I fainted today in the ICU!

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Hi:

I'm currently a nursing student working on my 4-year BSN. I'm only in my second year so I'm not that far into the program. My clinicals start in one year, next spring specifically. Well, for one of my basic nursing classes, we had an assignment to observe/shadow a registered nurse for at least two hours. My teacher's sign up sheet was just for nurses working in the ICU. So, I went this morning to our university's hospital and met the nurse. Everything was going well. Then, when she was going over some records with another male nurse, he told me that I can observe the doctor working with a patient in critical condition. Of course, I got excited and went in. The patient was bleeding in her head, she had multiple fractures and bruises on her body, especially her legs. She couldn't open her eyes and her breathing was going down. At first the site didn't bother me at all, I felt compassion for her. Then, the doctor uncovered her body and started showing me her food tubes and other tubes and needles. That's when I took notice of the smell!!! I started feeling a bit dizzy. I stepped out and there was no where close to sit, so I stood and tried to relax. Next thing they tell me, I had fainted and I hit my head pretty hard on the floor. A bunch of nurses surrounded me and I told them I was fine and just need something to drink. Then, a few moments later, I supposedly fainted again!!! That's when the nurses in the ICU forced me go downstairs and the doctor checked me out.

No matter how much they tried to assure me that this is common considering that I had never been in a hospital for like a decade (literally), I was still very embarrassed and disappointed that this happened! I mean, my professor specifically told us not to pass out!!!

Does anyone have any experience with this? Can you relate? I'm just like hoping this doesn't happen again when I start my clinicals. One of the nurses told me that his wife fainted on the first day of her job, but I think he was just trying to make me feel better. :)

When I was in pre nursing ed I took an EMT class. We did a rotation in the ER. There was a man who's hand had been caught under a car, torn to shreds. That bothered me a bit, but what got me the most was he was screaming. Slam bam I was on the floor. I felt I was doomed. It's been 20 years I've been an RN now with 10 of those years in ER without any problems thereafter. Don't be to hard on yourself. It isn't a measure of what your future holds.

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Vasovagal syncope: What advice do y'all give for controlling it once your feel it starting? I'm just curious whether or not there are tricks you can use to steer yourself out of it. I don't think odors would cause me to do more than gag or vomit. But blood worries me. If I have the adrenaline pumping, I know I'll be fine because I have a job to do and I'll not fall apart until after I wind all the way down. But it's the observing and cringing thing that I expect to have a problem with.

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Specializes in Home Care.

When I did my first OR observation the circulating nurse warned me that I might feel a bit weak and showed me a chair. I did in fact feel a bit weak and sat down for a few minutes while I calmed my nerves.

I also remember feeling like I was going to faint when I watched my 3 yr old son getting stitches in his eyebrow. I had to sit down for that too.

With time you'll get used to the sights, smells and textures associated with nursing. Don't beat yourself up.

Like the others said, don't beat yourself up.

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Thanks everyone! I feel better now! My professor called me to make sure I was alright and she was actually laughing on the phone!!! She said not to worry about it, it happens.

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I have experience!! I am in my first semester of an ADN program so we start clinicals almost right away. While on rotation at wound care I was so excited to observe the doctor....I too had compassion and do not get bothered at the sight of blood. However, when the doctor took an instrument and began diggining in side of a pressure ulcer to clean it out, suddenly the blood left my face and i began to feel faint!! I immediately panicked and wondered what in the world I would do if I passed out in the tiny exam room?? Somehow I managed to talk myself down, but I was SO close to going out! I'm not really sure why? Mentally I was fine, but my sympathetic nervous system thought otherwise, lol. The week before someone else passed out while on rotation there.....I hear it's pretty common.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

it happens, both times that I have been able to observe in the OR, the RN pointed to the chair and told me to sit, she said that she has had too many students faint and now students have to stay in the chair

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I feel your pain, I am in my second semester of an accelerated BSN/MSN program and have vasovagal syncope (I remember passing out or feeling dizzy even when I was little sometimes too). I realized it mostly happens when I'm tired, hot (like in those gowns and masks), and if I see someone else in pain. I actually passed out during my first semester when I just was doing a clinical day in a pulmonary rehab center (pretty much a gym in the hospital) and talking to a man while he was on a stationary bike. I was just talking to him about his recent AAA surgery and started feeling lightheaded. I couldn't find a place to sit down fast enough and next thing I knew, everyone was hovering over me and they had called a code blue!!

I also got dizzy watching dialysis (they put in 2 huuge IVs), watching a skin graft surgery, and suctioning a trach patient, among other things.

