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!

[dreamincashgirl]

I forgot to add---after you wash,wash ,wash ya hands do a final scrub with shaving cream.....Takes care of that lingering odor..sometimes after dealing with a particulary smelly impaction -even double gloved- I think I can smell that odor on my fingers....argh....

This post has been sooo helpful! Its preparing me for what to expect... Only gagged like twice... About the nurse swallowing the crud! EW!!!! Nasty... def gagged... Anyways... I'm a first semester NS and i have picked up sooo many tips already that i'm writing down. Always wear goggles when pressing on oozing spots.... Never remove your face shield until you have LEFT THE ROOM! Always bring another pair of back up clothing. And.... The shaving cream thing! INGENIOUS!!!!!

[Jessiedog, RN]

What does it mean when I've been going through this thread for an hour, and still intend on becoming a nurse.:roll

It means you have the pre-requesites to last at your job. These being a cast-iron stomach, and a warped sense of humour!!

[bcoaggiemom09]

I was working as a med-surg floor nurse and had a patient with a HUGE boil on her forehead. Her doctor was making rounds and told me he was going to lance it and asked me to get the supplies and meet him in the patient's room. This boil had to have been the size of a silver dollar, and probably stood almost an inch above her forehead. REALLY BIG!!! Anyway, he barely touched the "head" on it and "stuff" just started oozing out. It was white and had the consistency of cheese. He started pressing on the boil to get it all out. Keep in mind that there was only a pea-sized hole in the middle of this huge boil, so as this stuff is coming out, it's doing so in a long "noodle". I forget exactly how much he removed, but by the time he was finished, the skin that had been stretched by the size of the boil looked like the skin on an old man's arm: very wrinkled and loose. She had a perfectly round, pea-sized hole right in the middle of her forehead.

Another time, I had a patient who had surgery on her heel. I don't remember the dx, but I do remember that she had very poor circulation and the doctor was very concerned because the wound wasn't healing. He ordered leeches. Initially, I was the only nurse on that floor that would apply the leeches. They were really cool. Before they are applied, they are the size of a slug, very dark brown with black stripes. When you apply one, all you have to do is use a tweezer and hold the leech close to the wound and it will independently attach. Just leave it there and when it gets full, it will fall off. We had to be very careful when we walked into her room because we never knew where we would find the detached leech. Once, I found it crawling up her wall!! The leeches were effective. I saw this same lady about six months later and she was doing fantastic and her heel and healed wonderfully.

My family thinks these things are gross, but I think they are really cool. These are what I miss most about med-surg.

[nitenite]

Once saw a demented pt with a bedsore so deep on his tailbone that stool came through each time he had a movement. Poor guy did not last very long after that.

Somebody came in with acute glaucoma and the eyeball exploded in surgery. She lost the eye.

Scoped a pt with a blocked nare and found maggots. Never found out how they got there.

Was all gowned/masked/gloved up to care for a pt with necrotizing fascitis(sp?) eating their legs. Pt was demented and a dressing picker. Being the graceful person I am, I slipped, fell and landed in a puddle of oozy dressings they'd picked off and spent an hour showering because I felt so filthy.

Worst for me though is vomit. I had a pt who said they weren't feeling well and had a sore throat. Asked them to open their mouth so I could check their throat and they horked their spaghetti(why is it always spaghetti? NASTYYYYYY!) right in my face. Pt tested positive for strep and I came down with it a few days later. Fun times!

[sweetestt7]

OMG --- this was defanentaly not a good thread for a new nursing student to have read...I'm really starting to reconsider....~feeling a lil dizzy~

--CLaire

I really wanted to go into Geriatrics, because I loved and miss my grandmother so much. However, I am now seriously rethinking this. I never imagined scenaios like this in my wildest dreams. Maybe I will go OB too.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

We used to have a resident with rotting black feet. Every now and then a toe would fall off. I felt bad for his roommate for having to endure the smell for such a long time.

[pH7.40, LPN]

Had a guy in the ER, mentally slow, with an infected stasis ulcer to the back of his calf x 1 month. Picture this, large round area of black escar surounded by a "canal" of non-existant and barely there flesh. The the decaying flesh had been gnawed away by non the less magotts which were still in residence in large numbers in his leg. The smell was so nasty!!!!! Stank up the whole ER! Then........it gets better. He decides he has to pee and can only do this standing up! Gets out of bed bleeding and dropping magotts everywhere! Then surgery decides to debride the nasty leg IN THE ROOM! EEWWWW!!! Discovered that lidocaine makes magotts "dance".

Needless to say not much appetite that shift!

the maggots kept the wound "clean". I have friends who have done leech therapy as nurses.

that sounds so nasty. you are brave.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

i really wanted to go into geriatrics, because i loved and miss my grandmother so much. however, i am now seriously rethinking this. i never imagined scenaios like this in my wildest dreams. maybe i will go ob too.

gross stories happen a lot in ob as well (i'm sure if you look around the board enough you'll find plenty!

also, we need geriatric nurses with a heart for geriatrics.

admit it, you wouldn't mind contributing gross stories yourself someday anyway...

