Patient with bad body odor

[capribry]

Hi, I'm a pre-nursing student planning to start nursing school in august. I really want to work in L&D but I am really scared of how I might react to a patient who has nasty body odor, a nasty attitude/manners, or those that have no insight about nursing but can tell me how to do my job. Please don't think that I am a mean or conceded person for asking this but I was just wondering.

I personally was in the delivery room with my cousin who had to be induced b/c the baby was in distress. After a day and a half of labor, the baby had to be delivered by c-sec. I watched with anger as my cousin boyfriend accused the nurse of causing the baby to go in distress b/c of the medication used to induced the labor. (really it was my cousin's high blood pressure) The nurse just sat there and took his tongue lashing until I jumped in and told him to shut and read a book about labor and delivery before you open your mouth. (the nurse looked at me in appreciating) In the end he was kicked about of the operating room for acting a fool and almost thrown out of the hospital.

What are nurses suppose to do in that situation?

[TexasPediRN]

Your main concern is for your patient, not for an ignorant family member, so I would say either ignore him, or give a brief statement saying that

"if he continues to act in an innappropriate manner, that you will have no choice but to call security and have them escort him out of the building"

Usually works quite well.

What you said, I guarentee, is what the nurse wanted to say, but couldnt since most likely your cousin would have threatened to sue for it. So thanks for sticking up for the nurses in this case. We really have to watch what we say as nurses..

In all honestly- patients family members get more annoyed then anything, and they are the ones that usually cause problems. You need to calm them down, answer their questions which may allievate their fears, but always focus on the patient. In a crisis situation, you can always say that the doctor will be glad to answer their questions later, but right now you really need to focus on the patient.

I'm not an OB nurse, but I am a Peds nurse so I know what its like dealing with family members who can be irrate at times. Its frustrating, but you just need to remain calm and professional.

As for bad body odors, dont know what to tell u! I have a very senstive gag reflex and normally gag with any offensive odor, so someone else will need to answer that one!

[SmilingBluEyes]

You learn to deal with bad body odors. You can always offer a nice hot bath for comfort and relaxation. There are subtle ways to encourage your patient to take advantage of hygienic interventions. You will learn how to be subtle and nice. Always remember the human being BEHIND the "odor" or you won't do well as a nurse in any capacity.

[scizzerin]

Ok, probably more than you needed to know.... I was really sick (septic) 105 temp, shakes, you name it... and I hadn't showered since the morning before, (it was around 4 am) I KNOW I stunk, and I'm glad no one said "you stink" since I already felt crappy. Also, I know it's common for women to lose their bowels during labor..... (that was embarrassing, too!)......I guess your sense of fixing the patient would override you sense of "gross". I'm a hairstylist (starting nursing school in fall, woo hoo!) and sometimes we get gross people....you just offer to wash their hair...or whatever.... Well, I don't know if I've helped any!!!:chuckle or practice breathing through your mouth.

[Dayray, RN]

When people act like fools and try to tell me my job or act like they know more then I do, I just ignore them.

What I'll do is just be quite unless they are giving misinformation, I'll gently correct them once and try to do it in a way that they can save face. It's always better to let these people feel like they are smart but not allow then to spout silly crap.

An easy way to do this is to say "well your right about ...., in addition to that ... blah blah". It's funny because if you begin by telling them they are right about something you can turn around and tell them they are wrong and they won't even realize you are contradicting them.

If they persist or argue with me I'll completely ignore them and direct statements of correct information to the patient. If they still persist (which they rarely do) I get in their face and ask them where they got their nursing license and explain that I spent many years in my education and training and that they need to stop arguing with me. If it were to go beyond that (which it never has for me) I would tell them they needed to leave.

Sometimes the patient themselves tries acts like they know it all. best thing to do there is to explain things very well. If that doesn’t work then I get stern and ask them where they got their nursing license. Some people actually respond better to a respectful but firm attitude, for some they actually need you to act like that to feel like they are being taken care of.

As for stinky smells, you just become immune to them. I actually have a pretty strong sense of smell. I can smell ETOH for a block away, UTI's from across the room and amniotic fluid when a patient walks by the desk. At the same time I can sit in a room for 3 hours with a homeless, I sleep in a dumpsterr, havent bathed in 3 years or pooped in a week, patient and not bat an eye, it just comes with the job.

[NurseNora, BSN, RN]

"It's time for your routine admission shower. Here use this antiseptic soap" has worked for me in the past. Or suggest a shower or bath for comfort. If the patient has a running epidural, give very thorough peri care.

We keep spirits of Peppermint in our department (a little in the speci pan helps women void) and some on a cotton ball or wash cloth hides lots of bad odors. I once took care of a very medically challenging patient and worked my buns off for her. When she came back 2 years later and looked me up to show me the beautiful child her baby had grown into, the thing she remembered about my care for her was that when she started pushing and expelled some very foul smelling excrement, I put some peppermint on a cloth by her head. An ammonia ampule broken in the room also helps clear foul odors for a while.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

In clinicals this morning, I offered to help out since my assigned patient had had a sleepless night and was finally asleep - the typical hospital joke says, "Wake up for your sleeping pill!" but I chose to find something else to do.

Well, the head nurse said that someone had been admitted during the night. And was badly in need of a bed bath.

The woman was sick with pneumonia, the antibiotics had caused candidiasis in her groin and breast folds along the arc of her overflowing and badly in need of changing colostomy bag, the stoma was bleeding and poopy as were her belly and everything nearby, she had two stage II bedsores beginning on her sacrum, her feet were splitting with edema and dryness and, because she's diabetic, they're not going to heal easily - and the poor old gal was conscious.

She was so apologetic and embarrassed about being so funky. I just patted her and said, "You have how many children? Eleven? I think we can clean your ostomy up. We can do that much for you." She was glowing and laughing by the end of being cleaned.

She was sick, and incapable of caring for herself. I felt really, really good that SHE felt so much better after we, you know, cared for her. Like caregivers or sumthin'.

Now, that someone was available to look after her and let her get this way....

If you want to be a nurse, get used to poop, pee, blood, snot, puke, and funky smells fast. Being a human can be a messy durned business.

[May_baby]

Suesquatch's post says a lot about the dignity that nurses can restore to their patients through loving care.

I know some days are better than others.

But what you do makes a difference, keep up the good work.