The sight of blood makes me pass out.

[Joe V]

As a nurse, we are surrounded by blood, germs, sickness, etc. What is the one thing that makes your stomach turn? What makes you queasy? Oh, if you have some stories to tell please share ... inquiring minds want to know ?

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[SwansonRN]

I passed out at work from the site of my own blood! I broke my finger and cracked my nail with a laceration to my fingertip. I tried to downplay it, but wound up passing out. One of the techs had to bring me down to the ED, I was mortified. I can look at bodily fluids and traumas all day long, but if it's me? Down I go!

Ostomies are my weakness.

[MECO28, BSN, RN]

Student Mom to Three said:

Well.....after starting in endoscopy I couldn't eat over easy eggs for a loooonnnggg time. You endoscopy nurses know what I'm talking about .

I know I'm going to regret this...but why?

[NurseDirtyBird]

I haven't figured out if there's a professional way to gag in front of a patient, but I attempted it the other day. Suctioning sputum. I gagged behind my (clean) arm. The family was there, and I know they saw, but nobody ever said anything. I can only hope that continuing to suction instead of running out of the room to barf scored me a couple points.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Sputum really doesn't bother me. In fact, I get a great deal of satisfaction from sucking out ET's. It's like taking out the trash.

Now, ileostomies? Forget about it. Makes my urpy just to think about emptying one of those.

The only time I went down was during L&D rotation back in school. Head crowned, and that was all she wrote. Instructor suggested I avoid L&D as a specialty.

[OneDuckyRN]

My weakness is large wounds. By large, I mean hip to knee or hip to ankle. I saw these in my two clinical rotations at our local LTACH. The wound nurses started NOT wanting me in the room during dressing changes on those patients! I can handle smaller wounds, but the big ones are a sure bet I'll be hitting the floor at some point!

[NurseFrustrated]

I can clean up poop from bedpans and bedside commodes all day and it doesn't bother me, but having to squeeze poop out of a colostomy bag...yikes. I have to hold my breath and try so hard not to let my face show any signs of wanting to gag. That gets to me. Sputum is fine unless it's really thick and then it's not so pleasant. Fortunately vomit doesn't bother me too badly. However emptying NG suction canisters is kind of gross as well. It's not pleasant for staff or for patients. It's a necessary evil in the health care field though. The patients cant help it and it could be any of us in that position one day so I try not to let my feelings show. We are human after all.

[kaela_v]

I have never dealt with ostomy bags or deep suction or the like, but I imagine those are incredibly gross!

I am an L&D nurse so I see blood, poop, vomit, placentas, vernix, etc every day. I have found that nothing (that I work with) gets me queasy routinely....

HOWEVER, having to catch a baby with NO GLOVES is not fun!! If you walk into your patient's room and she's already pushing that babies head out, YOU CATCH IT (gloves or no gloves)!

Sometimes, you just cant wash your hands enough...

[fetch, BSN, RN]

So far (knock on wood) any bodily fluids haven't bothered me unduly. I mean, gross, yeah, but not pass out or puke gross.

However.

Watching any kind of nerve block will make me light-headed. Nearly hit the floor when I saw a woman get an epidural - the whole birth, fine! The epidural - my vision went dark and I sat down reeeeally quick. In an outpatient OR, I observed three different nerve blocks - learned to keep my eyes very tightly focused on the ultrasound screen and not think about what I was looking at.

Even just typing these out and remembering is making me light-headed! I don't know what it is, every other kind of needle stick is fine and dandy. Just the thought of nerves. Yikes.

[mamagui]

Unless the pt has HIV or HEP, what is wrong with catching a baby with no gloves (given that you do not have time to put them on)? Sure they are covered in vernix, but that is brand new life in your hands. That is sacred.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

kaela_v said:

I have never dealt with ostomy bags or deep suction or the like, but I imagine those are incredibly gross!

I am an L&D nurse so I see blood, poop, vomit, placentas, vernix, etc every day. I have found that nothing (that I work with) gets me queasy routinely....

HOWEVER, having to catch a baby with NO GLOVES is not fun!! If you walk into your patient's room and she's already pushing that babies head out, YOU CATCH IT (gloves or no gloves)!

Sometimes, you just cant wash your hands enough...

I love you L&D nurses because I couldn't do it. Luckily for me when I was doing my L&D rotation in school there wasn't any birthing moms the day I was scheduled for delivery. I however was in the labor room with my daughter when she was giving birth, and I know everybody says that it is the most beautiful thing in the world...uh not! The things that came out of her ughhhh. I am still traumatized by that.

[AJPV]

I can't stand it when I'm trying to get stubborn poop to come off of a bedpan by spraying it with the toilet sprayer thing and I end up feeling some of the splash on my arm - or even worse, on my face! My coworker was changing the bag on a rectal tube and the connector popped off a bit more suddenly than he anticipated. It splashed a small amount of poo on the side of his face.

[TrevyRN, BSN, RN]

Babies are born out of v-a-g-I-n-a-s. I like to eat fingerfoods with my hands. Try to minimize not-my-baby's-momma vag on my hands so I can eat during the next century.

PS. Standard precautions LOL

Double PS. You can hold a life in your hands with gloves on. Much better.