What to do when... Patient stinks...

beautifulb · Mar 23, 2006

I would wear a mask, or put spearmint of peppermint on a gauze and place in room. Sometimes you just have to get over the stink.

beautifulb · Mar 23, 2006

Oops, sorry--spirit of peppermint!

thumperRN · Mar 23, 2006

Poo just stinks - there is no way around it. There may be a million ways to try and mask the offensive waft in the air, but poop is poop, and therefore will stink. I would use the vicks, however, may be irritating to sensitive skin. Chances are the person on the other end knows it stinks as well, so just try to be courteous - offer them a mask too! Just another part of the wonderful world of nursing - could be worse............suctioning!!!

Meerkat · Mar 23, 2006

I don't think using a mask is rude. If body fluids are watery, they can splash. I mean, we wear gloves, and that's not considered rude. :) Good luck

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Mar 24, 2006

Put some shaving cream in a cup and put it on a table or window ledge near the patient's bed. Also, mints or gum help. And breathe through your mouth!!

Actually....I've found the best way to eliminate stank is to cover the poop right away, and nothing works better than shaving cream, mixed with a little baby powder.

Works great on stanky under-pits as well.

hangnon · Mar 24, 2006

Oh boy...I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much bad smells bother me. My 2nd quarter of school I was emptying a commode of liquid poop into the toilet and I tryed very hard to hold my breath through the whole thing but it was such a mess it took extra time to rinse the commode out. At the risk of passing out I took a breath and immeadiately started gagging and dry heaving. I was gagging so bad I really thought I was going to throw up! :uhoh3: My poor patient, who was a dear old man, kept yelling "ARE YOU OKAY IN THERE??" To which I kept chocking back "YEP..Uh HUH...I'm FINE!" :imbar

K98 · Mar 24, 2006

+1 on the Vick's. Had the mother of all code browns delivered to the ER one fine afternoon. Whole ambulance crew was horking in the rig. This one pegged the nasty meter. The Vick's made it livable. BTW, if you had breathed through your mouth on this one, you would have tasted it.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 24, 2006

+1 on the Vick's. Had the mother of all code browns delivered to the ER one fine afternoon. Whole ambulance crew was horking in the rig. This one pegged the nasty meter. The Vick's made it livable. BTW, if you had breathed through your mouth on this one, you would have tasted it.

Wow, that was an image I didn't need!! :eek: Did they burn the rig?

kersti · Mar 24, 2006

+1 on the Vick's. Had the mother of all code browns delivered to the ER one fine afternoon. Whole ambulance crew was horking in the rig. This one pegged the nasty meter. The Vick's made it livable. BTW, if you had breathed through your mouth on this one, you would have tasted it.

I am seriously rolling on the floor with laughter! What a vivid and compelling image. horking? never heard that before, but it's definetely being added to my list:lol2:

Luckily, I am very impervious to smells. My fellow rn's will be gagging and moaning, and i just don't get it.

On the other hand, give me a phlegm hawking pneumonia, and I'll just turn around and puke in the next available bucket. I guess that just goes to show ya......

Stdy2BaNurse · Mar 24, 2006

I am very glad to hear so many people recommend Vicks. In my AP2 class a year ago our instructor told us NOT to use vicks during our fetal pig dissection. She said it would 'only open the sinuses and cause the stench to be worse' even though a student told her that her husband, who works for the fire department, uses it when he goes in after a fire for burn victims. I was beginning to think there was no hope for me I can handle smells, to an extent; I'm more concerned about puking right along side my patient, though I'm getting a lot better at going off to a 'happy place' when I hear the heaving start.....just the word makes me want to go.....

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Mar 24, 2006

oops, double post.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Mar 24, 2006

Pt stinks after having a bowel movement and its all diarrhea. I have to clean it up all the time, but the thing is tho, i cant wear a mask or anything because that would be rude and what not to the patient and plus they dont have any mask from what i've seen. It makes me almost croke each time just doing it, cuz its watery and nasty, omg, just sick green crap. Is there anything else i can do besides air freshener? Maybe something to sniff while im doing it? Thanx

Watery.....green.........really foul-smelling.......

Hmmm....

How about a stool sample?

And Vick's till the problem's solved, because those don't sound like normal BMs to me.