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!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

They and leaches are making a huge comeback in the healthcare industry for wound debridement and hemolytic procedures. But the maggots in the lungs is definitely one for the books. Poor lady. She had to have been suffering terribly.

[fuega]

While I was working at a VA hospital,chronic care,we were two man lifting an old gentleman with the absolute worst looking and smelling urine...somehow the spiget on his foley bag opened and you guessed it...right in the opened mouth of my fellow nurse,I will never forget that day,the pt was pitched into bed,the other nurse vomited on the spot,I almost did,and the pt thought it was all so funny!!! The second disgusting thing was the lady that came in with maggots in her new mastectomy,I lost it that time....then the one about the Nut Case (sorry all you mental health folks out there,bless you all) that would eat to fast,vomit and then eat her vomit........I had forgotten about that one until now,gee, now my stomach hurts!:rotfl:

I'm not sure what I'd rather eat my own vomit or drink somebody else's piss.

[fuega]

As I began my nursing carreer I started out as CNA I worked in an Alzheimers unit. Another CNA and myself were getting residents up for breakfast. Well we walk into a residents room, she was always fun too (shes a fighter) we thought that she was asleep. We went to touch her and when she rolled back toward us she had poopoo in her hand all over her face and was freaking smiling. Now remember shes a fighter so I was not trying to take that poop away, only to get smacked in the face with CACA. We tried to take it away and she was angry, all she could say was SWEET TIRD. OH MY GOD I was laughing so hard I had to leave the room. I cant remember if she was hungry or not after that.

As an LVN I was working MED/Surg, I always took my lunch breaks outside to speak with my boyfriend (now husband) on the phone. I kept telling him I smell CACA. It smells like someone took a dump right by my truck AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH. I could not stop smelling it. When I talk on the phone I like to run my fingers thru my hair. Well I felt something in my hair. I grabbed it and flinged it away. I thought that it was a bug. Well I went to grab my soda and took a drink only to smell the CACA on my hand!!!!! It was in my freaking hair!!!!!!!!! I screamed so loud and I just kept saying theres s*@# in my hair theres s#@$ in my hair!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my lord when I got off break I went up to one of the nurses after scrubbing the hell out of my hand and asked her to smell my hair to tell me where the poop was. After she refused I put a shower cap on and didnt take it off all night. We were all laughing so hard.

Good Times!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

As I began my nursing carreer I started out as CNA I worked in an Alzheimers unit. Another CNA and myself were getting residents up for breakfast. Well we walk into a residents room, she was always fun too (shes a fighter) we thought that she was asleep. We went to touch her and when she rolled back toward us she had poopoo in her hand all over her face and was freaking smiling. Now remember shes a fighter so I was not trying to take that poop away, only to get smacked in the face with CACA. We tried to take it away and she was angry, all she could say was SWEET TIRD. OH MY GOD I was laughing so hard I had to leave the room. I cant remember if she was hungry or not after that.

As an LVN I was working MED/Surg, I always took my lunch breaks outside to speak with my boyfriend (now husband) on the phone. I kept telling him I smell CACA. It smells like someone took a dump right by my truck AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH. I could not stop smelling it. When I talk on the phone I like to run my fingers thru my hair. Well I felt something in my hair. I grabbed it and flinged it away. I thought that it was a bug. Well I went to grab my soda and took a drink only to smell the CACA on my hand!!!!! It was in my freaking hair!!!!!!!!! I screamed so loud and I just kept saying theres s*@# in my hair theres s#@$ in my hair!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my lord when I got off break I went up to one of the nurses after scrubbing the hell out of my hand and asked her to smell my hair to tell me where the poop was. After she refused I put a shower cap on and didnt take it off all night. We were all laughing so hard.

Good Times!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: They are equally good.:chuckle

[ohlpn]

In the nursing home I worked I had a male CNA holding a bedridden/nonresponsive resident on his side so I could change a dressing to his back. We had been treating this resident for over three months for this huge boil/carbuncle/abcess thing the size of a baseball. The CNA commented on how the boil looked like it was getting bigger despite all efforts at treating it.... numerous ATB's, soaks & dressings were not effective. Before I knew what happened, the CNA reached over & squeezed the darn thing! It sounded like a shotgun blast & flew right by me, landing on the wall.... it looked & smelled like someone had thrown a rotten egg at the wall. Now I would never condone or encourage this as a treatment, but doggone it, the wound was dry & healed by the next day!

