yuckiest things to do

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2009

My very first day on the job one of the residents was off in another part of the building eating her own poop. So we has to brush her teeth, but it was hard because she (and all of the residents) have dementia, and she really doesn't like to have her teeth brushed. So after that experience, nothing else seems too much for me to handle lol :)

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Sep 5, 2009

-diabetics with black, rotting feet

-colostomy bags can be pretty gross sometimes

-c diff

-cancer can smell really bad

-wounds that pour out brown liquid when the dressing comes off

-SERIOUSLY scaly, flaky legs.

pca_85 · Sep 5, 2009

C-diff, bedsores so bad you can see bone, dentures full of food, the other staff wiping butts with no gloves and then eating a snack without washing their hands.

work&play · Sep 5, 2009

Dentures with vomit and spetum tubes.

NurseNotRatched, ADN, BSN, CNA · Sep 6, 2009

the other staff wiping butts with no gloves and then eating a snack without washing their hands.

ugh. they need to be smacked for that one!

pandora44 · Sep 6, 2009

I can handle just about anything EXCEPT new, bloody colostomy. Yuck, yuck, yuck. The only time I every thought I was going to puke. Its the smell of stool and blood. Its with worst when the colostomy is brand new, the first couple of days. Of course, the patient is terribly embarrassed so you can't react at all. I never got used to it. I used to bribe others to empty them.

boe000 · Sep 11, 2009

I'm not a CNA (yet!) but for my clinicals we spent 4 7h shifts in a nursing home.

I did a lot of dirty work. A big one for me was dealing with runny stool and wiping butts. For some reason the smell of urine made me want to throw up. Fortunately, by the end of my fourth day I didn't gag or really cringe at anything I had to do

NhNikki · Sep 11, 2009

I just started my clinicals yesterday. Nothing gross yet, but I hate to say it, I'm anticipating it. My teacher's philosophy is that if we can survive the residents (our clinical is in a long term care facility) she has chosen for us, then we can survive anything. Thank god it's only for 2 1/2 weeks!! I'll let you know after I have spent my a few full days with my incontinent, moody, and total care resident

lorelei1973 · Sep 12, 2009

I'm not a CNA (yet!) but for my clinicals we spent 4 7h shifts in a nursing home.
I did a lot of dirty work. A big one for me was dealing with runny stool and wiping butts. For some reason the smell of urine made me want to throw up. Fortunately, by the end of my fourth day I didn't gag or really cringe at anything I had to do

Funny you mention that. The smell of stale urine bothered me a lot more than poop, which didn't bother me nearly as much as I expected it would. But that godawful urine smell would linger even after I left the facility, came home and showered. I guess I never realized human pee could be so foull! What bothered me most was that most of the CNA's who worked there didn't find it necessary to do any sort of peri-care, let alone just wiping the resident with a standard butt wipe. They just accumulated more foul urine smell until their next shower or BM. Sorry, but they're NOT clean, even if it is only a wet brief and not a poopy one.

The good news is I finished clinicals about three weeks ago and I can't smell it anymore. :)

AnxiousStrawberry · Sep 12, 2009

Just had a yuckiets moment the other day. Sink filled with huge pile of wet mushy poo. I dont mind it too much at all when im wiping it off a bottom, but having to pick it up and remove it from a sink twisted my stomach:barf01:

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Sep 12, 2009

why was it in the sink?