Tossing Your Cookies...

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Jul 21, 2009

As a pre-nursing student, one of my biggest fears of becoming a nurse (other than harming/killing a pt) is tossing my cookies or fainting on the job. I am not very squeamish at all, and can handle most things (vomit, feces, blood, etc), but I am still worried. :uhoh21: So...to all you nurses out there, what was that thing that activated your up-chuck reflex or caused you to pass out?

Oh, been there, done that!!! When I was an LPN still in RN school, I was assisting a doc in injecting a patient's knee. It was my first time, and when he did it, I puked (in the patient's bed, of course!) and then started backing up and I took another look and gagged. Of course when I gagged, I also farted. Really loud, that was the only sound in the room. That happened in 95 and the doc still harrasses me about it, jokingly, of course.

Anne, RNC

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Jul 21, 2009

I can deal with just about anything but once in a great while a GI bleed would get me, but the one thing that I have actually passed smooth out, was brain matter. For some reason it will render me helpless, pass out, vomit, everything involved with massive head injury gets me.
One of the funnier things was I worked with a nurse who could not deal with stool impactions and would pay me $5 to take care of it for her.

Oh, I forgot about gray matter! I am an ER nurse, and if we get a pt in with a GSW to the head with brain matter out for all to see, it is SO hard to not lose it. That and bad MVAs with a lot of facial trauma, heavy duty trauma - we had one that sort of lost an eye, it was half out of the socket - and it took a lot of mouth breathing to not puke then.

Anne, RNC

roser13, ASN, RN · Jul 21, 2009

Well, just for fun, I'll tell another favorite story. I was in clinicals at a vent-only facility. My clinical partner and I went in to suction one of our patients. We were soooo new and rather fumbly and somehow in the process, one of us knocked the suction cannister off the wall. Well, emptying the cannister was a nursing duty that we had overlooked and that sucker was full. When it hit the floor, the lid popped off and the entire load of lime-green mucous rolled out onto the floor. And I do mean rolled. Nothing liquid there.

When we got our wits together and tried to clean the mess up, we realized that unlike other bodily emissions, mucous doesn't soak into the carpet, nor does it soak up into any type of towelling that you might use to clean it up. It is similar to mercury in that respect. At least it is if you're dealing with full-blown, non-diluted mucous. We ended up rolling/scooping the mucous pieces and parts onto a flat piece of cardboard in order to throw them away. The carpet needed no attention at all (yeah - carpet in a hospital room) because nothing soaked in. :bugeyes:

Flatbelly · Jul 22, 2009

As we're holding her over and wiping her, the lady gives me a nice titty twister. Meanwhile, I'm trying to pry her hands off of me while still holding her leg up. We slide the new sheet on and pfffffffffftttt, another large pool of poop that smells like hot garbage appears.

I swear I almost cried my eyes out with laughter. Thank you :bow:

AltruisticRN · Jul 22, 2009

Sputum and morgue care, oh man, that metallic smell of death gets me every time.

leslie :-D · Jul 22, 2009

Well, just for fun, I'll tell another favorite story. I was in clinicals at a vent-only facility. My clinical partner and I went in to suction one of our patients. We were soooo new and rather fumbly and somehow in the process, one of us knocked the suction cannister off the wall. Well, emptying the cannister was a nursing duty that we had overlooked and that sucker was full. When it hit the floor, the lid popped off and the entire load of lime-green mucous rolled out onto the floor. And I do mean rolled. Nothing liquid there.
When we got our wits together and tried to clean the mess up, we realized that unlike other bodily emissions, mucous doesn't soak into the carpet, nor does it soak up into any type of towelling that you might use to clean it up. It is similar to mercury in that respect. At least it is if you're dealing with full-blown, non-diluted mucous. We ended up rolling/scooping the mucous pieces and parts onto a flat piece of cardboard in order to throw them away. The carpet needed no attention at all (yeah - carpet in a hospital room) because nothing soaked in.

whoa...now that is nasty.

you poor girls.

leslie

pca_85 · Jul 22, 2009

Chewing a mint-a way strong one like altoids-helps, so does vicks vaporub under the nose.

cardiacmadeline, RN · Jul 22, 2009

This may sound strange coming from a nurse, but I can't handle my husband's bodily fluid. I can handle most stuff at work, but when it comes to his sputum, snot or blood, it makes me want to gag. He had to clean up his own vomit when he was sick with the flu, because I could not do it!

SCgirl22 · Jul 22, 2009

OMG this thread is fantastic. I laughed so hard I literally cried!!! Emptying bedpans and puke buckets definitely gets me as well...something about that kerplunk in the toilet, and I'm always afraid it might splash up and get me!

I had two nursing students with me the other day watching while I changed the dressing on a particularly bad pressure ulcer. As I pulled the packing out (like a whole roll of Kerlex!) all this creamy brown and FOUL drainage poured out. One of the students left the room! She was ok, but couldn't take the smell. It didn't even phase me...

SCgirl22 · Jul 22, 2009

oh yes, and I forgot to mention, I hate when patients call you to their room to "show you" some gigantic treasure that they hacked up or blew out of their nose. the site of it sitting there in the tissue i find really disgusting. Really, you don't need to show me.