Nursing too gross for me?

[Pennfan]

I'm just about to graduate high school and am going on to college. One career that I'm considering is a nurse practitioner. However, I've heard that in nursing school toward then end you do a lot of dirty work. I think I can handle cleaning up feces and puke and all those fun things, but cleaning wounds and the BIG one Catherizing men. I'm a guy and the thought of it makes me cringe.

So do you think I'm too big of a wuss to tough through nursing school then go one to get my masters? Or does the schooling not involve as much stuff like that as I thnk?

[kristenncrn]

It also helps to reframe things (which probably explains our sense of humor a lot of the time.)

Foleys can be fun... when you aren't the guy getting them (or gal. I've had 'em too.) =) And pulled off colostomy bags make for a great story later.

Trach care on a person with pseudomonas tracheitis... who just had chocolate pudding for lunch....

well - only a nurse can empathize with that sight! And smell.

The gross factor really isn't the hard part for most people. No one is born with a strong stomach - we just work on strong wills.

who can't understand but a nurse?

::::hugs:::: to all the people who can visual

[tanthalas]

I'm a guy.

After caring for people in your practicums/clinicals before you learn to catheterize, you're going to be very comfortable with the the human body - male or female. I remember my first patient which happened to be a young dude, probably age 21 and I was 22 at the time. You can imagine how uncomfortable it is, but once you get passed that and realize you're there to help heal it's not bad at all.

It's funny, some guys actually prefer guys to care for them.

[woknblues]

lol, nice imagery!!!

I just did my first foley on an elderly gentleman last week. He had a giant grapefruit sized distended bladder when he arrived. It was my turn to go, (only male on in the ER at the time, 3rd year BSN student). I have done it to the "dummy" before, but seriously, I was dreading it. All up until I saw the guy's bladder. I just wanted to intervene and relieve his agony as fast and effectively as possible. It went in the urethra a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would, but when I got to the bladder, I was surprised at how much resistance it gave. When I got it in, it was incredible the amount that came out, nearly 2.2 liters. The relief on the guy's face made the uncomfortability on both of our parts a distant memory. It was like, when I washed up and put the gloves on, I just detached all of my personality, emotion and side chatter, and became a conscious "robot" putting that cath in. I could do it now without blinking. Good luck in your decision. Don't let squeemish stuff scare you off. Everyone has those same thoughts.

[MedEthicsResearcher]

May 10, 2008, 08:05 PM

tanthalas (Male)

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Re: Nursing too gross for me?

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I'm a guy.

After caring for people in your practicums/clinicals before you learn to catheterize, you're going to be very comfortable with the the human body - male or female. I remember my first patient which happened to be a young dude, probably age 21 and I was 22 at the time. You can imagine how uncomfortable it is, but once you get passed that and realize you're there to help heal it's not bad at all.

It's funny, some guys actually prefer guys to care for them.

Just curious. Maybe you're just joking, but why do you find it unusual that "some guys actually prefer guys to care for them."? I know this topic has been covered again and again on these forums, but when you bring it it up in such a matter of fact manner, I wonder what's going through your mind. Are you equally curious as to why some women might not want a male nurse (or a male doctor) to do some kind of intimate care of procedure? Everyone is different, and everyone's cultural needs should be respected. You can't always accommodate these same gender requests, but that's where the skill of communication comes in. Your attitude toward the patient is important. Except in emergency situations, the access professional caregivers have to patient bodies is a priviledge. If you regard it as an entitlement, if you become so routinized that you can't see through the task to the patient, if you develop a "been there done that and you've got nothing special I haven't seen a million times" attitude, and the patient picks up on it (which they do more often than you may realize) -- you've lost that trust connection with the patient. Don't mean to bring this issue up again. The majority of experienced nurses realize all this, deal with it every day, and do the best they can. I'm certainily not criticizing you all. I'm most often in awe of the work you do every day keeping people safe and alive.