How to get over fear of blood, injuries, etc?

Nurses General Nursing

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My mom tripped and fell this past weekend and hit her chin/head pretty hard on the sidewalk. She also broke her kneecap and had surgery on it yesterday. She was telling me about what her knee looked like after she fell and was saying it looked lumpy and stuff, and she told me how the doctor stuck his hand in between the two leg bones and said "yep, it's definitely broken". I started to feel like I was going to pass out. I also asked her if I could give her lovenox injections for her since we just learned in school but haven't actually done them on a real person. Then I started thinking about it and getting nervous about me causing her pain or screwing up the injection and something bad happening.

Anyways, I'm worried I'm not cut out to be a nurse? I'm only in my first semester and we haven't done clinical yet, so I have no idea how I am with real patients, but after this situation with my mom, I'm a little worried.

Did anyone go into nursing school being scared of blood, needles, etc. and was able to overcome it?

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Specializes in NICU.

Your poor Mom, tough luck. As for getting over fe certain types of fears,I can not say I ever did.During clinicals we were not allowed gloves for any reason ,they told us it was "offensive" to the patient". I got in trouble many times for thinking about what microbiology taught us and protecting myself.The CDC finally came down with "universal precautions"I learned to use PP gear,gown,glove,mask as needed ,follow instructions carefully.I am glad I did ,because when aids came into the picture I was quite adept in using protective gear.

Good luck to you.

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Different people are sensitive to different things. I'll come close to passing out when there's twisting involved. It could be twisting surgical instruments or a tiny lancet for an accucheck twisting in someone's finger. I can't handle it for some reason.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

I can't take care of a family member. My husband dislocated his shoulder once

after trying to catch our dog that had gotten out... he tackled the dog. Anyway,

he came in the kitchen door screaming. I thought I was going to pass out.

I also can't stand the bending, twisting, cracking of BONES, and joints. Can't

stand the sound of it. Can't stand the thought of witnessing a bone being

popped back into joint.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
I can't take care of a family member. My husband dislocated his shoulder once

after trying to catch our dog that had gotten out... he tackled the dog. Anyway,

he came in the kitchen door screaming. I thought I was going to pass out.

I also can't stand the bending, twisting, cracking of BONES, and joints. Can't

stand the sound of it. Can't stand the thought of witnessing a bone being

popped back into joint.

Ditto- cannot do bones or eyes. *shudders

OP: You'll get used to it and you will still have things that bother you. Everyone does. We are human.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Ditto- cannot do bones or eyes. *shudders

OP: You'll get used to it and you will still have things that bother you. Everyone does. We are human.

For sure...it really is different when you're not related to the patient. Keep going forward.

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I heard my older sister broke her leg when we were skiing. I didn't see her, knew no more than that she had broken her leg, and I fainted!

Unless you work as an EMT, paramedic, or in the ER, a nurse is seldom, if ever, going to see much yucky, gross, bloody stuff. Even in the OR the cutting and bleeding is so controlled it isn't gross.

If I had only learned about lovenox in school and never given an injection I would feel queasy about giving a loved one shots!

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I heard my older sister broke her leg when we were skiing. I didn't see her, knew no more than that she had broken her leg, and I fainted!

Unless you work as an EMT, paramedic, or in the ER, a nurse is seldom, if ever, going to see much yucky, gross, bloody stuff. Even in the OR the cutting and bleeding is so controlled it isn't gross.

If I had only learned about lovenox in school and never given an injection I would feel queasy about giving a loved one shots!

That's really good to hear! I'm glad I'm not the only one! Everyone keeps making me feel bad saying that if I can't handle then it's gonna be hard for me.

Just gave mom her first injection. It went great! I didn't feel faint at all and just focused on her abdomen lol. Thanks everyone!

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Everyone has their kryptonite ;) A lot of people seem to be put off by mucus/suctioning, for some it's funky wounds, others it's broken bones...personally I can't stand eyeball stuff or seeing a body part pointed in the wrong direction. Give me gallons of mucus any day over those two things!!

If you talk to enough people you will find everyone has SOMETHING that grosses them out. And sometimes it makes zero sense...like I can see someone cut open stem to stern no problem...if their pinkie toe is pointing the wrong way, game over :)

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