Were You Born With A Strong Stomache?

[cakegirl]

Soo I received a callback to interview with the Director of O.R. and a Clinical Educator. They also want to schedule me a shadowing day in the O.R. I'm so excited I really want this job. My question is when you all started out were there things that you saw that still made you woozy. I have come a long way through nursing school for my threshold of seeing things that gross me out. Flashback to nursing I when I pretty much passed out from the smell of a stage IV pressure ulcer . I 've been told that you get used to seeing things over time so far that has been true for me. However I certainly don't want to blow this job opportunity by hitting the floor my first day. So tell me were you always strong stomached or have you built it up along the way? Thanks!

[Argo]

kinda true, you get used to it for sure.... I think I was born with it though, nothing has really ever bothered me.

What city do you live it? I have an RN possition I am going to fill in the OR and am thinking of starting with a fresh non-OR experienced person and maybe even a fresh grad....

[cakegirl]

I live in Massachusetts.

[fracturenurse]

I think it just doesn't bother me...Ugh, you should have smelled the I & D we did yesterday, I almost passed out but muddled through. You will too !

[sm9796]

I had to unscrub and sit down a couple of times during C-sections and I remember thinking "how am I ever going to be able to work here if this keeps happening?!" It only happened twice, you just get used to it.

Most important thing is that if you're scrubbed and you start to feel faint, say something straight away and STEP AWAY from the sterile field. We had an intern scrubbed for a lap chole. She had her fingers in the handles of the graspers and was starting to lean forward. The surgeon mentioned something about bad posture. The circulating nurse was on the ball and made her let go of the graspers and step back, just before she collapsed on the floor. I can't imagine what would have happened to the patient is she had fallen forwards or backwards with her fingers still in the handles of the graspers

[Heogog53]

I've done OR stuff for a long time. It's funny, but for some people, eye surgery gets to them, others can't stand podiatry, others cope with a chewed up leg but can't handle and anal case.

Most everyone I've met in the OR, med student, RN or ST orientee, RN, LPN, SST students, OR staff, and the docs, too(some admit it, most won't) have all had at least one surgery when that person got the hot/cold sweaties, dizziness, nausea, etc, and either ends up passing out or backing away and sitting down sometime in their career. Sometimes more than once! A friend of mine got pregnant with twins and passed out every day for the first three and a half months of her pregnancy- but never had before or since!

I've caught any number of surg tech, RN, medical students and residents!

The best way to help yourself is to make sure you eat breakfast the day of shadowing; low blood sugar will help you pass out every time. If you do feel the hot/cold sweaties/dizziness/nausea, sit down ASAP, even if it's on the floor. Let the staff help you; it happens enough that most of us just try not to make YOU feel embarrassed.

And if you do pass out the first time in the Or, that doesn't mean that you aren't cut out to be an OR nurse. It means you had a vaso-vagal response.

And there have been some pretty awful cases that made everyone in the room kinda weak in the knees...

[odrachuk, RN]

Ahhhhh... I knew there had to be a thread on this topic here!!! I had just started in the OR as my first job. I have to admit that during nursing school, before I had one of the "OR days" during my medsurg rotation, I was concerned if I will be able to watch the surgery without getting grossed out or even fainting. But to my surprise, I did pretty well (although it was a laparascopic cholecystectomy). I also did "well" in the following four or five times I've went to the OR. So I just graduated in February and with the whole crisis situation was not able to find a job until late april. The only hospital that had called me back offered me a position as a new grad OR intern and, needless to say, I glady took it. So I've been doing pretty well with the "blood and guts" so far, although I do feel grossed out at times. But the other day I had my first "dizzy" moment. That was scary. It was a laparascopic cholecystectomy again (lol the irony) and the gall bladder was very inflamed and huge. So the docs had made an incision and tried to pull the gallbladder (in the plastic bag) out through it. I was standing at the foot of the bed, and was supposed to "catch" the specimen. The gallbladder did not fit through the incision and the surgeon and the resident were twisting and turning it for about 10 minutes trying to pull the poor thing out. That alone did not sit well with my stomach. After about 10 mins they gave up and decided to puncture it. Upon puncturing it (and letting brownish-green liquid pour out all around it in the bag and suctioning it up with loud slurping noises) they found multiple different sized gallstones(biggest one - about the size of a walnut) and laid them all out on the mayo stand in front of me. With the slurping suction noises still in the background, my heart started racing and I felt very dizzy. And even though I kept thinking that I should let the team know I am dizzy, I did not. It lasted for about 40 mins, and fortunately, passed. I was lucky. I noticed that seeing internal organs being intensely manipulated doesn't work for me in this sense. Hopefully, I will get used to it soon though and it will not interfere with my new job!

[Mr. & Mrs. RN]

I definitely did not have a strong stomach. I learned to pretend to watch, but I would watch the surgeon's hands instead of looking at the tissue. That helps.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

kinda true, you get used to it for sure.... I think I was born with it though, nothing has really ever bothered me.

What city do you live it? I have an RN possition I am going to fill in the OR and am thinking of starting with a fresh non-OR experienced person and maybe even a fresh grad....

Shameless, Argo! HAhahahaha!

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Yes, you get used to it. A trick that I have learned when doing "stinky" cases like I&Ds or colectomies is to put some Mastisol on my mask...you can't smell anything but that. Eye cases bother me only because I have had eye surgery myself...podiatry cases tend to freak me out because I am OCD and can't imagine having toenails that need a chainsaw to cut. I know, I know...DM patients don't always get the care they should in this regard, but it is gross nonetheless.

I agree with the other posts that you should speak up if you are feeling woozy. It will pass, I promise.

[Argo]

LOL. I don't even remember typing that. Those slots get filled QUICK. It usually just takes one phone call.

[wartthree]

I always tell any students, gaurds or anyone else that if they feel faint or wierd at anytime..just sit down!! Its much less embarrasing then having to be picked up from the floor. At some point in time we have all been there, and we all keep a watchful eye on observers.