[JVanRN]

This is gonna sound stupid compared to all the other postings but here is one experience that really made me lose it... I was a student and we were doing NH rotations...well i was watching one of the staff CNA's feed the patients and she put his eggs and grits into a large syringe and proceded to syringe feed him like that....I already have a thing with eggs and grits but that was just wrong and nasty....thank god i work in NICU

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

In the nursing home I worked I had a male CNA holding a bedridden/nonresponsive resident on his side so I could change a dressing to his back. We had been treating this resident for over three months for this huge boil/carbuncle/abcess thing the size of a baseball. The CNA commented on how the boil looked like it was getting bigger despite all efforts at treating it.... numerous ATB's, soaks & dressings were not effective. Before I knew what happened, the CNA reached over & squeezed the darn thing! It sounded like a shotgun blast & flew right by me, landing on the wall.... it looked & smelled like someone had thrown a rotten egg at the wall. Now I would never condone or encourage this as a treatment, but doggone it, the wound was dry & healed by the next day!

Kudos to that CNA. Those things hurt like crazy. I know. I had one. Only I had to wear a large drain in it for a week.

[hotrodrn]

I've got a gross one. I've worked in an ER and I can handle just about any body fluid (and have) except earwax. Earwax grosses me out. Was working in an ER in Puerto Rico while in the Navy and we had homeless dependent uncle or some relation come into ER c/o trouble hearing. On exam, doc found both ears severly packed with thick, green earwax. YUMMMMEY!

Well, yours truly gets to irrigate his ears, not the thrill of my life. I irrigated so much earwax out of that man's ears, it was coming out in big, green nuggets. When I showed pt emesis basin of what I had cleaned out of his scuzzy ears, he proceeds to get a big smile on his face, picked up one of the greasy nuggets and eats it!!! YUCK! I just about pucked on myself with that one. To this day, can barely clean my own ears!

He ate it, geez, I would have barfed on him and me.

Rod RN

[hotrodrn]

He ate it, geez, I would have barfed on him and me. I am a trauma nurse but geez that just grossed me out to hell.

Rod Rn:imbar

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I think seeing people eat substances the body offloads is absolutely the worst.....a couple of weeks ago I almost blew my groceries when I came in to my elderly, confused patient's room to find him calmly rolling poop into little balls and consuming them. YECCCCCCHHHHHHH.

[wam79]

This happened to me years ago before universal precautions were the norm. I worked nights on an Oncology ward I was assisting a resident as she was attempting to intubate a man with Increasing SOB. Our only protection was gloves ( this was the norm then). The placment was difficult and I was manuvering the guys head to help get it in. When the tube entered the trachia an absolutly massive ammount of bloody, smelly fluid shot out and got all over the resident and me. I had it on my face the front of my shirt was soaked with it.My pants were wet even my shoes and socks were splattered. I felt like hurling. The man crashed hard when that fluid was let out. It took an hour to get him stable enough to move him to the ICU. He was tested and had nothing contagious , I still felt dirty for a week after that.

[jannecdote]

We had an alcholic patient in his 50's, a smoker, who was at the end of the hall on med/surg. He was wearing oxygen per nasal cannula and had been warned about not smoking while wearing the O2.

Anyway, we were all at the nursing station--which is odd considering how busy we always were--when we hear this loud KABOOM down the hallway. We all looked at each other and then took off running toward this guys room.

We find him staring blankly at the wall, oxygen tubing melted to his mustache, black soot-like stuff around his mouth and nose, lighter on the bed next to a pack of smokes. I don't remember if we found the cigarette he had been smoking or not.

Funny thing, this guy never acknowledged he had been smoking. His wife later admits she had brought him the cigs/lighter but never imagined anything like this could happen.

I know this could have ended up more serious than it did, but the guy was all right, superficial burns on his lip healed quickly, etc. Don't :uhoh21: at me for saying this, but every time I think about that blank look he had on his face I can't help but laugh.