What is the grossest thing that's happened to you???

Vintageshar · Jun 14, 2017

When I was a student nurse in Pediatrics, a 6 year old boy I was admitting had difficulty getting me a clean catch urine, missed the specimen cup & urinated in my eye & right into my mouth. I ran into the bathroom, washed out my mouth & face. When i came back, the little guy had the specimen cup filled with urine & I sent it to the lab. I checked his chart days later, & much to my relief, his urine results came back normal.

Another gross one is the time I walked in a room where an elderly woman in Bucks traction had been digging at herself & was eating her feces. She was chewing away at it like a tootsie roll & had BM all around her lips. Being pregnant at the time, I promptly went out in the hall & had dry heaves. The LPN, who was working with me at the time, removed the patient's dentures to find BM stuck to the inside, & promptly cleaned & soaked the dentures in cleaning solution in the dirty utility room. To this day, over 40 years later, former coworkers still recall me heaving out in the hall.

nursebri3 · Jun 14, 2017

I was working in an oncology/hospice unit. There was a patient who had been actively dying for a week. We'd come to work and see if her name was still on the board. Her heart was strong. Another nurse and I were taking care of her and we turned her and green and brownish fluids came out of every orifice. It was rotten- the foulest stench I've ever experienced. I ran in the bathroom and threw up. Only thing that's ever made me gag!

KatMaine · Jun 14, 2017

First off I'm not a nurse I'm a CNA. First night of training I hear somebody call me and say come in here quick the bag exploded. I had no idea what a bag was so I went charging into help and possibly learn what this bag was. I was then faced with what I quickly learned was a colostomy bag had indeed letgo or decided to empty its contents upon the floor.

Some idiot had left the wheelchair in the middle of the bathroom and as I open the door almost running into said wheelchair I stepped into what I assume was part of the contents of the bag and slipped sliding through on my back and up into my hair. I was covered in the black goo/poo. Went to showers washed self and hair like 10 times could still smell it. Had to finish my shift. My brand new scrubs could not be saved. Good thing I had a replacement set with me. Took 3 days for smell to leave me. That is my worst yet.

Jahania · Jun 14, 2017

The grossest thing that happened to me was when I was in the USAF and I was assisting a doctor who held a "lumps and bumps" clinic while he excised a particularly large infected cyst on the back of an active duty airman. The moment the scalpel pierced the cyst it practically exploded and lumps of purulent material shot into my face, hitting my glasses (thank God I was wearing my glasses instead of contacts that day) dripped down my face and onto the front of my uniform. The doctor could hardly contain his laughter and I almost threw up. I told him I was going home. I left and had to go shower and change my clothes before returning to work. It was just disgusting and even thinking about it now makes me feel nauseated. That was 40 years ago!

nursebri3 · Jun 14, 2017

I was passing meds and (stupidly) put my keys down on a patients bedside table. When I finished I couldn't find them anywhere. Finally I had a thought and looked under the patient. She had taken my keys, put them under her and defecated on them.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jun 14, 2017

While giving a bath to a pt with a trach, my co-worker told me a joke. I laughed the pt coughed and the trach (oyster) went in my mouth and down the back of my throat. I couldn't even throw it up. And the second worse thing was a canister with sputum for like 3 days almost full, i went to change it not realizing it would collapse. It shot up in the air and all down the front of my head and face.....(i was a new nurse on the last story). I have more, but that's the worst thing so far.

OK, as far am I'm concerned you win.

Mustlovecats · Jun 14, 2017

As a student nurse I had a patient that had some type of disorder that caused the skin on his arms and legs to come off in large flakes. As if that was not hard enough, I remember him taking a shower. I went in behind to clean up as this was a community shower. There were piles of large wet skin flakes all over the bathroom floor. PILES. By the looks of it he had peeled off much of the skin in the shower and left it around the room for us to clean up.

GENJEN · Jun 14, 2017

The forces beyond somebody's control made me drop a cannister full of post 100% of grain alcohol and pizza drunken person out of my hands. Solution went up my legs, on shoes. This was many years ago. All I could do was scream. So glad it was at the end of shift.

batsek2013, BSN · Jun 14, 2017

As a home health nurse in the 80's, I had many patients with decubitus ulcers and skin problems to care for. One sweet 86 year old man with a BK amputation had a terrible sacral decubitus ulcer that had developed while he was in rehab. He and his wife lived in a rural area outside Memphis, TN where they had to get water from an outside well and had an outdoor bathroom. We were using an occlusive dressing on his ulcer which meant it was only to be changed every 4-5 days unless the dressing became loose or was draining. This day I could smell the characteristic odor as I entered the house. The patient turned onto his side the best he could to expose the sacral area. I donned gloves and began removing the large wet dressing and to my horror saw a multitude of tiny white maggots scurrying around to avoid the light and my disturbing work. The ulcer looked the best I had seen it in weeks with signs of healing at the margins and new tissue beginning to form towards the center. It was all I could do not to be nauseous with the smell and the sight of WORMS in my patient's wound. But I cleaned the area, removed the maggots along with the old dressing and applied a new one as usual. The patient had no idea what I had seen or did. As I left, he asked me to give him his fly swatter because there were so many flies in their house which was unairconditioned and cooled via open unscreened windows.

i later learned about the actual purposeful use of maggots in wound healing in days past when other treatments had failed to heal such wounds. I often wondered what would have happened if this man's doctor had written an order for "maggot therapy " rather than the product used. Would he have healed sooner? Even after 55 years of being a nurse I still think this was the worst sight I experienced....and it was actually therapeutic!

Texas Joe · Jun 14, 2017

Mental health facility.

The police brought in a homeless man one night around 0200. The next morning a staff member and I tok hom to the restroom to get a urine sample. My staff gave him the cup, he filled it up, and promptly slammed it bak like a shot of whiskey. My staff yelled, "No!". The guy looked at him and calmly said, "I'm sorry. Did you want some?" Been 20 years but I have never forgot this patient. He was so urine saturated that the sheriff deputies who brought him in drove the 90 miles to our facility with their windows down in mid February doin 80mph.

gracie65 · Jun 14, 2017

Had a mentally-challenged pt. pull out an IV and then defacate in the bed, so came into room with diarrhea AND blood flowing off of bed onto floor. Had to use Hoyer to lift pt. up, clean and change the bed, clean the floor (housekeeping not available), then use lift to get pt. into shower, then back to bed. We threw all the bedding away. Also had a morbidly obese pt. with definite hygiene issues "brag" about not showering for 12 days. Aide gave a bed bath and folds full of cheesy-fungus. Yak.

lifeatthebluffs, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2017

Getting partially digested strawberry ensure thrown up on me. I'm pretty sure I still smelled like it a week afterward. Worse than any of the times I've gotten blood/poop/urine on me.