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've got to the point where I can't handle it all anymore. The smells get to me now, horrid sights don't bother me in the slightest, but the ripe smell of faeces - depending upon what they have had such as antibiotics - really bothers me now. I don't dry retch or anything like that, but I don't want to eat and can't get the smells out of my nose. Medical wards are the absolute worse - we had to clean up faeces and blood one day where a dementia patient had pulled out her IV (imagine, putting an IV into a demented lady!), and she had scratched/picked all her skin so it was bleeding. Nobody discovered it right away. She had smeared faeces all over the bed, linen, walls, as she was climbing out of the bed all the time, it was in her hair and dentures (yes she'd been eating it) - worse scenario you could imagine. And guess who got the lovely job of cleaning her all up, yes me cos I was 'the help' at the time. And her husband came in unexpectedly and discovered what had happened - so I had to help deal with his grief, as well as cleaning all this mess up. Worse thing I've ever had to do.
I actually rung my nursing agency today and told them I do not want to ever work in a medical ward again. I am too old for all this stuff now, so I don't really have much advice, just hold your breath and get on with it, and do it quickly maybe.
Shut off your sniffers and breath very shallowly through your barely (and I mean barely) opened mouth. That's the only way I can handle it- NOT to smell it at all.
I have tried everything - all of the tricks in this thread - and I still gag left and right in patients' rooms. I try to hide it as much as I can. I gag just watching something gross on TV. I have tried mouth breathing but that makes me gag even more and I can still smell things just as strong.
I've never used the vicks - I will have to try that, since vomit is the main thing that gets to me. But my students are always concerned about the smells so I'll pass some of your hints and tricks on to them! Thanks!
I never hesitate to wear a mask if I think I am going to "need" it. Just tell the patient your husband or boyfriend has a cold and you don't want to bring anything in to them.
Well for starters it doesn't always just go away and you get used to it. I have been a nurse for 6 years and while I have learned to manage my quick gag reflex to certain smells or things like clogged tracheostomies.... Its important to always carry a mask with you no matter what, remind yourself to breath through your mouth or take intervals of holding your breath, I actually put a scented piece of paper or even an alcohol swab in my mask in desperate times to cover the odor.... if your like me, even with a mask a patient can tell I have been gagging, I get watery red eyes.... think of something pleasant and don't stop until the job is done. Unfortunately you always need to keep the mindset of the patient being first. During nursing school I recall actually throwing up in my mask while performing a less than pleasant procedure.... Just do it and do your best and with time you will learn how to control your stomach. I have a really weak stomach and a great sense of smell- no good in patient care...maybe after you finish your clinicals and proper training... look into the side of nursing that wont put you in those situations.... I have four kids btw and it is not even remotely the same dealing with someone else's body fluids and such so, don't think because you can change a baby's diaper you can handle it unless you are going into pediatric care... Good LUck!
Also, I keep some coffee beans in a small sandwich bag in my pocket. Inhale the aroma deeply after leaving the room and it clears any odor out of your nose/mouth
These were really good tips. I feel so guilty for feeling this way. I started gaging just reading these tips. Lol. My heart and my gag reflex will not compromise. Love the tea idea.
I don't like to use menthol, because it just opens up my sinuses and lets more stinky smell in.
There are some tricks you can learn- in clinicals I learned from the CNAs how to change a poopy brief and minimize the smell. There's a way you can fold the brief while you're changing it that helps, also you can squirt skin cleanser on the patient when you open the brief and that will help. Ask an experienced CNA to show you some of these things.
I think you'll be surprised what you'll get used to. Vomit is the hardest one for me because of the noises.
This may have already been suggested but you could put menthol lip balm under your nose when you know you're going to be encountering some gross smells. You could also try wearing a mask, or putting fragrance drops (like mint) into the mask and wearing it into the room (although it can come off as rude to the patient. You could state that you have a cold and don't want to spread it, maybe?).
I would say try to wear a mask for really bad things. If someone was projectile vomiting you don't want fluids around your mouth or nose. I was a cna for years and I saw everything. I remember it being hard at first but I would just almost zone out and think of something else while I was cleaning. I remember I had to clean up this woman every morning that pooped in her diaper early in the mornings and it would be up her back and down her legs. Ugh. Mucus is what makes me almost gag. I worked in an Alzheimer's place and this old man would try to cough up stuff on us to be mean. It was like dodging bullets. Practice your poker face. The hardest for me is just finding out someone's child has pretty bad cancer and then having to smile and act like nothing is wrong.
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 
)! 
carolmaccas66, BSN, RN
2,212 Posts
I've got to the point where I can't handle it all anymore. The smells get to me now, horrid sights don't bother me in the slightest, but the ripe smell of faeces - depending upon what they have had such as antibiotics - really bothers me now. I don't dry retch or anything like that, but I don't want to eat and can't get the smells out of my nose. Medical wards are the absolute worse - we had to clean up faeces and blood one day where a dementia patient had pulled out her IV (imagine, putting an IV into a demented lady!), and she had scratched/picked all her skin so it was bleeding. Nobody discovered it right away. She had smeared faeces all over the bed, linen, walls, as she was climbing out of the bed all the time, it was in her hair and dentures (yes she'd been eating it) - worse scenario you could imagine. And guess who got the lovely job of cleaning her all up, yes me cos I was 'the help' at the time. And her husband came in unexpectedly and discovered what had happened - so I had to help deal with his grief, as well as cleaning all this mess up. Worse thing I've ever had to do.
I actually rung my nursing agency today and told them I do not want to ever work in a medical ward again. I am too old for all this stuff now, so I don't really have much advice, just hold your breath and get on with it, and do it quickly maybe.