Okay, people. It's time for a nice, fun, light-hearted discussion to blow off some steam.
WHAT FREAKS YOU OUT? What bodily fluid can't you STAND? What wound gives you the absolute WILLIES? It doesn't matter if you're an ADN, BSN, LPN, CNA, PQRST, ABCDEFG...every body gets the heebie jeebies over SOMETHING...even you stomach-of-steel ER nurses!
Mine is eyeball injuries/surgery...aaaaaaaaackkkkkkk!! Gross! Makes my skin absolutely CRAWL. Or when someone gets a little cut on their finger/toe/whatever and then squeezes it to make it bleed!! Bleah!! Then there's the ever-popular RESPIRATORY SECRETIONS. I can handle poop, pee, amniotic fluid, lanced boils, pus, whatever...but give me a nasty snot-filled trach, and I'm OUTTA THERE.
Specializes in Burn, CCU, CTICU, Trauma, SICU, MICU.
puke absolutely kills me, i end up throwing up too! i got in so much trouble in nursing school for having to step out of the room when people threw up and to this day, i buy co-workers soda and coffee in exchange for them dealing with my puking patient!
Also, really really bad bone breaks give me the willies!
I can handle sputum or any secretions suctioned from traches or ETT's etc in children or adolescents, including those with cystic fibrosis and lots of secretions. But when it comes to old men with COAD spitting into cups full to the brim with sputum....ICKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!! Both the sound of them hacking it up and the sputum itself is blahhh
You can have c-diff, throw up on me, GI bleed all over the floor, but if you have a visible bone break, either in the skin or out, it makes my stomach turn. I literally have to concentrate on not vomiting.
My fellow nurses make so much fun of me because they say I could eat my lunch (if we ever had time to eat) covered in GI bleed, but cant handle a broken bone...just cant do it.
I will be starting nursing school this fall, but I find that broken bones are the worst for me. Vomit is second in line, but bad fractures take the cake. I can't even eat chicken if the bone is broken. Lol. Oh well! Must get over one day...
I must say that I am not a real big fan of the pulmonary toilet, but the thing that is the worst of all to me is the vomit! When I worked oncology, it was very common for people to yak everywhere. Many chemotherapy drugs make people throwup. I have literally held a basin for a guy and been gagging at the same time!
Nurses that do not wash their hands before gloving up. I assume and maybe incorrectly that when a nurse or anyone else that comes into my room has dirty hands. If their hands are dirty and they grab a pair of gloves the gloves are now soiled by their dirty hands. Nurses that hand me a cup full of pills and say here take these and when I question them about what I am taking they respond same thing you took yesterday. Selfishly I want the nurse to open the pill in front of me and tell me what it is before they put it in the cup. It may be the same exact medicine I take at home, however I can identify my medication at home, the meds at the hospital sometimes look different. When I refuse they become upset because they have to go through the entire production again. I get that but would it not be easier to do it right the first time. The last thing is when a pill gets dropped on the floor and the nurse picks it up and gives it to me as if I am going to put something in my mouth that has been on the floor of the hospital. I am not being picky, I am just trying to protect myself, I don't think that is too much to ask, but then again I am only the patient not the nurse.
Old people feet. Not the well taken care ones but the ones that look like paws. They give me the creeps. My nursing instructor told us about a patient that toes shriveled up and then broke off and the nurses where looking for it in the sheets. Just hearing it, and I felt sick.
Anything strong smelling. I have a very sensitive nose so those smells really overwhelm me.
nurses that do not wash their hands before gloving up. i assume and maybe incorrectly that when a nurse or anyone else that comes into my room has dirty hands. if their hands are dirty and they grab a pair of gloves the gloves are now soiled by their dirty hands. nurses that hand me a cup full of pills and say here take these and when i question them about what i am taking they respond same thing you took yesterday. selfishly i want the nurse to open the pill in front of me and tell me what it is before they put it in the cup. it may be the same exact medicine i take at home, however i can identify my medication at home, the meds at the hospital sometimes look different. when i refuse they become upset because they have to go through the entire production again. i get that but would it not be easier to do it right the first time. the last thing is when a pill gets dropped on the floor and the nurse picks it up and gives it to me as if i am going to put something in my mouth that has been on the floor of the hospital. i am not being picky, i am just trying to protect myself, i don't think that is too much to ask, but then again i am only the patient not the nurse.
i'm allergic to so many meds that when i'm hospitalized, i ask what each one is. if it upsets or slows the nurse down, tough. i don't mean side effects when i say allergies either. the meds cause great big giant-sized hives, rashes, and sometimes, anaphylactic reactions. you'd better believe i ask.
OK, now you got me started. This could be addictive. A few more crrreeeepies or bizares:
The patient whose balls were exposed (I mean, the testicles, the cords, the vessels, all just hanging out, with the scrotal sac split open and peeled back). Yiiii I'm not even a guy, and I could barely stand to look at that, it gave me this sickly twinge in my stomach and spine.
Had one of those recently *shudder* Poor chappie had a nut hanging out and a wound that stretched from behind his sack up to just beyond his belly button and was very very deep. The doc asked for two of us to hold the patients overhang back whilst he cleaned the wound. I was trying not to stare,ive not seen such a deep wound,full thickness.
mskate
280 Posts
puke absolutely kills me, i end up throwing up too! i got in so much trouble in nursing school for having to step out of the room when people threw up and to this day, i buy co-workers soda and coffee in exchange for them dealing with my puking patient!
Also, really really bad bone breaks give me the willies!