i am starting nursing school in september...and as far as what i will encounter, i'd say not too much makes me squeemish. blood, puke, defecation....doesnt bother me. open wounds, dead bodies, surgery....interests me. the one thing that makes me squeemish and i'm not sure how i'm going to handle once i see it in person is really weird.
the idea of putting a tournaquet on and seeing the veins pop out, and poking and prodding them...that makes me sick to my stomach. when i get blood drawn...i absolutely hate it...not because of the needle or blood....but the tournaquet. i cant even look at it, and the idea of it makes me sick. i dont know why...it seems weird. i guess the only way to overcome it is to force myself to do it when im in school...facing your fears i guess...
what are some things you have to do day to day that gross you out?
First off, this is hilarious! It really made me start thinking about all of the things that I truly am disgusted by!
C-diff is the absolute WORST. Even just the sound of the pt having that BM makes me want to gag. Really though, any BM makes me gag unless it's my own, or my child's! :)
Emptying colostomies is another one that really gets me.
I can handle almost all bloody situations, vomit, urine, etc... ok well, unless the urine is a strange color ...that sometimes stirs me a little.
Pressure ulcers don't necessarily gag me ... but when you have to check for tunneling with a long q-tip, and you have to probe around in there ... oh god, my toes curl right up in my shoes and I just want to shiver! I do not like poking or proding things. LOLOL
C-diff stool, toes with fungal infection, dry flaky skin particles that float in the air when you take out pt's socks, BO of pt, crusty skin on the skin folds, uncircumcised member with crusty stuff, doing oral care on pt after they are extubated... It is a long list, I know. I gagged so hard and almost vomited one time front of a pt, when she was using bedside commode and had really bad diarrhea. She was also in isolation in a negative pressure room which felt so stuffy. I had to take stool sample which made things worse. I don't think I am going to develop strong stomach anytime soon.
Lower GI bleeds smell absolutely foul (imagine wet dog food and diarrhea mixed together and heated up in the microwave). I have yet to experience anything beyond a stage II pressure ulcer but I'm pretty sure a stage IV on the sacral region would destroy me. PT's with really bad jaundice creep me out EXCEPT the newborns, they're cute regardless of the zombie-esque tinge. Also, extremely swollen testicles are so scary to me; I'm talking like so swollen they engulf the entire member and all you see is a foley coming out of two misshapen melons :barf01:
I love watching the nurses suction PTs and cheer them on when they "get a good one." We had one pt recently whose suction canister looked like the Mexican flag. YUM. We also had a pt who decided it would be fun to fiddle with his foley and his urine came out looking like hawaiian punch. EXTRA YUM.
Despite all of the gross things listed above the only thing I have ever gagged at in the hospital (thus far) are trays with half eaten food. YES, I know, I'm a weirdo, but the sight of a lukewarm, half eaten slice of turkey with mashed potatoes and veggies strewn all over a plate with gravy mixed into everything and utensils stuck all into things just makes me want to PUKE ALL OVER THE PLACE. I have excuse myself from a room once, take a seat and a deep breathe and tell myself I have seen much worse. ALL OVER A SLICE OF COLD TURKEY
I think I can power through just about anything. I do have days that it seems I am super sensitive to some smells, and on those days, VICKS vaporub is my friend.
The one thing I absolutely can not handle is the sight, sound and the cleaning up of my cat's hairball. I leave that to my roommate. That and wet hair in the sink or drain. It just makes me shudder.
I think I can power through just about anything. I do have days that it seems I am super sensitive to some smells, and on those days, VICKS vaporub is my friend.
The one thing I absolutely can not handle is the sight, sound and the cleaning up of my cat's hairball. I leave that to my roommate. That and wet hair in the sink or drain. It just makes me shudder.
Isn't it funny that we can handle blood, poop and vomit but cleaning the hair out of the drain kills us lol
Hands down BMs and flatulence. I can't help it but it grosses me out lol. Of course I deal with it in a professional manner but on the inside I'm mentally throwing up! Blood, mucus, vomit, bring it on...poop is my kryptonite!
I've been a CNA for awhile now and have gotten pretty used to things that used to gross me out. Except feet. I was helping a pt shower and he started picking at all of his sores and calluses on them and I had to look away. If they're reasonably taken care of, I'm fine, but when we get those patients who haven't even scrubbed them in the shower for who knows how long, I shudder.
I've been a CNA for awhile now and have gotten pretty used to things that used to gross me out. Except feet. I was helping a pt shower and he started picking at all of his sores and calluses on them and I had to look away. If they're reasonably taken care of, I'm fine, but when we get those patients who haven't even scrubbed them in the shower for who knows how long, I shudder.
When I was in college, there was a girl in my marching band that used to pick her scabs and nose and it them. I didn't believe what people were saying until I saw it for myself. I nearly lost my lunch the first time I saw it. After that, when I saw her, I would purposely avert my eyes. Now that is gross to me.
Ew, ok. So, I have a little issue with poop and vomit, but I can tolerate it. I just really despise things with puss, or as someone else said things growing where they should not. I can handle it but I get this look on my face that is kind of hard to supress. LOL!
kmartin906
21 Posts
First off, this is hilarious! It really made me start thinking about all of the things that I truly am disgusted by!
C-diff is the absolute WORST. Even just the sound of the pt having that BM makes me want to gag. Really though, any BM makes me gag unless it's my own, or my child's! :)
Emptying colostomies is another one that really gets me.
I can handle almost all bloody situations, vomit, urine, etc... ok well, unless the urine is a strange color ...that sometimes stirs me a little.
Pressure ulcers don't necessarily gag me ... but when you have to check for tunneling with a long q-tip, and you have to probe around in there ... oh god, my toes curl right up in my shoes and I just want to shiver! I do not like poking or proding things. LOLOL