Not cut out to be a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello everyone,

Currently I am in school doing pre-req's for my RN, but something happened this weekend to make me wonder if this is the right thing for me. My DD came home from school with lice. I know to everyone else this is not that big of a deal, gross but no biggie. well, I about died, had this huge anxiety attack and freaked out. today, i dont even know what to clean first and i am thinking i probably have it too, but i dont have anyone to go through my head for me so everytime i go to clean something i feel like i am "re-contaminating" it.

I dont know what it is with this. its like my worst nightmare. everytime i go to the movies or sit in a airplane seat its all i can think of and i feel all itchy like theres stuff crawling on me. i dont get grossed out with germs in general, its just this. i already have my cna and work in a nursing home so im wiping poop and dealing with nasty stuff all the time, i even have a resident with mersa that i can deal with just fine. using all the precautions of course, but i dont feel like im gonna catch it or anything.

so what do you guys think, is this a look into the future telling me what i will not be good at?

thanks in advance

megan

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

my little story: i was about 10 min late from shopping and the kids 10 & 13 were home alone....back in the day when rural areas with grandma next doo were safe......

anyway i came in and dd said b. had a knife and cut himself. i went into the kitchen and b. had indeed cut himself and had stuck the blade straight through and through his wrist, blood everywhere. i got a towel found the pressure point had dd hold it and hold his wrist up. we got in the car, drove to the doctor (rural remember) . the doc opened the towel, cleaned it with betadine and removed the knife. once everything was cleaned and sutured i looked at the doc, at my kids and fainted dead away. moral? it's different when it's family!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

Excellent advice has been given... I am also lice-ophobic and glad to know many feel the same way. I think I will stay away from school nursing though :uhoh21:

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

Megan and other posters:

If you can handle being a MOM, there's NOTHING else you can't handle!

Period!

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so what do you guys think, is this a look into the future telling me what i will not be good at?

thanks in advance

megan

no worries. lots of nurses over react to lice. dont know why really but at my work there have been a few times a patient came in with lice and everyone freaked. the same people "nurses" that took care of patients with TB, MRSA, hep C ect.. ect...with out ever reacting, but when a patinet comes in with lice all of the sudden everyone is wearing a bio suit, even if it is not their patient. i dont understand it but rest asured you are not the only one that freaks out about it. i think its goes back to grade school when all the kids tease the other kids with lice. even after we educate ourselves in the back of our minds we still hear those grade school voices. then some just freak because they are little creepy crawly things. i dont think it has any effect on being a good nurse or not. lots of nurses will never see lice in their entire career. if any thing it gives you a little perspective on your thoughts about it, a good thing. we must know our reactions to certain type patients inoder to be "good" nurses. i could never work in certain areas becasue of how i would react to the patients. knowing that helps me provide the best care for my patients, and when i refuse to care for a certain patient because of my own feelings that too helps that patient, allowing someone else who can provide good care. no big, doesnt mean i am not a good nurse, just a nurse that is human.
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I don't know anyone who wouldn't be creeped out by the thought of lice in their own home. And I don't know anyone who doesn't have SOMETHING they just can't tolerate. Mine is sputum and the gunk that collects in people's mouths when they can't do mouth care themselves. I'm actually getting better with sputum, but if I have to clean out a disgusting mouth, I'm gagging the entire time. Sometimes, if it's too bad, I'll ask someone who doesn't mind it to do it while I do something for them. It usually works out well that way. Once I was helping an aide clean out a patient's mouth and she started pulling this black wad of ICK from the back of her throat. It just kept coming. Let me tell you, I was OUT of there. Gagged all the way down the hallway. :barf01: Thank goodness the poor aide I left there didn't have the aversion I do. As I now work with mostly intubated/sedated patients, if I gag a little it doesn't matter. What's really bad is when the patient is awake and alert and I have to pretend I'm not bothered by it. Dentures get me too, if they are really nasty.

I was gagging just reading about the ick in the back of the throat!! EWWWWWW!!

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my little story: i was about 10 min late from shopping and the kids 10 & 13 were home alone....back in the day when rural areas with grandma next doo were safe......

anyway i came in and dd said b. had a knife and cut himself. i went into the kitchen and b. had indeed cut himself and had stuck the blade straight through and through his wrist, blood everywhere. i got a towel found the pressure point had dd hold it and hold his wrist up. we got in the car, drove to the doctor (rural remember) . the doc opened the towel, cleaned it with betadine and removed the knife. once everything was cleaned and sutured i looked at the doc, at my kids and fainted dead away. moral? it's different when it's family!

totally agree...also worse if its you. i've worked in er for years, seen more messes than you can shake a stick at, but nearly fainted the day i put a staple in my thumb and saw a drop of my own blood! :imbar

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Things still gross me out but thing is there's something different about seeing it at work and seeing it at home.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Hospice.

Pookybean, I agree with the others who have responded that it is always harder when it is your own child. And there is something especially demoralizing about lice. The idea of those creatures nesting on your little one's head is enough to make a mom lose her marbles.

When I was in high school we endured an "invasion" when my sister carried lice home from her preschool teaching job. My mom just about freaked, and worked like a dog to comb the eggs out of our long hair, disinfect our clothes and linens, and treat the carpets, upholstery, etc.

My own dd came home with them when she was in kindergarden, and I went through that same panic. But you know what? I still managed to do what needed to be done to deal with the problem, in spite of my aversion. And I'm sure you did just the same. I think that will make you a good nurse!

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Thanks guys, Im glad to hear im not alone!

i had my MIL come over to check us out, she didnt see anymore in my DD's hair and didnt see any in mine either. i am still not sure though.....

thanks for the reassurance that i will still be able to nurse. i really would love to be in OB/GYN, i wonder how i will react when someone comes in with pubic lice:eek: maybe i should rethink that part?!?!?!?

well at least i can make a semi-joke now.

thanks again!

Megan

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

Oh- the other thing that helps me with really nasty things is to remember that I'm just the care-giver here. The patient is the one who's living through the experience. Besides-you're the one who can make it all better for them!

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