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

Here is my most gross, yucky, disgusting nursing story! Nurses Humor Article

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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! :D

Walked into extremely obese (like u see on tv folks) pts room and realized I was standing in something that went "splat splat splat" when I walked. Looked down - lots of clear liquid? Water? Oh no, she was seeping all over - it had ran off bed into floor. Splat splat - oops - sorry, was I standing in you?

Uh.......skin?

Specializes in acute care.

ok, umm....ew! Ahhh, still wanna be a nurse, though

Work ER, see it all......I thought nothing could get to me. Then one night EMS brought in a homeless man and put him in the only empty bed...in the room to which I was assigned. It was almost time for meal breaks to start. Put on a pair of gloves and started at the top. He smelled, of course, but it wasn't too horrible at first. As expected, it got worse when I took his shirt off and got a whiff of his pitts. Told the man I'd be right back, ducked into the med room and grabbed the mentholatum. Went back in with a smile. He was a very tall man and feeling weak, so when I got to his pants he honestly wasn't able to help me much. I moved down his feet and took his shoes off to tug his pants off and the smell just about knocked me over. He had had diarrhea at some point in time in the not-so-near past and it had run down into his socks and shoes. Either hadn't bothered or hadn't had the opportunity to clean himself up. Got his pants off and the dried, old feces was caked from his groin on down. Took his socks off and at that point the charge walked in to see how I was doing. Later she told me that I was almost literally turning green and looking like I was going to cry. That was the only time in 19 years of ER nursing, plus 4 years of home care before that, that I just couldn't bring myself to eat when it was my turn for a break.
Uh.......skin?

i suspect, edema not obesity, and she was walking in serous fluid.....

Ah. The "walking on you" stumped me.

Specializes in Hospice, Med Surg, Long Term.

Here's one for you!

I was a young nurse, working in ICU. Had a new admit for R/O MI, a 60ish y.o. bachelor. I was the lucky soul elected to insert a Foley catheter because he was on bedrest and doc didn't want him exerting himself. So, I go in, explain my procedure to gain informed consent and proceed to insert the catheter. As I attempt to insert it, I meet resistance. So, I ask the gentleman if he had an enlarged prostate, that he knew of? He says, No, ma'am, I'm just climaxing. He says this just so calmly, so I look down at the drainage bag, and SURE ENOUGH! I was never so shocked and disgusted! EEWWWWWW!!~!!!!. Somebody else got to finish the job! Because, I certainly was NOT going to! Nasty!!!!!:barf01:

Specializes in LTC, SCI/TBI Rehab,RX Research, Psych.

I was working two-16 hour shifts @ a nursing home, as an agency nurse.

I had wound care to do on an elderly, bed-fast, non-responsive patient.

I walked into her room & greeted her, as usual..going on with ..."hi, I'm your nurse today..and I'll be changing your dressing...yadda-yadda"...and I noticed a buzzing sound as I neared the bed. My first thought was "there must be a hearing aid laying around somewhere".....No hearing aid. ---- I then looked @ the A/C unit, thinking it was about to fritz out (wanting to prevent any electrical problems)....Nothing there, either.

So--I proceeded to reposition the patient comfortably, so I could do my dressing change. Her mouth was slightly opened...revealing the source of the buzzing I had heard.

3 flies in her mouth.:eek:

I wanted to freak! Fortunately, the on-call doctor readily agreed to a course of prophylactic antibiotics. What a mess that would have been to explain to the family once she set in with a cough!

Specializes in LTC.

As a newer LPN, in a nursing home I had a pt. with

Huntingtons Chorea,

the staff reported to me 2 days in a row that she had foul, watery stools, I had administered Imodium per orders and it was ineffective. So I decided to check her for an impaction. Not my very favorite thing to do, I gloved up and proceeded, however I was so grossed out when I removed a tampon from her rectum, she was unable to tell how it had gotten there.

"Take what you like and leave the rest behind."

Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.

Unable. To. Tell. You.

Hmmmm.

Specializes in Med Surg - yes, it's a specialty.

To clarify my "walking in you" - obese with acute generalized edema. She was both. Weeping all over - arms, legs, face, abdomen - everywhere.

And since my last post I nearly had a urinal poured over my head by a mentally ill patient that was mad at me. That could have been a top 10 except I was quicker than he was.

Specializes in acute care.

100 pages, cool!

Specializes in gen icu/ neuro icu/ trauma icu/hdu.

Saw maggots eating a tympanic membrane once. Pt c/o "crunching sound" in the ear.