What is your Nursing Kryptonite?

Nurses General Nursing Nursing Q/A

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  • Editorial Team / Moderator
    Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

You are reading page 17 of What is your Nursing Kryptonite?

Specializes in ICU, Postpartum, Onc, PACU.

TRACHS!!! oh how I hate them...and colostomies/iliostomies, etc YUCK YUCK YUCK! xo

TeeKay12

94 Posts

Mine is feet. They don't have to be nasty, they just have to be feet. Trachs, ostomies, pressure ulcers, ocular emissions, feces, vomit, all of that doesn't bother me. Make me deal with feet and I'm gagging.

dnnc52

198 Posts

Specializes in ICU,ER,med-Surg,Geri,Correctional.

No doubt finger injuries especially amputations. 40 some years ago as a new ER nurse in a small county hospital where the physicians took tune being on call. I mean you actually had to call them at their home to come it to see pts or we were just given orders based on our assessment and pts history. No internet, no fax machines. Just nurse and MD working/phone. Of course in really bad or suspicious cases they came in. This night we had a surgeon on call and a guy or was intoxicated slammed his hand a car door. The doctor came in a few shots of lidocaine then off with his finger. I was pale, sweating, nauseated and the room was spinning. I think it has a lot to do with the love of playing guitar. But I have never done finger injuries without a queasy feeling. In fact most of my co-workers would tease me but then we would swap assignments. Because every nurse I met always had some kind of Kryptonite weakness..

Chaya, ASN, RN

932 Posts

Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

The denial mind set that goes hand in hand with addiction-of any sort. A patient lying to my face about when they last drank/ used drugs or what they really were eating the last few days doesn't hurt me but giving HCP's inaccurate info could delay or prevent appropriate treatment and ultimately cost the patient their life. This kind of stuff really pushes my buttons. I just wanna say "you're wasting my time, the doctor's and your own-why even bother?"

In the almost 40 years of nursing the one thing I have a hard time with are gooey trachs. I gag every time. Associated with that is adult snot.

In the last 15 years, I have a terrible problem with nurses and other healthcare professionals who smoke. The smell of it on their clothes, having them light one up around me, I have zero tolerance.

sherri64

77 Posts

Trachs. And suctioning anything. That noise!! I can usually do ok unless something thick clogs it up, then I'm gagging! When I worked in the hospital, I would trade putting in Foleys (strangely, one of my favorite things to do) for someone else to go suction my patient!

Took me a long time to get over suctioning or dealing with coughing up sputum. Sometimes ran to bathroom to throw up! Finally managed to get over it. Don't know how.

shell1983

35 Posts

I am okay with most bodily fluids. I am not a big fan of inserting foley catheters and applying wound vacs. With the wound vacs it isn't the wound that bothers me, it is that dang tape that gets stuck to everything except where you want it to stick :)

kat7464

69 Posts

Specializes in Hospice, home health, LTC.

Where to start? I get so sick of Code Browns....my sense of smell has been burned away thanks to smelling crap all of the time. Phlegm? So gross, but we deal with it. Foul urine? Always....families (let alone patients) are completely clueless about the junk we deal with daily. I am sick of it! My love for quality patient care keeps me going; again no one gets it except other healthcare professionals. I do not seek approbation but I am tired of the knife in my back because of attitudes of entitlement, HCAHPs servitude, etc. I have realized that I am just a maid with a med cart.

dec2007

508 Posts

My nursing kryptonite is a nit-picky family members that concentrates on more ice water and fluffier pillows when the patient has O2 sats of 70% and no blood pressure. Also, shifts when I kick my a** to take really good care of someone, and their loved one comes in and wants to know why "nobody pays any attention to my mom". These thing make me want to quit!

MaiHem

4 Posts

Not that I come across this bodily fluid very often, but when I was a student I worked in the ED. A pt came in after a horrific MVA, quite critically injured (no seat belt, terrible head injuries). Among all the blood and tubes I spotted what looked like day old porridge coming out of one of his ears. I asked the RN "what's that?". He casually leaned over, clip board in hand, took one look and dryly replied "His brain". Not only did I lose my breakfast in a nearby bin it took a good few weeks for me to sleep properly again!

I considered midwifery for a while until I was reminded by a morbidly obese pt that I can't STAND the smell of dirty, unwashed lady partss. Also, diahorrea pts with malena who are on Thiamine or iron infusions STINKS!

jailnurse16

6 Posts

I too feel your pain... It's so hard for me to have empathy or sympathy for those who use the system as a revolving door and don't take any self initiative and accountability for their own actions. My weakness?? Definitely the trach's, hands down :scrying:. I've learned over the years how to deal with them, but that's not to say I have to sometimes make a concerted effort not to toss my cookies. Give me colostomies, dentures, any other bodily fluid anytime of the week and twice on Sunday! Thankfully, I work in a setting where I don't have to deal with those issues. 25+ years of being a nurse's aide and then a nurse have taken a serious toll on my poor back. Working in corrections has enabled me to still do what I love without sacrificing my body anymore. But I still have the drama and those days where I wish I could start over, but at the end of the day, I still love what I do and wouldn't trade nursing for the world. Sometimes I just have to say to myself, Just Breathe Girl! :yes:

jailnurse16

6 Posts

Can I just add that people who come in with their friends, as in fleas, roaches, lice :eek:... and oh, one of my very favorites.. Drum roll please, feet that have open ulcers with cat feces dried between the toes and maggots on the side??? :barf02:

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