I've cared for a fair share of c-diff patients, none of them with a terribly offensive BM, so I've simply assumed I got them later in their treatment, when the infection is essentially gone.
A recent patient required a cleanup, and a nurse came to help me. The very first thing he asked was if the patient had cdiff. My response was that I didn't think so, to which he stated that this lady definitely has it. Then he said, "can't you smell that?!"
Well, no, I couldn't. (I promise this isn't bragging. lol) But is this normal? Anyone out there who doesn't smell it either? Maybe this is like the genetic link behind tasting PTC. lol
I think I just found a way to get rich: invent some scratch and sniff stickers for nurses and students to use as reference. C.Diff, pseudamonas, needs-oral-care-STAT, ampicillin-urine, and many others.
C-diff with a side order of flagyl odor is quite distinct.
I've had plenty of patients who fit that, but never smelled anything special. I think this must be an individual situation similar to how that bitter or tasteless paper taste-test in highschool was.
I don't have that particular gene. I can't smell cyanide, either. (They say it smells like almonds.) I can, however, smell blood easily, much like a shark (although not nearly to that extreme). I have caught a few GI bleeds early before the melena was obvious.
Specializes in med, surg,trauma, triage, research.
yup, Ladyfree28, I had a patient suspected of having c diff he'd been for a Chinese meal the night before .........I opened the sealed container in a room without ventilation or windows....words cannot describe....still eat Chinese food ...
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Only have run across a few c-diff patients where the smell is particularly strong, but it doesn't bother me to clean 'em up. However, long ago I had a pt. transferred (from ER) who'd been in a car wreck and the minute he was transferred into our bed......Lower-GI-tract let go with PROFUSE bleeding and poop. We had to keep him until they got hold of the surgeon to come in and find what was going on. It was so awful that we all had to rotate and take turns cleaning it up, and 3-4 of the nurses and aides tossed their cookies.
Also, another very strong BM odor is from someone who has gone through a huge adrenalin rush as a response to trauma. WOW! It will make your eyes water!
I think a lot of nurses who claim they can smell c-diff only say so because they feel they should be able to and they think everyone else can. Thus furthering the myth that "everyone" can smell it except you.
If you don't deal with very often I can see why you wouldn't notice the difference, but it is there. C-diff has a pretty distinctive odor, kind of sweet but foul. Reminds me a little of something rotting, but I can't quite describe what. Not really rotting meat or fruit, just something rotting. Unlike Pseudomonas which has a pretty distinctive musty, rotting fruit odor. An instructor once described that to us as grapes going bad. But then I have smelled actual grapes going bad and it didn't smell a darn thing like Pseudomonas to me. Of course, my sniffer isn't the best, not necessarily a bad thing!
The only comment I could relate to in this thread was antibiotic urine (newborn babies).
anon456, BSN, RN
3 Articles; 1,144 Posts
I think I just found a way to get rich: invent some scratch and sniff stickers for nurses and students to use as reference. C.Diff, pseudamonas, needs-oral-care-STAT, ampicillin-urine, and many others.