What can you tolerate the least?

Published

I've heard that every nurse has their one thing that they don't like and grosses them out and they don't like dealing with. What is your one thing?

For me it would be vomit! I cannot stand vomit!

There's a whole lotta nasty going on, but hilarious!

I deal with kids, the one thing that makes me squirm - kid with fingers in mouth who then takes spitty fingers and puts them on my face before I can get away. ARGH! I can see the bacteria multiplying and I want to grab steel wool and scrub my face. ACK!

In school, never saw this in person, but genital warts. Ewww, just ewwww. How do people not go to the doctor before they get THAT bad that you can't tell if it's a lady parts or a member anymore?! I don't ever want to see that in real life. Ever.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PCCN.

phlegm. green plegm

that is all.

:***::barf02::***::yuck:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CICU.

I equate opening glass ampules with opening a can of biscuits... They both freak me out, but I can do it if I have to :nailbiting:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg and Ambulatory Care (multispecialty).

I can't handle my kids' loose teeth. Yuck.:bag: Forget about me helping if they have a bloody nose.:no: I passed out one night while trying to take care of my daughter's bloody nose and whacked my head on the tile floor. My poor husband was stuck taking care of me & my little one. But anyone else's blood/vomit/mucus/stool and I could care less. Go figure.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I can't handle my kids' loose teeth. Yuck.:bag: Forget about me helping if they have a bloody nose.:no: I passed out one night while trying to take care of my daughter's bloody nose and whacked my head on the tile floor. My poor husband was stuck taking care of me & my little one. But anyone else's blood/vomit/mucus/stool and I could care less. Go figure.

No worries

I can't watch medical procedures on TV... :eek:

I can handle everything in person-hands-on, but if there is a medical show or I have to watch a procedure with blood and surgery-I feel dizzy and have to change the channel. :no:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Im pretty good with handling the basics like blood, wounds, feces, vomit, etc. The one thing I can't stand is the diabetic foot clinic. I recall once in clinical I had an opportunity to do rotation there. Omg. I swear once the bandages came off of the guys foot, the odor. I just couldn't stand it ..Not to mention the sight either. I ended up puking (not in the room, thank God). My instructor pulled me out of there and let me go to a different part of the hospital for rotation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I equate opening glass ampules with opening a can of biscuits... They both freak me out, but I can do it if I have to :nailbiting:

HAHAHA!!! Biscuit cans freak me out too! At least opening a biscuit can means I get to eat something good later on.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

One of the worst things I ever saw was this 90-something woman pt. with a prolapsed uterus. It stuck way out of her & actually had a pressure ulcer on it from her sitting up. Eeeps!

Blood, snot, spit, vomit, "normal" poop does not usually bother me, but I can't stand colostomies. Never could figure out why the prepackaged stuff smells so much worse. Even more disgusting, when I was a student, this pt. with cancer had virtually no colon left.

She was on TPN but they let her eat for oral satisfaction. You could literally recognize everything she ate in that bag-gaaaahhhh!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in dementia/LTC.

I wrk in ltc with some time spent on our rehab unit. I am fine with so much....stinky homeless pts, vomit, ostomys, c-diff stool everywhere, gross mouths/feet (even between the toes nasty buildup I see on new admits) any type of wound no matter how purulent, mucus, etc. I primarily work on a our dementia unit and some of our new admits come from home where they have been taking care of themselves, but in all actuality have not showered in months possibly much longer and the smells are pretty interesting.

What turns my stomach is 2 things.... The actual sound of someone hacking phlegm out of their throat and ng tube insertion. Both make me gag and almost vomit. In nrsg school I even gagged my way through insertion on mannikans.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED; Med Surg.
GI bleeds....I hate everything about them! The smell seems to just stick to you and lingers.

^^^^^^THIS!!!!!^^^^^^^

I can deal with them but would rather have anything else. Anything.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med Surg, Perinatal, Endoscopy, IVF Lab.

Side Note: I once sliced my thumb open opening a glass ampule WITH an alcohol swab package. Ick.

I love love LOVE wounds and dressing changes and getting all up in there to pack. Fun stuff. I can handle just about anything, BUT colostomies. It's the smell. I don't do well with smells AT ALL. I gag when I have to do anything with a colostomy bag. Oral care is not my favorite, but I don't mind suctioning. I also hate really obese patients that are demanding. You know the ones... where their family does EVERYTHING for them and leaves them to gain and gain and not lift a finger. The hateful ones.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED. ICU, PICU, infection prevention, aeromedical e.
Oh, another one:

Breaking glass ampules.

It makes me mad. We can send man to the moon but some drugs still come in packages that basically threaten to lacerate you. WHY? After you free your patients' medications from its GLASS CASE OF DOOM, you have to make sure you filter out glass particles that threaten to swim around in your patient's bloodstream.

My hospital once switched manufacturers of a certain medication that I had to give often during my shift. These ampules were gigantic. They were so hard to break. I finally asked my non-wussy coworkers to break it for me and even they had trouble. It was maddening.

I cut myself on one of those huge glass ampules. Got 5 sutures.

My gross stuck is that thick globular sputum.... enough said.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion