Silly Question :-P

[LadyEJ BSN, RN]

I'm only a pre-nursing student so this might be a silly question but... I was wondering if nurses can wear masks while cleaning up patients?:chair: And what about if the patient has a bad odor? Would the patients get offended by this?

[CHATSDALE]

when you follow universal precautions there are gloves in every room and in your medicine cart but masks are not usually as accessible, i mean they are not in the room unless it is an entrance to an isoaltion room so you would have to go to ns and get the masks

may find it is more time efficient to get the job done asap

[Scrubby]

[i simply deal with the horrible odors.]

Well that's good for you.

[You must remember that the patient is a customer, and the nurses are to provide excellent service. Wearing a mask while caring for a patient is offensive; therefore, that's unsatisfactory customer service. Learn to deal with the bad odors and just 'suck it up']

Please ignore this advice. And i disagree that patients are customers, we are not waiters and a hospital is not a hotel. Sometimes to provide an excellent service a nurse may need to utilise what is available. There are times when a mask is required because some smells can be so bad that they may cause a person to throw up. I'm sure a patient would feel worse having someone spew in front of them, than wearing a mask. Here is an example.

There was one time when i and other nurses had to wear masks. We had a patient who had a very low platelet count and had quite a lot of melena. This would have to be the worse smell i've ever encountered during nursing. He was bed bound and unable to clean himself. We would be cleaning him up about three times per shift, he was in a bay with 3 other patients and the smell was so bad that other patients were dry retching and nurses from other wards were complaining about the odor. When we tried without masks a nurse with 20 years experienced had to run out retching and i nearly vomited. I felt quite sorry for the patient because he was aware that the odor was causing distress for patients and staff. We tried to deodorise the room but this didnt' really do a lot. Myself and two other nurses (very experienced) had to wear masks with tinc benz (which smells nice) smeared on when cleaning him because of the gagging.

So if you need to wear a mask then please do so. It's not offensive, and i wear one everyday in the operating room in front of patients. I guess for different reasons but no one has complained so far.

And some wounds that are gangrenous can be difficult to stomach as well. Nurses should not have to be martyrs!