What Is Your Most Gross, Yucky, Disgusting Nursing Horror Story?

[yazisizit]

I was working a night shift on a tele floor as a new Nurse.

We had this one poor old lady who was confused and was restrained as usual for her safety. She was our designated resident nightmare geri from hell, so she was placed near the Nurse's station.

So we are chilling out at the Nurse's station, chatting and trying to get through another night...

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see our lady in question standing in the dimly lit doorway of her room!

I instantly leap out and run to her. As I approach her, she appears to be falling towards me, so I meet her in a bear hug...my arms around her waste, and her arms around my shoulders.

As I catch the lady, I notice a very strong smell of feces, and I feel something warm on my hands, arms and shoulders...

My fellow heroes come in behind me, and as the lights are turned on, my worst fears are instantly realized.

Yes, I caught the poor old lady with a good old bear hung football catch, but I was also covered in the lady's feces.

As I look at her, she has feces smeared all over her arms and hands... (and even her face!)

And of course, now so did I!

[Ayrman]

I only read those that others bought, I never purchased one myself. Thus, I am only semi-guilty as there never was a steady supply.

Ayrman

[fey_lassRN]

hi there,

i'm a nursing( RN) student. do you have a choice when you start your job. i mean can i go or job in NICU or OB when i start.

regards

It is possible. It usually works best if you precept in the specialty unit. I have never worked a day in med surg, and I'll go apply at Target before I do. I precepted in L&D, and then was hired in that unit. I've also worked NICU, and I've seen precepting students get hired right after they graduate. Our professors strongly encouraged us to precept in med surg, but after I broke down sobbing and told them I'd quit nursing school if I was forced to do that, they shut up.

[mom4josh]

It is possible. It usually works best if you precept in the specialty unit. I have never worked a day in med surg, and I'll go apply at Target before I do. I precepted in L&D, and then was hired in that unit. I've also worked NICU, and I've seen precepting students get hired right after they graduate. Our professors strongly encouraged us to precept in med surg, but after I broke down sobbing and told them I'd quit nursing school if I was forced to do that, they shut up.

What???

:offtopic:

[fey_lassRN]

Screw nursing... I'm going to make my fortune making and selling full body-condoms for nurses!

There have been so many times that all of us in L&D have decided we needed either vet gloves for pulling calves or a full body latex dip.

[fey_lassRN]

I worked Katrina.

I worked with a nurse who was stuck in one of the hospitals in NO. She didn't really talk about it, and no one asked much because we knew how hard it had been on her. She did say something about having nightmares sometimes. Now she's left us and gone back to Metairie. We miss her! I think she needed that bit of time far from home to recover.

[Diahni]

What???

:offtopic:

I second that, mom4josh! I didn't know that nursing students/beginning nurses got to vote! I am very aware of the "you have to do a year of med-surg before you do anything else" philososphy - I suspect that this may change as the shortage worsens. As well, I have never heard of the rules being changed for the benefit of the nurse or student. Maybe I should put this in another thread, since it's only gross, yucky and disgusting if you don't want to do med-surg, but my impression of WHY this remains so is this: In med-surg, you see a variety of medical situtions to make you well-rounded." I was given this line from a psych unit, whose director told me they more or less require this from their employees. His rationale is that let's say you're assess a person in alcohol withdrawal - what symptom are the withdrawal, and which ones are additional physical/psych medical issues for the person? Makes sense to me up to a point. On the other hand, every specialty has a lot of info and skills specific to that specialty, so in this way the year of med/surg might be a waste of time.

I'd like to know people's experience/opinions on this!

Diahni

[Diahni]

I worked with a nurse who was stuck in one of the hospitals in NO. She didn't really talk about it, and no one asked much because we knew how hard it had been on her. She did say something about having nightmares sometimes. Now she's left us and gone back to Metairie. We miss her! I think she needed that bit of time far from home to recover.

lassRN - I am sure it was a nightmare. I admire people who rise to the challenge, but they do pay a price. A lot of people from my area went to NO to do other stuff. It does a soul good, but at what cost? Too bad there isn't some kind of pill we could take for these situations that make us be invulnerable, but it's just the human condition. I think of all the people coming back from Iraq all messed up. Same thing. Rather than be rewarded, they can have life long physical and psych problems. In your friend's case, the nurse became a patient.

Diahni

[Diahni]

I only read those that others bought, I never purchased one myself. Thus, I am only semi-guilty as there never was a steady supply.

Ayrman

Ayrman,

I was that kid whose magazines were read by the kids whose parents wouldn't buy them. I am sure Mad shaped my sense of humor, absolutely. One of my faves was "Dr. Kilgore" from way back - "That's not a bloody sponge, doctor, it's the patient's brain."

diahni

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

bah! i always tell my tales at the supper table....and now everyone has a very strong stomach!:innerconf

yep, it's either sink or swim, hunh honey.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I have no idea if it's the horrible environment I lived in when I was growing up, or if it was science fiction movies like The Night of the Living Dead, or other things I have seen on TV or read in books, but I was watching Prison Break last night, and one of the prisoners said he murdered his father with a knife, then removed his brain and took a bite out of it. That didn't fase me one little bit. It just took me back to the days of Hannibal Lechter. Personally, I feel that this type of thing is one of the reasons nurses love nursing. They can take most of it. I can't stand to bear the injury of a little one though, because they are helpless victims of their environment, :flmngmd:and that makes me want to get the proverbial shotgun out and take action.

[fey_lassRN]

I second that, mom4josh! I didn't know that nursing students/beginning nurses got to vote! I am very aware of the "you have to do a year of med-surg before you do anything else" philososphy - I suspect that this may change as the shortage worsens. As well, I have never heard of the rules being changed for the benefit of the nurse or student. Maybe I should put this in another thread, since it's only gross, yucky and disgusting if you don't want to do med-surg, but my impression of WHY this remains so is this: In med-surg, you see a variety of medical situtions to make you well-rounded." I was given this line from a psych unit, whose director told me they more or less require this from their employees. His rationale is that let's say you're assess a person in alcohol withdrawal - what symptom are the withdrawal, and which ones are additional physical/psych medical issues for the person? Makes sense to me up to a point. On the other hand, every specialty has a lot of info and skills specific to that specialty, so in this way the year of med/surg might be a waste of time.

I'd like to know people's experience/opinions on this!

Diahni

Well, most of the L&Ds I've worked in will only hire those with some experience, and they count preceptorships and internships towards that. And nurses, even young nurses, should have a choice. I'm a great L&D nurse, but I'd make a horrible med-surg nurse (I'd probably spend most of the shift hiding in the linen closet sobbing). We do deal with medical issues in L&D, but they all center around the pregnancy. An extra semester in med surg, on top of the two I'd already had in school, would have driven me out of nursing. Instead I was allowed in my niche, and I've been fairly happy there.

[Daywalker]

yep, it's either sink or swim, hunh honey.

you bet!