The "dirty" side of nursing...

Published

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.

my personal biggest gross out was when i walked into a room and the suction canister was almost full and had black fuzzy mold growing on top, had to clamp my teeth to change the canister!

one night i was working in the er and the squad guys were talking about a run they had earlier that evening. an elderly pt had to be cut out of a chair because skin had fused to the chair. someone had cut a hole in the chair and put a bucket underneath. pt had a terrible wound with maggot infestation. they said the stench was unreal and when the finally got the pt out of the chair they saw mice scatter :eek: :eek; :eek: these were seasoned squad guys who have seen every kind of trauma you could think of and 3 out of the 4 said they vomited. the pts daughter was prosecuted and received a prison sentence, don't know what happened to the pt. just when you think you've seen it all...

Woah! That is crazy! :uhoh3: I heard a similar story of skin fusing to a homeless lady's nylons...had to surgically remove them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Renal; NICU.

Oh Jordanl, you will get a more use to it as time goes by, but there will always be that one thing that just pushes your puke button.

After 37 years in nursing, I still have a few. If I hear a person 'hock a lewgy" (?sp), I feel it, even if I'm NOT in a clinical setting; dirty dentures; the smell of pseudomonas in a trach (shooting mucus up to the ceiling); the smell of warm vomit; just to name a few.

But the eye??? Oh man, when the retinologist sticks those 'metal sticks' behind that baby's eyeball and pushes it around, I just about hurl. I swear I could eat lunch in the middle of an autopsy, but if they start on the eye, I am out of there!

We played the game in the unit one day: What would you do for a million dollars? There was a suction bucket half full with GI suction from a baby. The qualifier was all the antibiotics you would need and medical care. Would you drink some of the contents? There were some takers!! If I had a million dollars, I would test them on it HAHA!

Seriously, to me, the smell is what gets me most often so if you are going to a task that you know may be a problem, keep some Vicks in a small lip balm container, and put a little under your nose. It helps, but everybody thinks you have a clogged nose!!!!!:lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg.

As the vast majority has said, it does get easier. I can handle just about anything, but my weak spot is phlegm/sputum. Trachs that just flow with the stuff, and having it fly across the room when they cough.......blech. I can barely handle seeing a spot on the sidewalk where someone has hacked up a wad.

Every once in a while, someone vomiting will trigger my gag reflex, but it's very random.

A seasoned CNA I knew many years ago said it best (and frankly)....."you know you've been doing this a long time when you can clean up sh*t with one hand, and eat a sandwich with the other." Same goes for the conversation....NOTHING bugs me to talk about, even when I'm eating. I can be telling my sister a story about something (with no names, of course, no breaches of HIPAA!) and she'll tell me to stop talking, and I usually honestly can't figure out why what I said was so bad/gross, because it doesn't phase me!

I took care of a gentleman a while back that had prostate surgery, and he was VERY hung up on having his member assessed. He turned his embarrassment around on me, repeatedly asking things like "doesn't your husband get mad knowing you look at these all day?" (not that I have a husband, but I let that part go ;)). I just told him that, after so many years of doing my job, looking at "that" is no different to me than looking at his foot....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med Surg.

Growing up on a ranch I was pretty used to gross stuff long before I went into nursing. But that c-diff smell! I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Benr98, Poop is not for me but I can handle it from kids

I used to be a daycare teacher and I am used to changing diapers so having it come from a kid doesn't bother me.

The thing about PEDS that I may not be used to is the amount of abuse that goes on with kids. That would break my heart. I friend of mine did ped rotation and encountered a child that was going through abuse. It broke her heart so much she knew she couldn't handle it everyday.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics & luvin it.
Benr98, Poop is not for me but I can handle it from kids

I used to be a daycare teacher and I am used to changing diapers so having it come from a kid doesn't bother me.

The thing about PEDS that I may not be used to is the amount of abuse that goes on with kids. That would break my heart. I friend of mine did ped rotation and encountered a child that was going through abuse. It broke her heart so much she knew she couldn't handle it everyday.

Poop with a sick Pt is sometimes different from a Pt that is not so sick, however, you do eventually get used to it. We don't have a major problem with abuse but when we do CPS is there sometimes even before the Pt arrives. And trust me they take care of the situation right away. Recently we had a 3 month old baby come in with a femur fx and CPS was there before the Pt arrived, she interviewed the parents and grandparents and took custudy of the baby before the next night. Since our PICU is secure and you can only gain access with a badge or being buzzed in we always move Pt's that have been taken by the state to that facility and lock them in away from the Parents if need be. And the baby with the femur fx his parents were charged with child abuse and I am always glad to know that I had part of making the Pt future more safe for them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

To be honest, there is only one thing that makes me squirm but still am able to handle it with a straight face and that is suctioning a trach. I don't know, I think it's the noise of the suctioning that gets to me (sorta when you are trying to get the last bit out of your cup with your straw)............ewww!

I don't mind cleaning up after anyones bum. Just think of it when WE will be in that position :(

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The thing that killed me during my clinical rotations was being on the GI-postop floor. Two words: Fresh Colostomy!!!! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see straight, and I went home and told my husband and pets not to fart or poop around me for at least two weeks. I appreciated C-diff diarrhea guy after this!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
i struggle wuith vomit , because, the smell of vomit makes me want to throw up as well , most other things i can cope with ... but vomit is my nemesis , everyone has something they can't deal with ...

Kind of weird but vomit doesn't bother me at all...if I am in the room when it is happening, I deal with it and clean it up afterwards just fine. But, for some reason if I walk in a room and the patient has already had an emesis I have a hard time cleaning up the mess.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion