What squicks you out?

llgrn1987 · Jun 22, 2005

According to CSI: every criminalist has a fluid that especially grosses them out. From my admittedly non-scientific polling, it's the same with nurses. So what's yours? What's the one thing you'd take another nurse's entire assignment to avoid?
Going by my reaction to our lectures today, I think mine's necrotic tissue in a pressure ulcer. Thank god I'm going into an NNP program! Give me poop, blood, vomit, ANYTHING before a festering wound.

The smell of bloody stool! BLAAAAA

Lori

Nurse Hatchett · Jun 22, 2005

any type of sputum..........uggggghhhhh, my own included!! I can't stand it!! I am shuddering just typing this.

And feet. I hate feet period, can't even stand for my husband to touch me with his nasty feet. What is really weird, it tx to feet don't bother me as long as I have gloves, but can't stand to have them touch me or to cut toenails

begalli · Jun 22, 2005

Gosh, reading this I was thinking that I must not be normal to not really have a popensity to be grossed out by anything. Then I thought about it....

The smell of a poor individual who's septic and has that weepy edema that leaks from every pore of their body. The smell is indescribable and no matter what you do to help clean this person up, it just doesn't make any difference. It's a damp, rotting flesh kind of smell that permeates everything. It takes a couple of days for it to leave my olfactory system once I'm off work.

We usually wrap the patient's arms in briefs (diapers) to absorb the the fluid and what's even worse, I think, is when a nurse puts baby powder in the brief and then wrap the arms. OMG, I can't stand that! The combined smells are atrocious.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Jun 22, 2005

EYES definately! And I am so relieved to see I am not alone! I get teased about it all the time! But I have found that I can handle some of the worse gross stuff humans can produce...so I have a running trade on things...I will do any other gross thing as long as someone else puts in those eye drops! LOL!!!!!! (seriously...I don't know why...I get so ill to my stomach automatically and feel faint at doing just eye drops! I feel so silly!).

Inkleberry · Jun 22, 2005

EYES definately! And I am so relieved to see I am not alone! I get teased about it all the time! But I have found that I can handle some of the worse gross stuff humans can produce...so I have a running trade on things...I will do any other gross thing as long as someone else puts in those eye drops! LOL!!!!!! (seriously...I don't know why...I get so ill to my stomach automatically and feel faint at doing just eye drops! I feel so silly!).

Eyes can be gross, I had to see eye surgery....I felt faint with that! But when it comes to fluid and such....I have to agree with smegma. I can handle fecal matter, fecal emesis is bad but managable, Smegma is deffinately a stomach turner

BowlerRN · Jun 22, 2005

I'm with you there on the dentures. Awhile back someone here told a story about hearing this little old lady smacking on something. When they turned to look, they saw that she had her dentures in her hand and was eating all the leftover goodies in them. Ugh!! Grossed me out for life.

I have to agree, not very much grosses me out, but a girl I know works for a dentist and she told me a story about an elderly lady that she watched take her dentures out then use her finger to scoop all the saliva out of them then put it in her mouth, makes me want to vomit just thinking about it! :barf01:

elizabells, BSN, RN · Jun 22, 2005

I smell like hospital right now. Everything I eat tastes like hospital. And the dorm has no hot water.

But I changed a couple diapers and helped with suction today w/no squickiness, so yay.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jun 23, 2005

I have to agree, not very much grosses me out, but a girl I know works for a dentist and she told me a story about an elderly lady that she watched take her dentures out then use her finger to scoop all the saliva out of them then put it in her mouth, makes me want to vomit just thinking about it! :barf01:

YAAAAAKKKKKK..........anything to do with bad teeth and/or dentures just makes me wanna blow my groceries :barf02:

Eye goobers and toe-jam are pretty icky too, but I think that odor that comes from morbidly obese patients' skin folds when they haven't bathed in a long time is the WORST!! It's sooooooo nasty.........even worse than a GI bleed, and Lord knows that's about the pukiest smell on earth.

'Scuse me while I go throw up now. :stone

elizabells, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2005

YAAAAAKKKKKK..........anything to do with bad teeth and/or dentures just makes me wanna blow my groceries
Eye goobers and toe-jam are pretty icky too, but I think that odor that comes from morbidly obese patients' skin folds when they haven't bathed in a long time is the WORST!! It's sooooooo nasty.........even worse than a GI bleed, and Lord knows that's about the pukiest smell on earth.
'Scuse me while I go throw up now. :stone

Oh god, I forgot, we had an ER admit today - guy lives in a basement, no family, doesn't speak any English. He refused to pee in his diaper so we got him a urinal, and my god, the smell when that diaper came off - it wasn't soiled, it was just his crotch smelled not so good. You'd think after being raised by hippies I'd be used to the odor of unwashed flesh... :stone

NancyJo · Jun 23, 2005

Occasionally sputum gets to me, but that's usually when i'm already not feeling well. What really bothers me is when I see my usually edentulous pt.'s who soak their toast in coffee. Just thinking about them holding that extremely soggy piece of bread up that flops over and then they eat it, makes me want to gag. Can't handly soggy:eek:

SchizopRN · Jun 23, 2005

Attempting foley placement on a 420lb woman...I swear I lost a few brain cells from the fumes. My worst gag-o-rama was having to "milk" foley tubing...this person's urine was like glue. What made it worse was it was a 24 hour collection. After that stench, Gi bleeds, dead gut and "death dumps" were not so bad.

kyti · Jun 23, 2005

Dentures!!! I can handle the smell of gas gangrene but I can't stand dentures. I don't even like to touch the denture cup :barf02: (Also, extra digits freak me out.)