I think the most important thing to do if you ever start feeling light-headed, weak, or dizzy is to sit down!!! Sit in a chair or on the floor if you have to and put your head between your knees. Yeah, it's a little embarrassing and people might make a fuss over you (omg are you ok??) but that's better than full on passing out! Also, drink water and sit down for at least 5 minutes until you feel better. My doctor told me to make sure to be well hydrated on clinical days (I drink a big Gatorade in the morning and throughout the day), get enough sleep, and to eat a good breakfast and lunch. She also advised me to pinch myself really hard on the arm or leg to "wake myself up" if I get that dizzy feeling to slow the parasympathetic response.

Many nurses have told me the more I am exposed to things like blood, pain, hospital smells and procedures, I will get used to it and my body won't be shocked by it anymore. They also said to try to just focus on the procedure and the pt. anatomy, and not think about the pain aspect. Sooo hang in there, just sit down if you feel lightheaded so you don't pass out! You'll do fine in clinicals, don't worry, many people have the same problem and continue on to be great nurses. :)

-Heather

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

I saw a Dr. pass out once trying to intubate a patient :eek: She was about 8 months pregnant too. Luckily it was a teaching hospital and another doc was able to step right in to continue the inubation.

Not even doctors are immune.

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I am not a nursing student yet, but I have fainted while "on duty." I volunteer at the local hospital, and last year I had a cold. I was running late on the morning that I was supposed to volunteer, so I took a multi-symptom medicine with a glass of water (no breakfast - bad idea) and headed out!

While I was watching a colonoscopy, I suddenly felt like I needed to use the restroom REALLY BAD. As I was leaving the room, I felt dizzy and passed out. I've never passed out before! Luckily, a nurse caught me before I hit the floor!

I woke up in a rolling chair with three nurses surrounding me to make sure I was okay and trying to figure out what made me pass out (we knew it wasn't the colonoscopy itself since I had seen dozens and dozens in the past). To make me feel better, one of the nurses told me about the time she passed out ONTO the doctor while he was doing a colonoscopy! Another nurse told me about the time she passed out onto the floor in ICU :)

I think passing out is more common than you think it is, so don't be upset about it. If anything, this experience probably just made you more aware of yourself :) Don't be afraid to let someone know that you don't feel good. The nurses (AND even the doctor who was doing the colonoscopy when I left) told me I should have let them know that I wasn't feeling well!

(At a later date, I figured out that the dextromethorphan in my multi-symptom cold medicine made me feel the need to use the restroom and then pass out - my body just doesn't like DXM! Thankfully, I didn't have to pass out a second time to figure it out!)

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Don't worry, students are known for fainting - I work in a PACU and it's not unusual to hear about a med student passing out in the OR or getting light headed and having to go lay down. The hospital is a foreign environment to students, you will become accustomed but it takes time, so don't make a big deal out of it. That's your only potential problem from this, if you don't let it go. It's not a big deal - but just make sure that you didn't injure yourself in your fall.

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At 51 and about to start an ABSN program in NC after being laid-off, your story reminded me of 30 years ago when I was doing my Paramedic training ER rotation and fainted when the Doc began inserting a chest tube (onto an adjoining empty gurney thankfully). I never again even had the slightest feeling of fainting during the next 10 years of practicing outside of Washington, DC. . , and there with plenty of incidents that were, lets say 'fainting' worthy!

Keep the faith

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I am so sorry that such a thing happened to you. It must have been so embarassing. Yet I think it is quite normal that we react to things in a certain way, especially if you are not exposed to certain things.

I remember once when I had just started taking my anatomy class that my teacher had introduced us to let's say for the sake of this conversation "Tammy" She was someone who had given her body up for science, and she was to be our introduction to what it was all about. At any rate, my teacher was speaking to us, talking to us about the woman who had done such a great thing and well went on to stress how we should treat our 'corpses' with respect when we got them. I cannot tell you to this day why, but, she also dipped her hand in the corpse's open body cavity. And she just kept on dipping her hand inside pulling out dried organs and such showing these to us. Everytime she would make this action I could feel my stomach and all remnants of a half eaten lunch lurch forward. I felt sick to my stomach and broke out in a sweat. And she just kept on doing it again and again. I saw every star in the sky, some of classmates where so concerned they led me outside and others found it kind of amusing I suppose. Luckily for me I did not fall or anything, but was left to gather myself together, which I eventually did, but just... What an awful experience that was. I never considered myself to be the fainting type, but for goodsake, she just kept on dipping her hand in that body. I was aghast to say the least and it was not cute.

I do not think that anyone thought less of you because of what happened. You are a human being and had a normal reaction. In a little while you will laugh at this and not to mention, you will have a great story to tell. Take care and do not worry about it too much now. :p :)

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