What nursing task do you loathe???

enuf_already · Jul 18, 2015

Oral care, especially cleaning nasty dentures. Yeccchh.

Viva, I can't even stand to watch someone brush his/her own teeth without gagging. Left adult care, so that solved the denture issue.

Surprised1, MSN, RN · Jul 18, 2015

I'll do your trachs and ostomies, if you'll do my blood draws and IV starts.
I am another one who has never been able to hit a vein. I am soooo jealous of people to whom it comes so easily!

It's a deal!! I derive great joy from starting IVs, but trachs and ostomies make my stomach churn.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Jul 18, 2015

I'm weird I guess. I worked in dentistry for 20+ years before going back to nursing school so I'm very used to suctioning secretions, oral cares and dentures! Don't bother me a bit :)

wannabecnl · Jul 18, 2015

I HATE running IV antibiotics. We don't do it often in PACU, so it takes me forever to program the pump for the abx as well as the fluid it's running into (and how the heck does the pump figure out how to run the abx at the right rate if it's plugged into another fluid line?), and all the while the patient is in pain or puking or wants to eat and I'm getting flustered and I can't figure out what to attach where or how to prime the tubing, and of course the med is late, etc., etc.

Too much hassle. I always secretly pray that the abx bag gets sent to the floor and not to the PACU so I don't have to deal with it. Give me a neo drip or a creepy a-line blood draw any day!

Loved reading this thread, BTW. Lots of good laughs, and it's fun to see how we all like and loathe different things!

amzyRN · Jul 18, 2015

ostomies and trach care. I'm not too fond of poo and mucus. The blood doesn't bother me as much, but the other things aren't my fav.

rudecat · Jul 18, 2015

Anything to do with the eyes

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jul 18, 2015

Ostomies would be at the top of my list. I once had a resident who would rip off her ostomy 2-3 times per shift.

I also detest cutting fingernails and toenails.

mtqt · Jul 18, 2015

I can't stand collecting cordstats. I'm fine with blood and guts, and a fresh placenta or umbilical cord doesn't bother me. But getting into our biohazard fridge and cleaning and boxing a cold lump of cord makes me cringe.

thenightnurse456 · Jul 18, 2015

Cleaning dentures.

I can handle everything else, but please don't make me clean the build up of gunk from someone's dentures.

42pines · Jul 18, 2015

Applying nystatin cream to nasty smelly skin folds on a morbidly obese patient. Even worse than that would be washing those skin folds. I had a recent admission that literally made me want to vomit. I can handle a lot of gross stuff but that had to be one of the worst. The smell of infections and poor hygiene including dental caries instantly make my lips curl. When I see I have a patient on my assignment with a skin infection I know it's going to smell awful.

RetreiverGirl, you've probably heard it before but for exceptionally smelly situations keeping a small bottle/vial of Vick Vapo-Rub on hand works well. Smear a bit just inside the nares. You'll overwhelm your smell receptors and shut most of them down temporarily and your sense of smell returns later.

The only thing I despise is having to pee into a cup for random drug testing. It just feels invasive to me, but I realize that it doesn't to most. Still--I hate it. Once, many years ago, drug testing at one place (not a hospital, which seem to be more gentile) was done like a cattle drive. It was "hurry up," and my response was "no way." Thus I was declared + and terminated on the spot. I explained, offered blood--it made do difference.

sunflowerzrock · Jul 18, 2015

All that skin flying as ted hose are taken off...ugh...

sunflowerzrock · Jul 18, 2015

ok, now that's funny :roflmao:

This was in response to the person who posted about the patient wanting their food cut up in triangles with no gristle and to be fed certain foods in a certain order. hahaha:roflmao: