You don't feel like soap and water so I think I'll run away.....

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Ok, so I had this pt right who smelled horrible. It wasn't even the I'm-sick-smell, it was the I-haven't-take-a-bath since-the-day-I-was-born smell.

I usually have a pretty good stomach but this man almost made me puke it was so bad. :no: I tried to make him take a bath but he would not take one. He refused and refused. Of course my preceptor thought it was hilarious how I tried to make him take a bath. -_- Not even my tech wanted to go in there.

I usually make mistakes and it never made me feel as bad as not being able to make this man take a bath. IT WON'T KILL YOU!?! ITS ONLY SOAP AND WATER!!

I can't think of anything else I could have done with him. Any ideas? I honestly wanted to throw a bucket of water on this man. I felt like a failure because I felt I couldn't give the best nursing care because I didn't want to be within 2 feet of the guy.

I bet it was written all over my face; every time I came out of the room, all the other nurses laughed at me....:scrying:

Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.

I can live with the choices others make. For myself at least 2 showers and or baths a day. With a little steamer time thrown in also. I even use those little detoxifying pads that you wear on your feet at night. But that is me.

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ahahah I have to laugh, because i've had this experience before as an aide. I dont get why they dont want a bath, but if you put a dryer sheet in your pocket and you "sneeze" and use your "tissue" aka dryer sheet to sneeze into or wipe ur nose then the smell goes away for a little bit!

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Specializes in Emergency.

Had this problem the other night with a male patient 60 something who was in for syncope. Stank to high heaven, but not homeless (lives with his mom...go figure!). I asked about a bath, he said no, and I had to leave it at that...He is an adult, not confused, and able to make his own choices as far as personal hygeine, no matter how offensive to the staff. At the time I asked him, he was a new admit, not feeling well, and not up to bathing himself. Realized he was probably shy, and embarrassed to be exposed in that way to strangers. Two days later, he was feeling better and asked to take a shower, so all was well.

You cannot force an alert and oriented patient to do anything, you just have to deal with it. The confused ones don't get a choice.

I have found that breathing through my mouth instead of my nose helps, and of course I wear gloves for all patient care.

Amy

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Specializes in Peds Hem, Onc, Med/Surg.

All those suggestions were great.

I had the pt yet once again. bleh. And he still smelled horrible to say the least. I did some of the suggestions, and nothing worked. = ( but they were great suggestions nonetheless!

I got fed up and was like WHY!?! He calmly responded that he didn't want to. :trc: I was so over it by then that I just looked at him and told him that was fine but don't expect me to go near him, my nose can't handle it. He laughed, said I was cute, then washed his face and arms. :icon_roll He called it cleaning up, I called it not enough.

I left him alone after that. I was too tired to deal with it.

My preceptor was amazed at my skillz. yeah right......

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Here's what helps me: I put on a surgical mask, then I take a 2nd surgical mask and put toothpaste on the inside of it and put it over the 1st mask. This works much better than the Vicks' Vapor Rub. I can't smell anything but strong mint.

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I LOVE the toothpaste idea. I'll have to try that one!

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