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?
Liquid potassium, bleach wipes, and we have this awesome-smelling no rinse wash that we use. Housekeeping also uses some vinegar-smelling concoction on some of the rooms and I love the smell of vinegar LOL.
Sani-wipes! (I’m not sure if that’s the actual name but we use them to wipe down reusable supplies like BP cuffs etc)
In going through our stock room we discovered a bunch of expired Sani-wipes. They were going to be thrown out so me and an MA were fighting over who got to take them home.
Mixing up banana bags. I really liked the smell of the injectable multivitamins.
Nasal cannulas, I'd always tell the patient it was going to smell like a shower curtain. It also brings back a memory of putting a cannula on a patient and going to connect the other end to the O2 meter. I found another cannula on the other end. Oops!
This is going to sound really odd, but I like the way my hospital's tourniquets smell. They're orange, I don't think I've worked with them anywhere else, but they have a distinct smell and I love it.
1 hour ago, Walti said:
Mixing up banana bags. I really liked the smell of the injectable multivitamins.
Go you, lol. I can't stand the smell of vitamins, PO or injectable. especially B vitamins.
smf0903
845 Posts
Liquid potassium, bleach wipes, and we have this awesome-smelling no rinse wash that we use. Housekeeping also uses some vinegar-smelling concoction on some of the rooms and I love the smell of vinegar LOL.