What grosses you out?

[lilbearzmom]

We all know it takes a strong constitution to handle the "messes" that CNAs deal with. Very little actually grosses me out, poop included. However, it's dealing with mouthcare and dentures that gives me the heebies and makes me want to gag at times. What grosses you out while going about your CNA day?

[donnalovesjesse]

Again, I'm actually gaging just reading these. So how do you not gag in front of your patient. I so don't want to make them feel bad. But at this point, I'm afraid they are going to have real bad teeth if they count on me. Lol

[IsmeAmanda, LPN]

The only thing to turn my stomach was morning shift waking up the residents and one has hx of prostate cancer. He has strong urine and pretty much will drench the bed if not changed q2hr. God love him, but it made me almost vomit.

[IsmeAmanda, LPN]

Again, I'm actually gaging just reading these. So how do you not gag in front of your patient. I so don't want to make them feel bad. But at this point, I'm afraid they are going to have real bad teeth if they count on me. Lol

If I do gag I will turn my head and fake a sneeze. And sometimes residents KNOW they smell and they get embarrassed and say, "I'm so sorry I smell" I tell them I have bad allergies and actually cant smell anything due to a stuffy nose :)

[Benderover2, CNA]

Working in SNF I have had to help the wound nurse ( hold body parts up,roll people)

I'd say out of all the things I've seen the grosest would be wounds. I've seen wounds with bones sticking out or tunneling wounds over an inch deep. The worst is the smell.. I've worked with people who don't do blood or vomit. I even trained a girl who didn't like dealing with poop, needless to say she lasted about two days.lol

[hookyarnandblanket]

BM bothered me quite a bit when I first started but I quickly got over it. It will occasionally bother me now especially if a patient has c. diff. I helped a nurse suction an actively dying dementia patient with aspiration pneumonia the other day. I thought I was going to barf!

[valliloves]

Is it strange that nothing grosses me out?

[StanleyNickels, BSN]

Sputum and dentures, the gets me all the time. I work on the GI flow so I see and smell all types of nasties....but dentures and sputum. nope nope!!!

Yesterday I was emptying a colostomy bag and talking to the nurse of how hungry I was, the patient's face was priceless!!

[Princess Bubblegum]

The big metal cart that the meal trays come in. When the doors pop open and that hot steamy cloud of spaghetti and fish hits you...

I used to be the worst gagger. Everything would set me off. My tried and true trick for not gagging is to thrust my tongue against the roof of my mouth and breathe through my nose.

[GoofyBlondeChic]

I think that now the only thing that makes me gag is the smell of C-Diff stools. Though I do remember, being sent to a hall where a resident was actively in the process of passing. I have a few things that irk me, bad mouth and naval care. So I went in to check on this one resident and went to clean her mouth. When I did, I swear the secretions were in a solid sheet on the roof of her mouth. It made me gag and I got ticked off big time. Granted, she may not have been able to tell what was going on; but I know if it would have been uncomfortable for me, it stood to reason it would be for her too.

[SunnyKat]

After I transfer someone and realize I have stinky armpit smell on my arm - ewwww! It always seems to stick with me the entire shift, no matter how many times I wash!