Nursing without the "yukkies".

Agnus · Nov 4, 2003

has anyone noticed there are five pages of replys and we have not heard from the original poster a second time?

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2003

I did notice that, Agnus.

nursemary9, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2003

Hi,

The yukkies are just part of the whole job.You'll either learn to deal with them or you'll get out of bedside nursing. The yukkies, tho,are things a bedside nurse needs to know--I need to know the color and consistency of the poop, I need to know the color,amt.,& consistency of sputum, the same with emesis and urine.

These are all things I needto know to properly assess my patients.

Now,from the other side--when I was a patient I was super embarssed about these kinds of problems & i really appreciated the nurses and cna's who dealt with these in a professional manner.I know many a patient who is more embarassed by these episodes then anything else,and that is just one more area

I can help him with.

LilRedRN1973 · Nov 4, 2003

This has nothing to do with the original poster, but a lot to do with "the yukkies". I don't have an aversion to bodily fluids, but I cannot control myself when someone vomits. I try so hard and I still end up with watery eyes and that "feeling". I love taking care of people and I don't see them as "piss, crap, and puke" as I think the original poster put it. I also realize that the patient is having a far worse time than I am about all these bodily functions.

I'm so scared that when I graduate, this will make me a horrible nurse, even though I'm very good at soothing people and caring for them. I have always been the "caretaker" in the family and enjoy the process of nursing someone back to health or to die with dignity as I did with my grandmothers. I don't have problems with wiping poop, urine, or open, bloody wounds. I have been on a call as an EMT where the person was decapitated and it didn't bother me. When I was cutting up cadavers and pulling their brains out, taking off their legs, and dissecting their more delicate parts, I was more fascinated than anything else...never did I get the urge to be ill.

But it's the emesis that gets me EVERY time. The woman who taught my EMT class had been a medic for about 25 years and she said that to this day, she STILL gets queasy when someone vomits. Am I doomed as you all say the original poster is? I have no problems doing hard work and getting dirty....I love helping people no matter what state they are in...but I can't control the urge I get to be sick when someone else is vomiting. Does anyone have suggestions for this? And it's not really the smell either so putting Vicks or the equivalent under my nose would not help. After reading through all these posts, I'm now thinking that I'm going to make a terrible nurse because I can't handle vomit.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Nov 4, 2003

I think every nurse has what I call an "EEWW threshold"---something s/he just can't handle, no matter how innocuous it seems, or how many times s/he has been exposed to it. I went through school with a woman who could NOT abide the human umbilicus......just talking about it would make her sick to her stomach, and I remember her almost passing out when another fellow student showed off her new belly-button piercing before class one day! It was really funny doing bed baths with Debbie, too, because she'd turn all pale and have to swallow hard several times, and I'd always end up doing the patient's torso because she just couldn't deal with it. (Luckily for me, she'd do the denture care because that was something that's always made ME turn green.)

Not liking the "yukkies" is nothing to be ashamed of, but nursing is a lot more than odoriferous emanations and effluvia, and one has to be able to overcome the natural revulsion toward those things if s/he wants to get to the good stuff nursing has to offer.

coffeejavule · Nov 4, 2003

Originally posted by Agnus
has anyone noticed there are five pages of replys and we have not heard from the original poster a second time?

I wonder if that's because he/she is too scared to come back. Either he/she is under a new nick now (no way to tell unless you tracked the IP) or this person just completely left the boards.

If I make enemies with this reply .. so be it. I tend to really not care if people like what I say or not. So shall my speech begin:

To those who posted the comments of and relating to, "..then you shouldn't be a nurse .." This individual posted a message to the public seeking help and advice. And all you had to say was, "find another job?" You are the people who cause the fear of asking questions. People ask questions (majority of the time) because they seek an honest, heartfelt answer; not a discriminating, downgrading, criticized reply of how low they are and how stupid they should feel.

Next time: try to answer the question as if you had asked it. Think about how you would appreciate the replies and what would help you.

To those who posted in a means of aid/help and didn't fall to some undying oppurtunity to slam this person .. :|: Thank you. He/She appreciates this, I guarantee it. However, I fear the horrid flames he recieved has burned him/her too badly at this point to have done any good.

And to the original poster: I am sorry. Unfortunately, you now have been introduced (unknowingly and against your will, I'm sure) to the pack of wolves (one of many, many) who will leap towards and devour "fresh meat" the very first chance they get. Good luck with your endeavors and take my original reply in regards to possible jobs available to you with your knowledge and training as what it was meant for: a means of aid/help.

edited for violation of terms of service

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 4, 2003

I won't "screw off" coffeejaule. (how mature of you). I say again, have serious reservations with anyone who sees nothing but , as THEY put it, "puke, vomit, piss and shyt" and not a human being behind this "yukkie" stuff. This person may find a place in nursing if he/she can get over this attitude. But nursing is TOUGH enough without the inability to see the HUMAN behind the "yukkies"......

yes, nursing is much more the "yukkies", but anyone coming into it this way with this attitude, needs a reality check, first. THAT is not being RUDE, it's being REAL. If this person cannot take reality and tough talk, I dont' think he/she can take working in nursing either. And the "yukkies" will be only the start of the difficulties this person will encounter. So, coffeejaule, I am respectfully disagreeing with you....and when and if you become a nurse, good luck to you, as well.:stone

coffeejavule · Nov 4, 2003

No worries. I will become a nurse .. and thank you for your best wishes in my regards. I appreciate them.

