What Is Your Most Gross, Yucky, Disgusting Nursing Horror Story?

[yazisizit]

I was working a night shift on a tele floor as a new Nurse.

We had this one poor old lady who was confused and was restrained as usual for her safety. She was our designated resident nightmare geri from hell, so she was placed near the Nurse's station.

So we are chilling out at the Nurse's station, chatting and trying to get through another night...

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see our lady in question standing in the dimly lit doorway of her room!

I instantly leap out and run to her. As I approach her, she appears to be falling towards me, so I meet her in a bear hug...my arms around her waste, and her arms around my shoulders.

As I catch the lady, I notice a very strong smell of feces, and I feel something warm on my hands, arms and shoulders...

My fellow heroes come in behind me, and as the lights are turned on, my worst fears are instantly realized.

Yes, I caught the poor old lady with a good old bear hung football catch, but I was also covered in the lady's feces.

As I look at her, she has feces smeared all over her arms and hands... (and even her face!)

And of course, now so did I!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Their names are "Itchy and Scratchy."

[ILUVERNSG, MSN, RN]

This is gross and weird...

Years ago, I was assigned to a male psyche pt in the locked "quiet room" of our ED.

I placed him in a yellow paper gown which he then proceeded to tear up and make into some sort of grass skirt looking ensemble.

Next thing I know, he's knocking on the glass window and grinning like a banshee as he points to his exposed genitals!

After a while he again taps on the glass and proceeds to casually drink his own urine out of the plastic urinal.

Incredulous, I asked him, "What the hell are you doing???". His cheerful reply, "I'M RECYCLING!"

[Ellie G]

I was called to a code. The floor nurses were dropping an NG tube. Another nurse was doing CPR

The chest compressions caused the NG tube to emit this huge gust of coffee ground emesis that flew all over me. It was in my hair, all over my clothes, everywhere. Yuck.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

ILUVERNSG said:

This is gross and weird...

Years ago, I was assigned to a male psyche pt in the locked "quiet room" of our ED.

I placed him in a yellow paper gown which he then proceeded to tear up and make into some sort of grass skirt looking ensemble.

Next thing I know, he's knocking on the glass window and grinning like a banshee as he points to his exposed genitals!

After a while he again taps on the glass and proceeds to casually drink his own urine out of the plastic urinal.

Incredulous, I asked him, "What the hell are you doing???". His cheerful reply, "I'M RECYCLING!"

[Guest757854]

MY most Disgusting Nursing Horror Story is anytime i was working in a SNF or LTC facility.

[BettyGirard, BSN]

I guess mine sounds tame compared to most. I've got a hold of a student's member and about to insert a foley with my other hand when he decides at that point to urinate. Hit me straight in the face. I should have just squeezed the flow off I guess but I wasn't thinking and just redirected it spraying urine all over the room.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

After unsuccessfully trying to place an NG tube in a patient who had overdosed, she sneezed spraying blood and snot all over my arm.

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

As a new grad, during my very first code ever, doing compressions on a human for the first time, some sort of implanted port in the upper chest (Portacath, I assume) ruptured and I was drenched in blood from the elbows down. In my haste, I was not wearing a mask. Apparently I got really pale.

Another time, I had a patient sneeze and suddenly projectile vomit right onto my chest, right at shift change so there were twice as many staff around. I then slipped in the vomit, fell, and my glasses slid under the bed (found later). I called for help and no one came. I staggered into the hall and shouted, "What the f***? Stop what you are doing and help me." One registry CNA ran over and helped. We still joke about it.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

RNrhythm said:

As a new grad, during my very first code ever, doing compressions on a human for the first time, some sort of implanted port in the upper chest (Portacath, I assume) ruptured and I was drenched in blood from the elbows down. In my haste, I was not wearing a mask. Apparently I got really pale.

Another time, I had a patient sneeze and suddenly projectile vomit right onto my chest, right at shift change so there were twice as many staff around. I then slipped in the vomit, fell, and my glasses slid under the bed (found later). I called for help and no one came. I staggered into the hall and shouted, "What the f***? Stop what you are doing and help me." One registry CNA ran over and helped. We still joke about it.

So would I.That story was like a slapstick one. ?

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

BettyGirard said:

I guess mine sounds tame compared to most. I've got a hold of a student's member and about to insert a foley with my other hand when he decides at that point to urinate. Hit me straight in the face. I should have just squeezed the flow off I guess but I wasn't thinking and just redirected it spraying urine all over the room.

I'm confused... were you all practicing catheter insertions on fellow students? lol There would've been no way they would've talked me into that one!

[BettyGirard, BSN]

Christy1019 said:

I'm confused... were you all practicing catheter insertions on fellow students? lol There would've been no way they would've talked me into that one!

Oh, no, not a fellow student. Never did that (I did let a fellow student do a blood draw on me once as she had never had a chance to do so yet). It was a student attending the high school I work at.

[Lorri Cook, ADN, RN]

In nursing school, I stayed late to help a med-surg nurse with a cirrhosis patient that was hyperkalemic. She had previously given this guy some kayexelate, gotten him to the bathroom, where he did not have a BM. Since he was in a wheelchair, I helped her get him into bed, and he laid on his right side, with his back to me, and his gown has fallen open in the back. I walked a few steps away from the bed and crouched down to find my keys in my backpack, and I heard a loud burp of flatulence, and got splattered on the back by something warm and heavy. You guessed it. This guy was so mortified and apologetic, and the nurse helped me get cleaned up and sent me home with a clean scrub top. Welcome to nursing!