diff I thought, "Oh, great, surely I am going to have to run to the pt's bathroom and puke while cleaning him up" I have a really sensitive gag reflex. Sometimes I gag if food goes down the wrong way, and I gag almost daily while brushing my teeth. Strangely though, the C. diff incontinent stool was NOT what sent my stomach churning. The pt had MASSIVE scrotal edema and yeast in the folds in his groin. The smell of that while we were cleaning him up, GOOD GOD I thought I might loose it. I just tried to keep my breathing regular and shallow and it passed. I am really worried about vomit though. Vomit really bothers me, and if I HEAR someone else vomit, all bets are off LOL!
I remember, as a student, cleaning up my first bed full of vomit. Of course I'd cleaned up after my family, but that's an entirely different thing. I'm not sure which one of us was gagging more, me or the pt. I was sooooo embarrassed. What kind of nurse was I that I couldn't clean up a little "puke"? Experienced nurses told me "You'll get used to it". I did. At the risk of bragging, I can now clean up poo, puke, pee, and blood all at the same time, while humming a song and smiling at the pt. I made up the part about humming a song. Everything gets easier as the years roll past.
I just wanted to thank ALL of you for the info and stories on this blog! I have just started working towards my RN but was so scared about my super hypersensitive gag reflex! Over the past few months, I've been scouring the web looking for a solution or explanation, but couldn't find anything! Finally, today, I found this site! Since I'll be doing several dissections in anatomy, my stress level regarding gagging in front of the class has been outrageous!
When I turned 30 a couple years ago, all sorts of weird and new "aliments" started plaguing me! Grey hairs, a sore back and... severe acid reflux! When the reflux started, my gag reflex became a major problem too. I could be talking with someone and for no reason, I'd start retching... (several people thought I was about to throw up on them!) OR I'd smell or see something that, in the past, was no big deal but now made me gag! Long story short... my doctor ran some tests and everything came out normal... but I started taking Prilosec OTC daily. It has really helped with the "day to day" gagging. However... smells and seeing something gross still triggers it. For example, I was watching "Kitchen Nightmares" this weekend and saw a dead, rotting lobster and I almost lost it!
I'm SO thankful to read that I'm not the only one out there that has this issue! I was terrified that the career that I'm so excited about might not be a viable option! I'm so glad that I'm not alone! Thank you all again!
Oh... has anyone heard anything about hypnosis? I've heard that it can help, but I'm not sure I'm a believer.
Sometimes you can't prepare yourself for a smell - I have a pretty strong stomach and practically no gag reflex, but I had a pt with a lung abscess who de-sated pretty fast; the doc had to put in a chest tube, and I have never smelled anything like it - my eyes started tearing, and the other nurse told me to start humming! It worked; you know that clutching feeling you get in your throat when your gag reflex kicks in? It totally went away :)
SMH......I'm starting a CNA course next week to get some experience and get my hands dirty prior to the fall. I know for most of you, Nursing was the first time you ever had to bathe another human being or were exposed to such smells and sights. How did you overcome the "oh, I think I'm going to be sick" of it all? I'm sure you get used to it after a while, just like changing your babies' poo-y diapers (I don't have kids, so I'm not experienced in this area either, although I do walk my mom's pekingnese from time to time and am ok with scooping up her poop.....although I know that doesn't compare LOL 
)! 
)
Experienced nurses told me "You'll get used to it". I did. At the risk of bragging, I can now clean up poo, puke, pee, and blood all at the same time, while humming a song and smiling at the pt. I made up the part about humming a song.
Everything gets easier as the years roll past.
ishootu
21 Posts
I'm not sure how you handle it, honestly. I just do my job and then leave the room if I have to.
The worst cases so far: CDiff incontinence, and a really really bad UTI (full of sediment and pungent!!!!), and bowel prep on a colostomy (
).
I personally would never wear a mask unless that person was on Isolation (since I'm on oncology quite a few patients are neutropenic so I wear a mask anyways). I've never encountered a smell that was quite that bad that really made me worried about losing my lunch.
In CNA clinicals I cleaned some nasty looking male parts, and at work I was bathing a breast cancer patient whose whole chest was burned from radiation. Those are the two sights that bothered me the most. My breast cancer patient was fighting and receiving treatment up until the end, and when I encountered this, she was in uncontrollable pain, all the time. Eyes wide open looking at you, piercing my heart.
I can't control my gag reflex though with sounds (namely emesis), but also wet, phlegmy cough, etc.