I wasn't attempting to upset anyone with my reply. However, I did see the absolute need to defend this one who posted. Why could people have posted their replies in the manner you did with this last reply rather than telling him/her .. "don't be a nurse." It would have been just as easy to state, "Probably not, there are alway 'yuckies' in the field of Nursing." Easily, plainly stated .. and bingo - your point is made, question answered. Do you see where I'm coming from?

Oh .. and thank you for your reply SmilingBluEyes. Of all the reviews this post had you were the only one to reply. Thank you for having the fortitude and the courage to stand up for yourself and make a stand for what you stated. :) I respect you moreso now for it. Good bye, friend ..

colleen10 · Nov 4, 2003

I don't think there is a nursing student or person thinking about going into nursing, that although they had the best intentions for their patients, didn't ask themselves or others "can I handle the body fluids, what will my reaction be, will I yak all over the place at the first site of _________."

However, there is a big difference between a person that wonders if they can handle it as opposed to a person that knows they aboslutely, positively do not want to have to deal with the fluids and germs.

I am not sure which you are based on your question.

I will also say that you will not be able to escape fluids during your nursing school career. In my very first 10 weeks of school I have experienced blood, stinky BM, vibrant orange BM, and have had the pleasure of emptying 10 Liters of Fluid in the course of 2 hours via abd. catheter from a woman who had an incredible case of abdominal ascites.

And you know what? None of this phased me in the least. You just have to get in there and get your patient cleaned up and cofortable. You may be surprised at how much it doesn't bother you when you are in the trenches and concentrating on helping that person.

Agnus · Nov 5, 2003

Originally posted by colleen10
However, there is a big difference between a person that wonders if they can handle it as opposed to a person that knows they aboslutely, positively do not want to have to deal with the fluids and germs.

LADYFLOWER · Jun 13, 2006

There's actually a joke among our classmates because I always seem to be around when someone is throwing up, and a friend of mine in class always catches someone when it's coming out the other end. I wasn't worried about "yuckies",but being thrown up on the first time did make me kind of go ok whoa that's someone's throw up all over me, but immediately you move into action and just want to help them out because they're miserable, you start cleaning them up and getting them what they need and completely forget that you're covered in puke. All you're worried about is getting them comfortable again. Then you go take care of your scrubs and it's no big deal. Other students in my class who were really concerned about being bothered by vomit and wiping butts got over their concerns really quickly. The problem is that, if you decide to work in an area simply because the patients don't throw up and aren't contageous, that doesn't say much about you as a nurse,...you should want to work in a certain area because it's what you're interested in. You're going to see things that are 100 times worse than puke no matter where you're at. I know I've barely scratched the surface on the things I've had to deal with in clinicals. However, you may be surprised that it doesn't bother you nearly as much as you think it will which is what happened to the two students in my class who really wanted to be nurses but were worried about how they'd handle certain things. They were fine after the first butt wiping and vomit party. Your empathy for the patient should override the "yuck" as a nurse. But you're really not going to find any areas of nursing where you don't deal with "yuckies."

Great post!

scubackin · Jun 13, 2006

As a new RN and a former CNA, I can honestly say if you that if you cannot handle the "yuckies" maybe you should reconsider your educational direction. I know of very few positions in the nursing field that do not require a nurse to role up his/her sleeves when the patient is in need.

I would not want a nurse to care for anyone in my family or for myself if he/she is going to freak when things get nasty or walk off and leave the situation to wait for a CNA or someone else to do his/her job (by the way assisting your patient with hygiene needs is not the sole job of the CNA contrary to popular nursing belief). Through my nursing career (3 years CNA, 2 years NT, and 7 months RN), I have seen and cleaned things I can't even describe and really don't want to remember.

The point is you shouldn't be thinking about what you are doing, but about how the patient feels. I can remember the first patient who threw up on me, he was terribly sick and very apologetic. I felt so sorry for "Him" because he just kept saying "I'm so sorry" over and over (in between bouts of vomiting). Of course he wasn't the only one sick, my stomach had turned as well. I just kept praying "Please, God don't let me throw up because it will make him feel worse". Luckily, I held my cookies and got the patient clean and he thanked me for my care and understanding (I then went straight to the surgery department because luckily they stock extra scrubs and plenty of soap) lol.

If you are really afraid of the "yuckies", you really need to spend some time researching other fields. Because as you can see, nursing is more than book work and passing out pills. It is complete hands-on-care of the patients and any situation they can dish out (from any orifice or crevice).