yuckiest things to do

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Hey all, I have just got a new job as a cna and start training in 2 weeks. I'm very excited as this is a huge career change for me but I would like to know whats the most gross and yuckiest thing you have seen or had to do? And tips on how to handle it. And also how long did it take for you to get used to it?

Thank in advance

I have to say the yuckiest things to do is to change a pooped bed and then clean the patient up.It gets to my stomach every time.:crying2:

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I have to say the yuckiest things to do is to change a pooped bed and then clean the patient up.It gets to my stomach every time.:crying2:

especially if they have c diff and and are over 300lbs. true story.

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Cleaning up poop in the shower floor...I can handle it in any other form but a pile on the shower floor makes me want to :barf01: Delicious.

The other night my coworker stepped in a fresh mound. I love my job!

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Colostomies in general are not bad. Actually I think they are way easier to deal with than cleaning up the other end! I did have a special moment not too long ago with one. This was a sweet old guy, who'd had it forever and was REALLY gassy. So normally, I'd have to go 'burp' it a couple times a night and try to quickly cover it with the blanket to contain the smell. I use the bathroom light to work by, so I don't wake everyone up. Usually this works just fine.

Well that worked great... until the night it was Not Gas. I burped it as usual and covered it fast. And realized my fortunately still gloved hand was covered in Not Gas. As was the blanket I'd so quickly pressed down and most of my Rsd's side. Sweet old guy that he was, didn't want to bother me with extra work and said he'd just sleep, he couldn't smell it :) Fortunately, it was only the bed pad and his clothes that needed changed and clean him up. That realization that it was Not Gas was almost a stomach turner for me!

My other ostomy incident was the very first one I ever dealt with. I stood him up over the toilet, opened the pouch drain and let fly! OMG what a mess that made! Gentleman looks at me sideways and said 'well that's not how they USUALLY do that...' Um I told you I didn't know, could you maybe have said that before I showered the room in BM?! Needless to say, my technique has improved a bit since then :D

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Specializes in LTC, Home Health, Hospice.

ok, how is this for gross...utterly yucky,

receiving a patient from wound care with maggots eating dead flesh off of a decub!

the next one,

a pt goes in for resection of a colostomy, the Surgeon sends her back with the wound wide open and DID NOT close the intestine..everytime she ate, it came out in her open wound, we had to send the patient back to the hospital after 2 meals!

the next one,

watching and cleaning up the vomit of someone dying of liver cancer. this man died one hour later. I mean He was vomiting very large amounts, I believe he bled to death.

the next one:

seeing a womans breast hard with cancer and oozing fluid that smelled horrible.

The hardest one for me though was/is watching someone die from CHF, fluid overload. Nothing you can do.

Tis the career we choose, but hay look at it this way when we are around people we don't like, we can discuss the horrors of our job and they leave right away! We don't have to ask them to leave!

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

C-diff

Colostomy bags

Vomit.. I'm not sure why but it still bothers me listening to someone vomit. The worst week at work was when the whole facility had a virus.. so everyone was vomiting & had diahrrea at the same time.. lovely.

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Specializes in LTC.

Uterine cancer is gross. There is a ton of goopy discharge and then at the end all kinds of weird stuff comes out.

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I just finished the clinical portion for my class; so the yuckiest things I had to do was to clean & change my first brief where the bm was large & mushy. My resident started crying :sniff: so it over shadowed the yuckiness of it.

Also the lingering smell of urine after emptying a leg-bag, mixed with the passing of some smelly poop!

The worst was seeing a resident hack-up brown, mushy runny sputum after eating lunch. I had to turn away for that one. I guess the best is yet to come......

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Constantly cleaning up mucus my patient is coughing up from her throat with a swab stick.

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Specializes in Psych, LTC/SNF, Rehab, Corrections.

This thread is funny.:D

'Stale' urine turns my stomach. I'm afraid to breathe around it. For some reason, it smells worse than poop, to me.

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 :)

Blechhhh...

Bless her heart...

I think I would 'need a minute' before tangling with that one, though.

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Specializes in CNA.

Putting lotion on hairy legs. :eek: Yikes!

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Specializes in LTC.

^I don't like putting lotion on bony legs. That sharp line that runs down people's shins gives me the willies.

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