*~jess~*

[nitenite]

Sometimes I wonder how the poop-eaters can eat poop. It can't taste good.

[jnrsmommy]

Sometimes I wonder how the poop-eaters can eat poop. It can't taste good.

Walked in on my resident completely covered in stool, all over the bed, wall, air conditioning unit (and the heat was on), and she was eating it too. While trying to clean inside her mouth (yes, she was eating it as well), she was fighting us. I told her that we had to clean her mouth because she had poop in there. Her reply? "Leave it there. That's the best stuff I've had in a long time."

[nitenite]

Walked in on my resident completely covered in stool, all over the bed, wall, air conditioning unit (and the heat was on), and she was eating it too. While trying to clean inside her mouth (yes, she was eating it as well), she was fighting us. I told her that we had to clean her mouth because she had poop in there. Her reply? "Leave it there. That's the best stuff I've had in a long time."

It's such a shame how the brain can confuse the tongue. Someone said there's no dignity for people with dementia. I think they're right. Especially Alzheimer's. I had a 104 year old pt who'd had it since he was 70 and all he did was lie there. Never moaned. Never moved. He probably didn't even remember he was human anymore. I don't think he could even understand language. He looked like King Tut's mummy, skin and bones and he probably weighed 90 lbs soaking wet.

What's worse? His family had him on treatments and full code. If he got sick, we had to give him antibiotics. We were turning him all the time and still he had a lot of decubs that needed care. His joints were stiff and nearly frozen despite physical therapy. We fed him via gastronomy tubing and gave him dialysis. He laid in that room for at least a month before he finally crashed. I got to code this poor man and when I started chest compressions, his sternum and ribs pretty much disintegrated and various nasty fluids oozed out of his orifices. Feces, vomit, snot, urine. I will never forget that smell. He didn't survive the code, mercifully.

Should I also mention this poor guy died on CHRISTMAS DAY? We couldn't get ahold of the family and they arrived all dressed up with gifts for him, and they were screaming in the hallway when the doctor delivered the news. They never got to say goodbye to this poor man because they were always hoping he'd snap out of it, and now they have to suffer with losing him on a holiday. How sad. I'd hate to see their bills after all this.

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

It's such a shame how the brain can confuse the tongue. Someone said there's no dignity for people with dementia. I think they're right. Especially Alzheimer's. I had a 104 year old pt who'd had it since he was 70 and all he did was lie there. Never moaned. Never moved. He probably didn't even remember he was human anymore. I don't think he could even understand language. He looked like King Tut's mummy, skin and bones and he probably weighed 90 lbs soaking wet.

What's worse? His family had him on treatments and full code. If he got sick, we had to give him antibiotics. We were turning him all the time and still he had a lot of decubs that needed care. His joints were stiff and nearly frozen despite physical therapy. We fed him via gastronomy tubing and gave him dialysis. He laid in that room for at least a month before he finally crashed. I got to code this poor man and when I started chest compressions, his sternum and ribs pretty much disintegrated and various nasty fluids oozed out of his orifices. Feces, vomit, snot, urine. I will never forget that smell. He didn't survive the code, mercifully.

Should I also mention this poor guy died on CHRISTMAS DAY? We couldn't get ahold of the family and they arrived all dressed up with gifts for him, and they were screaming in the hallway when the doctor delivered the news. They never got to say goodbye to this poor man because they were always hoping he'd snap out of it, and now they have to suffer with losing him on a holiday. How sad. I'd hate to see their bills after all this.

Alzheimer's is probably the only reason I decided to pursue nurising (I start school in 13 weeks!). My grandmother had alzheimer's. It was hard to watch her completely loser herself. Finally, she didn't get out of bed to eat/drink. She was at my mom's house in Arizona (I live in PA). She called to let us know she was probably going to die. My aunt and I flew out to be at her side for her last days. Her breathing was raspy. She hadn't eaten or drank for a few days before we arrived (as were her wishes). Hospice nurses came to help us take care of her other needs like turning and oral care (she was nonverbal or communicative for the days I was there). The only thing she did (and only occasionally) was open her eyes very WIDE, sit up with her mouth gaped. But, she didn't even seem to acknowledge the people in the room. I found the hospice care so important for how our family dealt (emotionally) with her last days, that a few months later, I looked into taking on nursing. I feel that we gave my grandmother the most dignity we could by follwoing through on her desires to not be hospitalized or intubated for nourishment. She died at home with her closest family members by her side. I think she would have been satisfied had she known. She died a few weeks before Christmas and after her birthday.

I think having to do 'full codes' on people that are at the end of their lives seems like a horrible situation for everyone involved. The thought (and reality) of it scares me to death. Would I be able to refuse care on moral (I first wrote mortal) issues as others can refuse to prescribe/administer birth control?