I can smell poop...

[Michelle123]

Everywhere I go!

I can't help it, but it seems to be the smell that is everywhere.... is it just me?

And the smell of emptying a colostomy bag, it permeates everything. Still on my clothes when I get home!

Maybe I am just more sensitive to it now? It doesn't gross me out like it did before, but I just feel that I can always smell it, particularly when I go to certain places :)

[MikeyJ, RN]

Even after I leave the hospital, it seems as if the stench is stuck in my nose and I cannot get rid of it.

The two smells that disgust me are loose stenchy stools and enteral feedings. I don't know why the smell of the enteral "formula" disgusts me but it smells like rotten baby foruma. When I have to check the residual of enteral feedings, I want to puke.

[bassandtea]

I think it's something common to a number of professions. When I was at high school I had a part-time job at a restaurant and always thought I smelt of dirty dishes. Later when I was working with animals I could never get rid of the 'animal smell', although nobody else seemed to notice.

[Becca608]

Even after I leave the hospital, it seems as if the stench is stuck in my nose and I cannot get rid of it.

The two smells that disgust me are loose stenchy stools and enteral feedings. I don't know why the smell of the enteral "formula" disgusts me but it smells like rotten baby foruma. When I have to check the residual of enteral feedings, I want to puke.

I dread TPN patients...stools are like rancid peanut butter in appearance and odor.

[catlynLPN]

I had a bad situation at work a few weeks back. The smell was just in my nostrils. I showered and washed my hair, threw my clothes in the washer, but I could still smell it.

I put some Vicks vapo rub under my nose for awhile and it worked! After awhile I removed it and the bad odor was gone.

[JennieO]

The odour is not in your mind. I had an ICU pt. with the worst breath ever. It would curl your eyelashes. The next day when I got in my car I was hit with the stench from this pt's breath that lingered long after I exited the car. NOT IN YOUR MIND!

[geoffreyg]

yes i scrub long and hard and totally switch clothes but the BM and or urine scent lingers. it doesn't disgust me, it's just weird. many times, i know from which resident the scent came from. okay and now for something i thought i'd never tell anyone (don't read if easily nauseated!):

sometimes after leaving work, my BM at home will have the odor of a resident's BM that i dealt with earlier in the day. weird.

i still love them, though!:heartbeat

[shelly304]

Leslie-my husband complains too. I thought it was just him!

Vicks works wonders for me.

[iwanna]

My husband works with horses. When he came home one day, I told him that he smelled like a barn. (manure and hay) He changed his shoes, and it was better, but still an odor. He needed to shower and change before the smell was gone.

I know when I worked in geri-psych that I would smell poop when I got home, too. I learned to put my shoes and put my scrubs in the hamper in the basement, asap. :chuckle

[RNdude33]

How 'bout the priceless mixture of the homeless guy's rancid feet and his gi bleed? Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

[yeSICU]

The odour is not in your mind. I had an ICU pt. with the worst breath ever. It would curl your eyelashes. The next day when I got in my car I was hit with the stench from this pt's breath that lingered long after I exited the car. NOT IN YOUR MIND!

Neuro breathe is what I refer to as the "dopelganger of the ICU". It haunts you way past your shift. Yuck. My top two are of course 1. neuro breathe and 2. the smell of TPN... Btw any tricks for getting rid of the neuro breathe phenomenon?

[Bill E. Rubin]

When I worked the floor it was always with me. That and sweaty, uriny crotch smell.

I had to laugh/nod when I read this... When I first started my clinicals, arriving on the unit, I smelled the antiseptic smells of the hospital... the cal-stat and cleaners and latex.

Now, when I arrive on the unit all I smell is that sweaty, uriny crotch smell. Sometimes it's in my nostrils when I get home.

On another front, I can handle poop, urine and colostomies without too much trouble. More difficult were the two patients I was given to clean up on my last shift who had to have the most concentrated body odor I've ever smelled. I assisted both into the shower and helped wash them up, though the smell seemed to pervade, though less severely.