Making others faint and fall out at the dinner table

[Brian, ASN, RN]

Nurses can talk about anything and everything at anytime. We forget that some of the things we talk about might make others turn green and gag. Splattering blood, thick, tenacious mucus, smelly body excretions ... these are topics that don't go well with the spaghetti the family's eating. Heck, nurses can eat with one hand and clean up vomit with the other. So, have you been asked to change the subject at the dinner table?

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Oh yeah.....it was funny, my kids got used to the stories and one even became a CNA (he is now in pre-nursing classes), but my husband and sister never did become accustomed to hearing about blood, guts, poop and so on at the dinner table. I couldn't help laughing at them for turning green over the chicken and dumplings!

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Uh-huh! Was describing an abdominal surgery on a very large, woman; the thing that had fascinated me, or rather, that I had found comical, was as the surgeon was closing the inner layers and his suturing thread scraped along the thick walls of fat, little pieces of that fat would be launched and arc into the air.

Oddly enough, nobody appreciated the humor of that and I was roundly denounced:"EEWWWWW! GROSS!"

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I am an RN of 30+ years experience, my son is an RT student and my oldest daughter is a wound and ostomy nurse. We can clear a table faster than you can shake a stick. :)

[Barnstormin' PMHNP]

My husband can't take the stories, the kids are like "tell us more!" (they're teenagers)

[JasBSN]

I had a friend staying with me for a few weeks while he was looking for a new apartment. He came in one day and I was sitting on the couch eating left over spaghetti and watching Trauma-Life in the ER, don't remember the episode, but it was a bloody gory mess! My friend turned several shades of green, shook his head, and ran away very quickly. Later he asked me "how can you watch stuff like that and eat??"

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Uh-huh! Was describing an abdominal surgery on a very large, woman; the thing that had fascinated me, or rather, that I had found comical, was as the surgeon was closing the inner layers and his suturing thread scraped along the thick walls of fat, little pieces of that fat would be launched and arc into the air.

Oddly enough, nobody appreciated the humor of that and I was roundly denounced:"EEWWWWW! GROSS!"

Ewwww gross!!!

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

LOVE that kid grinning in the cartoon!!!!!!

[NanaPoo]

Yep, my 10 year old daughter wants more! more! at the dinner table while hubby consistently says, "PLEASE change the subject."

[dah doh, BSN, RN]

My hubby's a nurse & my kids have heard it all. It's when we sit with the non-medical relatives & friends that we get varied reactions; usually leading to a change in topic.

[azhiker96, BSN, RN]

I was enjoying food and drinks with my stepdaughter and her med school classmates a couple of years ago. They were telling tales from their clinicals. Suddenly, one student looked at me and apologized for the gross stories. I smiled back and told her not to worry about it. "I'm a nurse, you're not even close to grossing me out."

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

Even though my mom is a nurse I can tell her some stories that make her gasp. My husband and my friends husband refuse to eat at the table with us.