I am 25 years old and just started taking business classes at college and I HATE IT! I had a huge change of heart and want to be a nurse.
When I think about being a nurse it is a great feeling -- to be someone who knows so much, who can help other people, who can really make a difference. I like the fact that it is an interesting job - and there are so many different things you;ll see, and different people you'll meet. The salary and flexible schedule is also fantastic. This is something I would like to do -- but I have a very weak stomach. Everything gross makes me gag -- foul smells, seeing someone puke, lokoing at something gross YUCK! I am hoping that if I do become a nurse if something gross happens I will just be professional about it and hold back as much as I can. I am hoping if I am in front of a patient I would be too embarassed to gag and somehow fight it. I'm worried though about this. Everyone aroudn me tells me I have too much of a wek stomach for this - and they actually laugh of me when I say I want to be a nurse. Does it get better, is gross stuff something I would get used to? Is it that bad? Is there anything I could do?
I am scared I am going to waste my time and in the end I wont be able to -- please advise!!!
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
The first time I suctioned a patient I got the gags and actually had to turn and vomit in the wastebasket....then I continued suctioning, all the time apologising to the patient. We ended up laughing about it. She called me Barfo by the end of the day!
I had a rough time one night when the respiratory therapist pointed to my patient and stated that it was time to get him cleaned up. Reason being he was covered in a type of cytoplasmic sputum that gooped abundantly everywhere. I mean the most I have seen anywhere; not even a snotty nosed kid looked this plastered. I simply had a rough time controlling my gag reflex seeing all that goop and looking with horror at it traveling up and down into the suction canister as I turned away at times and held my breath with my yonkers held soundly.
Deep down I resented the fact that the RT didn't do a thing to rectify the situation first hand, but I know that they have their hands full with many many patients and who am I to refuse care to my patient. I couldn't allow him to drown in his own stew....spew lol that's it.
As a kid I can remember being on a field trip to USC school of medicine and having a Physician pull out a healthy lung specimen bottled in formaldehyde and an unhealthy one black and tarry out of another jar. I just about passed out!!! I had to leave the room.
My secret that has saved me a tone of trouble OP is to breath through my mouth when I smell something gross and cover it with a towel, especially if it's a blood and poop mix (yuck!) ASAP so that I don't suffer syncope and end up dead at work. Also carry around a pungent form of mouth detergent, you know the one seducers use to fight off the bad after stink, pee yuuuuu!
Through my nursing school, I found I feel totally grossed out by the stuff that would be ok for others. Bring on code brown, vomit, phlegm and puss, but I fainted twice because of 1) evidencing circumcision for the 1st time 2) fresh BKA, no puss, no blood, just raw bones and muscles in a transverse cut. I figured, I have a problem with things that look abnormal, with the absence of bodily fluids evidencing that. I'm yet to figure out now how to cope with that.
Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
I am not a nurse yet (soon to be nursing student. YAY! I got in), but I can feel for ya.
8 years ago I was stuck between becoming a nurse or a dental hygienist. I wanted to be a nurse but I didn't think my "weak stomach" could handle it and I viewed hygiene as an "easier" job that was "not gross" and made just as good money...so I went that route. Now here I am...regretting that decision. Why didn't I just do what I wanted to do in the first place? Now I am stuck starting over.
I soon discovered that mouths can be almost disgusting as anywhere else in the body (I said almost!) and I realized that I could get over my squeamishness...I remember I was terrified, TERRIFIED to learn to give local anesthetic injections....I thought I would faint....now it is probably the favorite part of my job. I used to almost gag at seeing pus and abscessed teeth, Now I get mad if my dentist doesn't call me in to witness a particularly "good" incise and drain of an abscess. Not only does it not bother me, I actually think it is cool.
I think that if you immerse yourself in the SCIENCE of what is happening it helps you to cope...and of course thanking your lucky stars that at least this process isn't going on in YOUR body right now and you are in the position to help this person and isn't that what you always wanted? That helps me to get through the gross things.
My friends always want me to tell them my "grossest" dental stories and at first I'm always like "I don't know....nothing is really that gross" but then when I start with the stories it is like every little thing is gross to them....they just aren't used to it like I am. I remember in school when I first realized I would be dealing with blood...not just a little pin prick...but BLOOD, like apply pressure and then place sutures kind of blood...I though I would have to quit school it freaked me out so bad...I seriously just LAUGH about that now when I think back on it.
I am hoping that nursing school will be the same and I'll just get over the gross stuff and focus on the science and learning opportunities. That's my HOPE anyways...but I can definitely identify with you!
Hey RDH---
I just wanted to say Hi...before I became an RN I was an RDH--licensed (are you ready for this--in 1975)
Still licensed but haven't practiced in many years.
Been a nurse for 18--
Much more interesting....just as gross....
Actually, nothing in Nursing (from vomit to suctioning to surgery to abscesses) is as gross as someone pulling their maxillary denture out and having their hard palate come along with it....along with the last year or so of everything they ate.
NOt to mention, when I went to school and even when I started to practice we did not Glove!!!(before HIV)
Can you say EEEEWWWWWWWWW...............
IF you can do a prophy on a pt with ANUG--you will be fine with ANYTHING in nursing:uhoh3:
Good luck, even though the job market is tight for nursing right now, you made the right choice.
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) and I realized that I could get over my squeamishness...I remember I was terrified, TERRIFIED to learn to give local anesthetic injections....I thought I would faint....now it is probably the favorite part of my job. I used to almost gag at seeing pus and abscessed teeth, Now I get mad if my dentist doesn't call me in to witness a particularly "good" incise and drain of an abscess. Not only does it not bother me, I actually think it is cool.
Whispera, MSN, RN
3,458 Posts
The first time I suctioned a patient I got the gags and actually had to turn and vomit in the wastebasket....then I continued suctioning, all the time apologising to the patient. We ended up laughing about it. She called me Barfo by the end of the day!