I know our profession has a reputation for some pretty gnarly smells, but does anybody have specific work-related smells that they actually enjoy?
My biggest is tincture of benzoin. We use it on preemies underneath tape to help protect their fragile skin, and I absolutely love the smell. Every time I use a benzoin swab, I feel like I stop to take a deep inhale. Maybe it's because the compound is also used in the creation of perfume and scented candles...
I also love the smell of a freshly-bathed NICU baby, especially when we get to use nice soaps. After giving baths, I love the "clean baby scent" when you smell the crown of the baby's head while you're holding them. I worked at a hospital that got rid of our baby shampoo and made us use hospital hand soap for baths, which was awful. You'd bend down to smell the baby and get a huge whiff of hospital antiseptic smell (not to mention how horrible it was for their skin). The nurses would actually buy bulk baby shampoo and hoard it at the nurses station.
We also have a few products that I enjoy the smell of. I worked in a hospital that used a locally-compounded skin protection ointment with a smokey smell just like bacon. Another used a diaper cream that smelled exactly like frosting (although that was a strange combo with a dirty diaper).
Anybody else have any guilty pleasure work scents?
I know our profession has a reputation for some pretty gnarly smells, but does anybody have specific work-related smells that they actually enjoy?
My biggest is tincture of benzoin. We use it on preemies underneath tape to help protect their fragile skin, and I absolutely love the smell. Every time I use a benzoin swab, I feel like I stop to take a deep inhale. Maybe it's because the compound is also used in the creation of perfume and scented candles...
I also love the smell of a freshly-bathed NICU baby, especially when we get to use nice soaps. After giving baths, I love the "clean baby scent" when you smell the crown of the baby's head while you're holding them. I worked at a hospital that got rid of our baby shampoo and made us use hospital hand soap for baths, which was awful. You'd bend down to smell the baby and get a huge whiff of hospital antiseptic smell (not to mention how horrible it was for their skin). The nurses would actually buy bulk baby shampoo and hoard it at the nurses station.
We also have a few products that I enjoy the smell of. I worked in a hospital that used a locally-compounded skin protection ointment with a smokey smell just like bacon. Another used a diaper cream that smelled exactly like frosting (although that was a strange combo with a dirty diaper).
Anybody else have any guilty pleasure work scents?
Ointment that smells like bacon?!:) This would be a real seller in the Midwest. We would even use bacon floor and toilet bowl cleaner if if were available.
Our potassium smells like blackcurrant (yum) but tastes like liquid metal IMHO.
Love the adhesive remover wipe as well so citrusy.
Many years ago the ward assistants used to wash the discharged beds with eucalyptus soap and water. No idea if it did anything but it was very fresh smelling. Also great to drop a little in an emisis bag for emptying a stoma, twist and in the bin. Much less gaggy. While not supposed to be used on people the eucalyptus soap was also great to add a few drops to a bowl with proper body wash for a sponge wash of a particularly smelly patient.
Unisolve adhesive remover pads, and on a more strange note.. I LOVE the smell of a clean assisted living facility. Like you know what goes down there but the way they cover it up gives me such nostalgia about my CNA days! Relaxes me!
Oddly enough, shaving cream! The hospital I work at stocks a brand that smells really, really good. Otherwise, I guess donuts if someone brings some in?
OneRN50
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Vitamin B tablets