Squeamish folks

[JeanettePNP]

Are there any people on the board who started out as squeamish types? By nature I'm rather icked out by wounds, etc, and I'm certainly not one who enjoys looking at or having close contact with gore, blood and guts. I have other reasons being attracted to the nursing profession, and I'm sure I'll work through this one once I start taking courses. (I'm also planning on entering a specialty that doesn't involve as much direct contact with blood and guts). I'm just wondering if anyone else started out squeamish and how long it took them to get over it.

[Spatialized]

I've gotten so much better (we'll see how well after the senior rotation to ED, but that's another story)...used to be most things kind of turned my stomach.

CDiff? it's ok. Vomit? I went to college before, saw more vomit on a Saturday night then than when I've been at the hospital. Regular poop? Wounds? I do ok. Sputum...no worries, my bro has a trach and we as family have done trach care, suctioning and active coughing with him for years.

What gets me though is renal failure urine. Y'know the thick, oozy, dark colored variety that smells so bad you can smell it down the hall...that's what gets me.\

Ooohh, lunchtime!

Tom

[Lorie P.]

c-diff poop and golytley preps. :barf01: ........uhhhhhhhhh...can't handle either one......so when i know that i have to help with these, i keep a jar of vick's vapor rub in my bag and apply to the inside of my mask when helping change these folks.......something about not being able to keep it together when 80yo+ immoble pts have to have a colon prep and are already incontinent on top of all that "goes-alot".... just can't handle adult poop of any shape, kind or smell:imbar :no: :no:

[bethin]

Ok, I confess. I can do any body fluid except vomit. No can do. Not even the kids. No vomit here. I am a sympathetic puker. I see you puke, I puke with you. :imbar

Well then, this will make you puke: I was getting an appy pt. ready for surgery when she got a 'spell'. She's sitting up in bed holding the rather large bath bucket (she could fill that thing in one heave) when she completely misses the bucket and it ALL goes on me! It was dripping off of me. It was the first hour of a 12 hour shift.

The one thing I cannot handle although I do it anyway in the hopes I'll get over it is changing or emptying ostomy bags. Thankfully, most now drop an aspirin in it so it doesn't smell at all. I try to think of other things. I don't make faces or noises because then it just makes the patient feel bad.

[yvonnemuse, BSN, RN]

It has to be a GI bleed that icks me out hands down. I am not fond of mucus or colostomies but I can smell the GI bleed as soon as I step on the unit. Blech!

[beepeadoo]

The one thing I cannot handle although I do it anyway in the hopes I'll get over it is changing or emptying ostomy bags. Thankfully, most now drop an aspirin in it so it doesn't smell at all. I try to think of other things. I don't make faces or noises because then it just makes the patient feel bad.

ooh. Does that work? what do you mean drop an asprin in it? Give us details.

For that matter, what other tips do you all have? I've seen Vicks Vapo in the mask, alcohol pad in the mask. What other tricks do you guys have up your sleeves?

I've been thinking there has got to be a way to develop some kind of solution that would neutralize poop. You know, not just the odor, but the slimy, greasy, never-goes-away nature of it.

I know I don't like poop. Phlegm and puss, eh. gross. Mangled body parts? No big deal. Not thrilled, but not the end of the world. Urine? Ick. But I know poop is gonna be a big issue for me. Enough so that those who hear I'm going into nursing ask me "yeah but, you hate poop." But reading this thread gives me hope.

[Mistify]

I can handle the smell of just about anything except a wound with maggots. It is a DIFFERENT kind of smell and it churns my stomach.

[jhenry]

Take courage....I was sooo squeamish as a teenager, that everytime I went to a hospital (yes, just to visit...) I would faint. When I decided to change my major to nursing in college, my dad laughed and wondered if I would ever be able to stand upright long enough to finish a shift.....

Once I made my mind up, I was able to do it. Now, 17 years later, I've done everything from trauma ICU , L&D, and hospice. I've seen lots of really nasty stuff and I can honestly say that the only thing that really got to me was a huge infected wound that was covered in maggots...didn't make me pass out, but I had to wear a mask in the room!!

[NurseKatie08, MSN]

I can't deal with vomit...any other bodily fluid I'm pretty much ok with.

[shellsincanada]

The asprin in the colostomy bag is supposed to help with odour. But from what I have read it isn't reccommended as it can cause ulcers on the stoma and peristomal skin. I have heard mouthwash or products specifically for colostomies( charcol related stuff) does help with odor.