Wound Care Clinic!

[Starfish1]

ok, so today I was sent to the wound care clinic for my day at the hospital. I thought OK cool this is new, sooo the first patient comes in, 99 yr old male, with a big wound on his tailbone. I was ok when the nurse was poking around, looking at it...the doctor comes in and he took these tweezers and started pulling the dead material from the wound...I lost it =( my face went white and I tried not to look. I know when I am going to pass out and can control myself...soooo I sat down for a second and the feeling kept getting worse, I silently snuck out of the room and sat in the waiting room with a cup of water. I dont know whether it was the actual wound that got me like that or the fact that there were 6 people in a small office with no air or the poor man moaning and groaning when they were picking at it with no pain meds! =( I am soooooo disappointed about this- NOT even funny!! I am good with gross things and i thought I would never get like this.....what a day....I am really upset about this=(

the only thing I can be glad of is that I didnt pass out, but I just had to leave the room!!

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I don't blame you a bit. How barbaric that he does not receive pain meds when he is vocalizing pain. I would think a specialized clinic would do better than that.

[JustPlainJenn]

My wound care rotation almost ruined me. As a paramedic, I've seen some pretty horrific sights, but nothing could have prepared me for a day with the wound care specialist. I, too, nearly fainted when I encountered a deep leg ulcer that had to be debrided.

Hang in there... everything isn't for everyone!

[JStyles1]

Yeah I about passed out for my wound care rotation my first semester in nursing school. Normally I eat a big breakfast, but on that day I didnt. The patient had a peg hole opening that did not close up all the way. Instead, it tunneled down his side and left him with an 8 inch tunnel. I lost it when the nurse stuck a giant swab into it and the length of her fingers while still holding the swab to see how far it had tunneled.

[LovingNurse, BSN, RN]

Don't be too disappointed in yourself. I think most nurses can remember a time when they became light-headed or queasy over something. It happened to me several years ago, and I can think of no other reason for why I felt faint other than the room was so darned hot. If you're normally good at "gross stuff" like you say, then you probably are far better off than you think. Just this time, that situation, wasn't good for some reason.

Best wishes

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

See...I'm okay with this stuff (except the no pain meds part), but someone (even my kids) vomitting....yikes. That is when I delegate the care of that person. LOL. SRSLY, I even spent just about all 9 months of all 4 of my pregnancies with hyper emesis.

Hang in there...at least you know wound clinic isn't for you....tons of other areas in nursing.