What nursing task do you loathe???

Nurses General Nursing

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Just realized today that I can't stand ostomy appliances. It's not the poop, it's just cutting and sizing the appliance and that messy paste. Tedious and irritating but somebody's gotta do it.

How about you?

I don't mind the smell of xeroform.

Thanks, Anna! Last night I dreamed I was in a German Restaurant and that LEG was served for dinner.:eek:

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Talking to the family member from out-of-state who suddenly appears and starts asking accusatory questions as soon as you walk in the room. :bag:

You are so right and also just starting your shift to find that the family and or dr. Is already pissed off about something that wasn't done in the previous shift.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

I was not fond of leeches. Yes, we used them occasionally for stubborn wounds. They'd be swimming around in their bucket of special leech juice and you'd have to fish one out to take to the patient. I used a plastic spoon because we were not allowed to use forceps (might hurt them). And there was no way I was putting even a gloved hand in that bucket. Makes me shudder to remember.

In psych I "enjoyed" cleaning vomited charcoal off the walls after we received OD patients from the ED. Charcoal vomiting is always projectile and so is charcoal diarrhea.

I couldn't stop laughing at the story of the patient who died during a bed bath (yeah, I know, where's my compassion? Who'd want me for a nurse?) And can't stop gagging at the denture stories. Even as I type this. No snacks at the computer desk for this thread.

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I don't mind the smell of xeroform.

Thanks, Anna! Last night I dreamed I was in a German Restaurant and that LEG was served for dinner.:eek:

OMG!!

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Tap Water Enemas until clear as a bowel prep for colonoscopies...these patients were 80+ with no ability to hold anything. Give me three with the same order...I think I've done 21 enemas at least before 1pm and still taking care of my other 5 patients...had to laugh when the documentation of the procedure always stated "Poor Prep"...yeah, well, time to try a different method.

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Tap Water Enemas until clear as a bowel prep for colonoscopies...these patients were 80+ with no ability to hold anything. Give me three with the same order...I think I've done 21 enemas at least before 1pm and still taking care of my other 5 patients...had to laugh when the documentation of the procedure always stated "Poor Prep"...yeah, well, time to try a different method.

With all the medical advances you'd think they'd find a better way, right? TWE until clear used to kill my nights.

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I'm a home care nurse, so some of my "issues" might be a little different, but some are exactly the same:

1. Vital signs. Obviously there's nothing difficult about it, but I find it EXTREMELY boring. Everything else varies when I see a patient, except for getting out the thermometer, cuff, stethoscope and pulse ox. Over and over and over again. Ugh.

2. Charting. It's been my single most hated task since I first stepped on a hospital unit as a new RN in the early 80s. It would be fine if we were truly just documenting a picture of a patient's status, but every note is filled with useless, repetitive information, and does little to further the care of a patient. And the volume of documentation required for home care patients by Medicare is ridiculous. Ugh.

3. Smells. The nature of smells in home care is much different than that in hospitals. Smells of urine, stool, and putrid wounds never bothered me in the hospital too much, because the rest of the environment was pretty clean. But there's something about the combination of these smells with kitty litter that hasn't been changed recently, or rotting food in the trash that just multiplies the effect! Ugh.

Oh what we nurses deal with!!!

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Caring for demanding para/ quadriplegic patients that insist on q30 minute position changes on MRSA or C-Diff contact, who wants you to feed them with a spoon until you bring one in the room, then they want a straw...

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Specializes in ACLS, BLS.

Checking residuals of tube feed on NGs and Pegs. So gross.

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Specializes in nursing education.
Fecal disimpaction :(

Really? It provides immediate results, somehow satisfying.

This list is fascinating- every nurse is different.

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Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.

Ted Hose or tensigrips 😁

Sent from my iPhone 6 plus using allnurses

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
In addition to the usual lice, I once saw a patient with her hair infested with roaches.

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