Things I Find Gross=Weird

Work in Progress · Feb 28, 2010

Don't worry, everyone has something that seriously grosses them out in nursing. You are lucky that yours is something like spiders which you are unlikely to see very often (unless you do home health care, I suppose). I am completely grossed out by the phlegm in tracheostomies. I HATE suctioning them, it makes me want to vomit. Vomit, feces, urine, pus, blood- none of that bothers me. Just phlegm. Luckily, I am planning on going into OB nursing where trachs are not something I will see every day. I don't know how RT does what they do. It makes me kind of nauseous just thinking about it.

sj73201, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2010

I am a nursing student & i haven't done a clinical yet, but hopefully I don't come across too much that bothers me. Everyone says that if you're a nurse, then you shouldn't be bothered by it, and it you are, you shouldn't be a nurse. I don't necessarily believe that to be true because your ability to stand things like body fluids should not totally affect how you provide pt care.

Work in Progress · Feb 28, 2010

Even if things bother you, you will get used to it. My fear and disgust at phlegm doesn't stop me from being a great nursing student. I don't show it on my face, I do what needs to be done efficiently and effectively and then I leave the room and go gag in the bathroom :)

Nepenthe Sea · Feb 28, 2010

I have not run into anything really gross yet, but I do have a strong stomach and I've only completed one semester of clinicals so far. But there are a couple of things that are non-nursing-related that get me going that I think are kind of weird. One is when my cats throw up and I go to clean it up, and it feels all warm through the paper towel. Yack! The other is this: I HATE when I sit on a toilet seat and, too late, I realize that it is wet! Last summer I went to my job at a grocery store and stopped in the bathroom first. I encountered the aforementioned scenario, which was gross enough. When I got up, I saw that it actually was pee, not just water. Ugh. As an employee, if we see a mess, it is our job to help clean it up, even if we don't do maintenance, so I took some t.p. and went to wipe the pee off the seat, and I saw a pubic hair there, too! :barf01: I almost tossed my cookies. It was kind of demoralizing. I went home to my mom, saying, "How am I going to be a nurse when THAT makes me sick?!" She said that kind of thing makes her sick, too. I get on that thread on this forum about "The grossest, most yucky disgusting thing you have ever seen?" and I laugh and eat while I read those, and don't think twice about it. But THIS gets to me?

Oh yeah, and the spider in the ear thing...my ex once had a moth fly into his ear. It was alive, so it was moving around in there alot. We went to the ER and got it removed but it was torturous for us both, esp, him. I kept feeling like I had something in my ear just from being around him! Creepy!

MEDICJOHN · Mar 1, 2010

I can handle blood, guts, poop, urine, but i CANNOT handle tracheal secretions...the thick green ones.....god..just writing this gives me hebejee bies

sharpeimom · Mar 1, 2010

thick crumbly crackly flaky feet and toes that haven't been washed for awhile...... foot fungus...... :barf02:

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dentures..... :eek:

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

Tarabara · Mar 1, 2010

Oh yeah, and the spider in the ear thing...my ex once had a moth fly into his ear. It was alive, so it was moving around in there alot. We went to the ER and got it removed but it was torturous for us both, esp, him. I kept feeling like I had something in my ear just from being around him! Creepy!

OMG if a moth flew in my ear I think i would literally die of a heart attack. i cant handle bugs.

I am only in my first semester of NS and dont have clinical experience yet, but honestly im kinda worried about poop. just because it smells and i think it would be hard to control my facial expression if its a particularly bad smell. I guess i'll find a way to deal!

tiffanyleigh0212 · Mar 1, 2010

mine is catheters... haven't even put one in or practiced, and it's not that it grosses me out, but it makes me HURT. i have no clue why but even just the word makes me cringe. we were in lab a few weeks ago and the teacher had one out just showing us how to inflate the balloon and i about jumped up out of my seat. idk what the heck i'm going to do when it comes time to put it in someone!! i'll probably cry with the patient!

jennilynn · Mar 1, 2010

Everybody has their "thing". Just practice your poker face, and you'll be fine :) Feet of any kind and sputum are my top 2. Thank God for gloves in clinicals, that's the only way I can touch a foot!

Blove86 · Mar 1, 2010

Mine is seeing burns..................just thinking about it makes me itch

thinwildmercury · Mar 1, 2010

i am with you on that! i am extremely arachnophobic. seriously, not just "scared of spiders" but ARACHNOPHOBIC. i can't even kill a spider when i'm babysitting and the kids are crying because they're scared too. it's so embarrassing that i can't pull myself together, even for them:o. i once saw an episode of "untold stories of the ER" where a guy's foot was COVERED in maggots. i would've thrown up. that story alone made me change my mind about ever wanting to work in the ER.

also, i am very, very grossed out by abnormal skin problems. i can't think of any examples but things like flesh eating virus or any type of lesions. bleh! i don't know why but it seriously freaks me out!!