Watching Procedures vs Doing Them

foreverLaur · Apr 1, 2011

I can't tell you why but I am the same way. I get a bit woozy when I watch surgeries or things with lots of blood on TV. Even a simple blood draw effects me a little. On the other hand, I let student nurses practice starting IVs on me, I have watched many traumas and surgeries and the more blood and guts the better!! I have no problems in person... only on TV!

brownbook · Apr 1, 2011

The same here. Seeing it on TV or Youtube I think there is something different about ???? they way our eyes look at the image??? they way our brain processes it???? Maybe we don't blink as much ???? I'm just guessing. But when you are at the patient's bedside I think your eyes and brain are focusing on a lot of different things at once. Not just one specific gross bloody detail.

RN47 · Apr 1, 2011

I would have to agree that it is how your brain perceives the image and processes it. Blood and guts don't bother me, except on TV. I especially cannot tolerate watching eye surgery, it really makes me nauseous.

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2011

Interesting. One of the reasons I went into nursing was to get over the reaction I had to blood as a young adult. I remember as a college freshman going on a tour of the lab at the local teaching hospital - didn't completely pass out, but got the spots before my eyes and rushing in my ears. Decided to work my way up to working with humans by working at an emergency vet clinic - it helped alot, but I still got whoozy when I had to poke my finger in my biology class :)

I still have problems with my own blood - went to the doctor for a med refill and he told me they were going to draw my annual labs and the same thing happened. I'm pretty ok if I can psych myself up for it for a day or two, and the stuff on TV or Youtube doesn't bother me. And blood from other people doesn't bother me either.

RN47 · Apr 1, 2011

Aw, might as well face it, we're all wimps.

rnccf2007, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2011

LOL to RN47's last reply

I do not have this problem, but I find it quite fascinating. Would definitely be quite intersting to research. I on the other hand, have never had a adversion to blood and guts in real life, videos, books, etc. Since I was a child, I have loved slasher films because of the blood and guts. Sometimes I wonder if I am some kind of freak. Like RN47, however, I do have a problem with eye surgery videos. If I ever saw one in real life, I would probably faint.

AmericanRN · Apr 2, 2011

Interesting you should bring that up. Years ago there was a show on Discovery health called Nursing Diaries. One of the OR nurses that was featured said she became very ill when she saw the footage of her own job, she almost fainted when saw the scene of herself counting bloody sponges. One of the camera men suggested to her that the reason watching procedures on TV made her ill is because the images are larger on TV screens then they are in real life & that the editing equipment used enhances colors. When I was a student I always thought I would become ill if I saw a skin grafting procedure because it looks horrendous on TV. One day I got my chance & I LOVED watching it in real life. It was very bloody & there was a lot of irrigating but it wasn't magnified blood the way it appeared on TV. The only thing that made me want to faint was the temperature, the OR was almost 88 degrees in order to keep the patient safe for the procedure. That said everyone was allowed to walk into an antechamber in order to cool down. I still remember watching a team of surgeons working in like a round robin style around this table because they too literally had to step out like q 15 minutes d/t their face shields fogging up from the heat. They literally looked like a human roundabout, they would get to a certain spot in this circle & step right out of the OR, cool down, rescrub and get back to operating.

Had I watched this procedure on TV I know I would have fainted on the sofa. :lol2:

Argo · Apr 2, 2011

Aw, might as well face it, we're all wimps.

freaks.... :lol2: lol... j/k

That is pretty weird though.

lckrn2pa · Apr 2, 2011

I would suggest that maybe when your doing the procedure your really not thinking about what your doing as much as concentrating on actually doing a good job. When watching on TV your brain has more time to focus on what's going on in the procedure and the task oriented distraction is no longer there. I have problem with motion sickness, when I ride on transfers in the back of the ambulance I'm fine if I have a patient I'm working with but riding back to the hospital in the back of the rig with no patient I get nauseated and dizzy. Kinda the same thing, the distraction is gone so my brain can focus on my surroundings more.

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Apr 2, 2011

^ yeah. That. I think that when we are DELIVERING care, our main focus is on the patient, on doing the procedure correctly, and trying to comfort the patient during the procedure. We are in "go and accomplish" mode. When we are relaxing and watching TV, we don't have any "drive". Maybe different nerve mechanisms come into play...I dunno.

I will never forget the first time I saw a spinal epidural procedure in L&D. I had to leave because I was getting clammy, couldn't hear, and getting short of breath. I was mortified. Believe me, the staff never let me forget it! But now I can assist with these in the OR and not give it a second thought. I think the reasoning is that I am focused on the pt.

Weird how our brains work, huh?

mama_d, BSN, RN · Apr 3, 2011

When I was pregnant, I couldn't watch blood tubes filling up from other people. I could watch when they drew my blood, had no problems with IVs, and could do the actual sticking...but had to have someone else in the room to pop the tubes on and off for me. As soon as I had the baby I was fine. Totally bizarre.