squeamish nursing student

[mads197]

Im entering my senior year of nursing school and absolutely love it. I have years of experience as a CNA and have always been fine with poo, blood, vomit, etc so it took me by surprise when I realized I'm more squeamish than expected. It all started with my L&D clinical where I was apart of my first delivery. It was a rather traumatic delivery and being new to the field, it really shocked me and I almost fainted- dizzy, cold and clammy, ears ringing, vision spotty. After that, saw an epidural, same thing happened. I still loved the idea of being in L&D so I did an externship in a women's unit over the summer and got more exposure to it but I was still very hesitant and timid because of being afraid of fainting. Fast forward to this semester, watching a G-tube insertion, PICC line placement, and even IUD removal has made me have the same reaction. I almost think at this point it's anxiety and fear going into procedures knowing that it'll probably happen and it does. What the heck? I thought I'd be fine? Is anyone else out there facing this or has overcome this with any advice? I don't want this to hinder my career because I want to be a nurse and go on to be an NP.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

First and foremost, make sure you aren't locking your knees while you observe things. This is the number one cause of someone fainting, rather than mental distress.

It is possible you have wandered into reinforcing a reaction pathway in your brain. You can work to disrupt it by changing the directions of your thoughts when they begin to go down that path. Many people use a rubber band on their wrist for this. When you begin to think about passing out, after checking your posture/knees, snap your wrist with the rubber band.

This will likely get better with time. Good luck!

[mads197]

I've definitely become aware of not locking my knees and even make a point to flex leg muscles while standing to increase blood flow but I will give the rubber band trick a go. Thanks!

[Cupcake2018]

“I almost think at this point it's anxiety and fear going into procedures knowing that it'll probably happen and it does.”

Absolutely! The same thing happens with panic attacks. The flight-or-flight response is super scary because it has both mental and physical components. Nothing quite like being in a state of fear and then having all of these weird bodily sensations to make matters worse. Those two components just feed off one another too and it’s really quite awful. I feel for you and have dealt with this myself, just not in a student situation. Maybe get some help with the anxiety. It takes a toll on the mind and body. Good luck.