What is your Nursing Kryptonite?

You know, your weakness ... your one "thing" that makes your stomach flip over when you see a patient with it/them/whatever. I had my first "maggot" patient recently (maggots living where they shouldn't be, you understand), and it really grossed many of my coworkers out. I was relieved to find that the maggots didn't bother me ... apparently my only Achilles heel thus far is nasty dentures, LOL -- EWWWWW.

When I was a tech, I had a nurse offer me $5 to suction a patient because sputum makes her queasy.

:roflmao: LOL!!! I just about peed myself laughing so hard!!! Loving that nursing sense of humor!:wacky:
I don't mind trachs or colostomies at all! As for the eye thing, my mother thinks it's because I kept scratching my corneas as a baby when I pulled toys down on myself. I think I might just be a weirdo. :sarcastic:

Don't think you are a weirdo. We all have our little things that bother us. When my kids were little and threw up, it would make me throw up! Then my husband had to clean it all up! Thank God I got over that before I started working with patients.:snurse:

I'm a school nurse going on 25 years at the same middle school and it annoys the heck out of me when I am educating a student or parent in a one on one situation and they are popping their knuckles. I'm not too fond of vomit either, but can handle that. I see red when the knuckle start popping and have to tell the offender to stop as it makes me feel angry. They stop because otherwise, things are not so bad.:nono:

Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

Since my early days as a nurse back in the early '90s, I have had an aversion to young adult females in pain. I think it comes from the fact that I worked on a Med/Surg floor back then that had many "frequent fliers" who were young women in their 20s and 30s and had the same physician who would cave in and dole out pain meds liberally, meaning that they would be admitted about every other week with "severe" and "terrible" abdominal surgery with no apparent cause. One gal in particular would roll up on the floor from ER screaming and crying in pain and then stop and in a totally calm and coherent voice say, "I want 75 of Demerol with 25 of Phenergan in my left hip NOW!" Once she got it she would be as sweet as pie, almost cuddly towards the nursing staff, and you'd better believe she got it every four hours on the dot or there would be heck to pay and her doc would demand to know why she didn't get it, even if she had been sleeping and set an alarm to wake herself up to ask for it.

Yeah, just the screaming and hysteria that accompanies many young females in pain is enough for me to dread this type of patient, which is one reason why I have always avoided labor and delivery. As they say, ain't nobody got time for that!

i hate anything respiratory related!! absolutely detest trachs and vents!! i could not have been a respiratory therapist!! Lol..

Since my early days as a nurse back in the early '90s, I have had an aversion to young adult females in pain. I think it comes from the fact that I worked on a Med/Surg floor back then that had many "frequent fliers" who were young women in their 20s and 30s and had the same physician who would cave in and dole out pain meds liberally, meaning that they would be admitted about every other week with "severe" and "terrible" abdominal surgery with no apparent cause. One gal in particular would roll up on the floor from ER screaming and crying in pain and then stop and in a totally calm and coherent voice say, "I want 75 of Demerol with 25 of Phenergan in my left hip NOW!" Once she got it she would be as sweet as pie, almost cuddly towards the nursing staff, and you'd better believe she got it every four hours on the dot or there would be heck to pay and her doc would demand to know why she didn't get it, even if she had been sleeping and set an alarm to wake herself up to ask for it.

Yeah, just the screaming and hysteria that accompanies many young females in pain is enough for me to dread this type of patient, which is one reason why I have always avoided labor and delivery. As they say, ain't nobody got time for that!

In my small town Med-Surg unit, we had a frequent flyer because one of our urologists would cater to her. She'd get a "kidney stone" on a regular basis (once over Thanksgiving), demand a Dilaudid PCA, experience nausea and vomiting ("I flushed it so you wouldn't have to clean up") and need Phenergan, develop itching as a side effect and need Benadryl. Oh, and could I bring her some more crackers and Sprite? And some more crackers and Sprite? And she's "due" for her Phenergan! So much nausea! More Sprite, please!

Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.
In my small town Med-Surg unit, we had a frequent flyer because one of our urologists would cater to her. She'd get a "kidney stone" on a regular basis (once over Thanksgiving), demand a Dilaudid PCA, experience nausea and vomiting ("I flushed it so you wouldn't have to clean up") and need Phenergan, develop itching as a side effect and need Benadryl. Oh, and could I bring her some more crackers and Sprite? And some more crackers and Sprite? And she's "due" for her Phenergan! So much nausea! More Sprite, please!

Exactly, and by the way, I meant to say "severe" and "terrible" abdominal pain, NOT surgery, lol. Surgery was not indicated because no one could ever find anything wrong with them.

I once had a young woman scream, cry, and cuss me up and down because of her horrible abdominal pain and her doctor would not order Dilaudid because he was finally on to her. All of this while she scarfed the huge bag of Taco Bell food that her boyfriend had brought her. Severe abdominal pain and chalupas don't normally go hand in hand, KWIM?

I think it's the drama that is involved with young women in pain, whether it is real (e.g. labor and delivery, real kidney stones, etc.) or not. Men will tell you they're in pain, and they can be big babies too, but at least you don't get the drama.

Arrogant- a$$ doctors who don't respect my practice. I WILL NOT risk patient safety or my precious licence to comply with them just because they want to rush me. No way!

Also, saliva. I work in Endoscopy and had a patient with a foreign body obstruction, so he couldn't swallow his secretions. Consequently, he had a bowl of saliva that he had spit out with dissolved tissues in it. When we took him back for the procedure to remove the FB, I had to empty the bowl in the toilet. The sight of it caused a deep retching and brought tears to my eyes. Awful.

Specializes in Care Coordination, Care Management.

What really pushes my buttons is multiple/frequent ER visits by Medicaid patients. Grrrr.

The overall smell of a patient in liver failure. They have a smell. Their skin, their urine, the lactulose bowel movement......ahhhhh it kills me every time. But what can you do? You care for the patient.

Since my early days as a nurse back in the early '90s, I have had an aversion to young adult females in pain. I think it comes from the fact that I worked on a Med/Surg floor back then that had many "frequent fliers" who were young women in their 20s and 30s and had the same physician who would cave in and dole out pain meds liberally, meaning that they would be admitted about every other week with "severe" and "terrible" abdominal surgery with no apparent cause. One gal in particular would roll up on the floor from ER screaming and crying in pain and then stop and in a totally calm and coherent voice say, "I want 75 of Demerol with 25 of Phenergan in my left hip NOW!" Once she got it she would be as sweet as pie, almost cuddly towards the nursing staff, and you'd better believe she got it every four hours on the dot or there would be heck to pay and her doc would demand to know why she didn't get it, even if she had been sleeping and set an alarm to wake herself up to ask for it.

Yeah, just the screaming and hysteria that accompanies many young females in pain is enough for me to dread this type of patient, which is one reason why I have always avoided labor and delivery. As they say, ain't nobody got time for that!

It's not necessarily females in pain, but any pt who quotes the dosage they want, set their alarms to wake up when it's due, and fire any nurse who isn't "on time" with their narcotic. Makes me so mad, I could spit! Oh, and the ones (usually narc abusers), who want you to flush their PICC an extra time, because they like the taste. : /

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
Feet, anything to do with feet. Also respiratory secretions, I am one of the many who hates suctioning. I couldn't even use those bulb syringes to suction the snot out of my babies noses when they had colds without gagging. Blech.

I am the opposite. I find it SO satisfying when you suction a big clump of mucous out that is so thick that it won't even go through the suctioning device!

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