The "dirty" side of nursing...

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I'm a nursing student and as dumb as this may sound, does the gross side of nursing ever get easier to handle? Does dealing with poop and sputum start to gross you out less after a while? Do catheters and genital upkeep become less uncomfortable? These are the areas I'm kind of having a hard time stomaching right at the moment and its making me question my decision to enter nursing school.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

"Genital upkeep". I like that. Yeah it does get easier but some things ares still tough to stomach. Wait until you have to change the dressing on a necrotic wound. I'd take a poopy bum over that any time.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

"biofilm" makes me giggle. Terminology...lol.

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Specializes in Hospice.

Mostly it gets easier, but I think you will find most nurses still have something that grosses them out. I can handle poop, genitals, necrotic wounds, and even bugs on people. What I can't handle? Suction canisters full of sputum- or really full of anything. It is making me queasy just typing about it...

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

Wait, I forgot the one that really got to me....the guy that every time he took his dentures out, he would first suck on them and lick them before he would put them in the denture tray.:eek:

I saw lots and lots of really disturbing stuff over the years working in a post trauma ICU for a while and other critical areas. But I never saw anything as disturbing as that...I think I actually turned a little green.:crying2:...for some reason that did it.

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Specializes in LTC, home care.

It always gets easier. I had the benefit of being a STNA first, and for some reason I have always been fascinated by wounds. :p So those never bothered me. One thing after 6 years of patient care I still just ewwwww over...... When you pull off someones TED hose and a skin flake shower poofs into the air. I literally will not breathe! ICK.

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Yes it gets better, quickly!! Soon you'll be talking about someones bowel movement while eating lunch haha. The only thing that still gets me is phlegm and dirty dentures (with chewed up food stuck in them)! But I never let the patient see me cringe he he! =)

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Dirty dentures and almost anything to do with feet make me want to :barf01::barf02:

I've also discovered that I'm not a fan of anything to do with the eyeball (eye gtts/ointments are no problem though). But poop, puke, urine, blood, snot, wounds, and gangrene---bring 'em on! Need a trach suctioned? I'm your nurse. Got a gnarly GI bleeder? I loathe the smell, but I can handle it.

Now, way back before I was even a CNA, I couldn't even clean up my own kids' emesis without tossing my own cookies; now I can watch someone projectile-vomit across the room, clean up the mess, and discuss it over lunch 5 minutes later. Yes, you do acquire a cast-iron stomach over time, but I think almost every nurse has at least one or two things that are like nursing Kryptonite---sights, sounds, and/or smells that make our innards chase each other round and round, playing hide-and-go-seek! :D

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Specializes in NVRN, ICU, Critical Care.

Has anyone vomited on the job, possibly earlier in their career? How was that handled? I'm curious as to how situations are handled when the personal emotions or reflexes come out of the nurse. oh yeah any fainters?

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I'm a nursing student and as dumb as this may sound, does the gross side of nursing ever get easier to handle? Does dealing with poop and sputum start to gross you out less after a while? Do catheters and genital upkeep become less uncomfortable? These are the areas I'm kind of having a hard time stomaching right at the moment and its making me question my decision to enter nursing school.

I don't find it a problem if I'm trying to help clean up or treat the pt, but if I'm observing (like teaching or precepting) I start to gag and have trouble. I still have bad days usually the early am or 4 am on nights when smells of poop or puke make me gag. If it happens in front of a pt, I just don't say anything, or just apologize and say my stomach is a bit weird today.

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"..Disempacting someone..." ? :eek:

The F****!!!!

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Specializes in Psych.

If I am working someplace where I can delegate the emptying of a colostomy, you better believe I do. But for the most part I can handle anything. Strong mints while cleaning up smelly stuff can help.

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Specializes in aged -adolescent.

I used to often wonder what I would do if I saw someone without an eye. I eventually did in an A & E. placement. The patient had taken some medication which made her bleed from both eyes. I had her comfortably settled in a screened cubicle waiting for the doctor, when suddenly as I went to clean her face, she whipped out her artificial eye and I was faced with an empty socket. (I heard later she had a tumour behind the eye). THis night she'd had a reaction to some medication. The doctor ordered her some medication by IV. She was a lovely patient and all I could think of was "Gee that wasn't as bad as I thought" followed by "Hell, she's brave!". Following the meds I removed the cannula when and as directed. I was only a student at the time. I loved that placement though and it gave me a lot of confidence. I think it was probably because I didn't have time to worry about it and was just confronted by it. Sometimes it's the best. Another time I had to put on gloves to fish dentures out of a vomit bag and clean them, that was okay, the patient was dying and the other nurses couldn't be found. Sputum mugs have to be the worst thing of all. I have a strong stomach but they are the pits.

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