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RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

steph fursland — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 19:23:14 GMT

when I was a teenager I couldn't listen to people talking about pus (as in had to leave the room, great when you are trying to impress whilst on work experience...) You will become desensitised over time to a certain extent! Try covering the offending material if possible with newspaper then bundling it up so the worst is gone, to remove some of the visual cue, also I find distraction (for instance get someone to ask you questions that you have to think about, while you clean) can be effective.

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Sal the 1st — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 14:04:03 GMT

[quote user="Ben Ogden"]

Large Volumes of mucous still get me and i've been in practice 11 years now. The thought of someone blowing mucous from an ET tube makes me run for the door, window, through the wall if needs be!!

[/quote]

I can identify with that one

I can remember nursing a really snotty cat once - while I was cleaning its eyes it sneezed and managed to hit my face and glasses . even tho they had been really well cleaned in trigene, hibiscub and anything else that I didnt think would wreck them it was ages before I could wear those glasses again, even tho the spares I have made me look like Edna Everage somehow they were more preferable! Must admit I did have to think twice about doing nose to mouth on a GSD that had collapsed while on a walk as well.

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Ben Ogden — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 09:22:28 GMT

Large Volumes of mucous still get me and i've been in practice 11 years now. The thought of someone blowing mucous from an ET tube makes me run for the door, window, through the wall if needs be!!

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Frankie Nancy — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 18:32:19 GMT

hi I have this problem too! It tends to be just poo or diarrhoea but the Rvns at my practice laugh when im out picking up poo and I start retching and gagging and coughing. I've learned though, that it's the smell that does it, not necessarily the sight. So whenever I know something will have a smell I hold my nose and just breathe through my mouth. So if someone says "can you clean that kennel out a dog had pood in it" I hold my nose before going in to the dog kennels and hold my nose through the whole cleaning process until all the poo is gone and I'm putting new newspaper down :) hope this helps!

Im like you in that this job means the world to me and it's such a tiny part of the job that I know it's the right job for me! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise :)

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Jo Martin — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 15:59:40 GMT

I used to be like this!! I would gag if i saw an animal vomit and i remember trying not to throw up when an animal came in with the bone sticking out of its leg! I was always trying to pretend i wasn't gagging! haha. I had actually completely forgotten i was like this because now i can clean up anything without even noticing. Olbas oil is great for overpowering any bad smells. I am still terrible with humans vomiting or even a nosebleed though!

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Sal the 1st — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 09:22:45 GMT

there are a few ways of bringing down anxiety levels - PM me if you think it will be useful

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Honeybadger — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 22:59:14 GMT

I suffer from anxiety with plane flights. I do suffer with motion sickness but the anxiety building up to the flight (that i'm going to be ill) means that i'm often sick before the plane has even taken off! Perhaps this is the same problem with you? I have considered hypnotherapy in the past to get over the anxiety and then i'll only have the motion sickness to deal with!

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

DaniMc — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 22:19:21 GMT

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Ems — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 21:41:21 GMT

I think every nurse I know has something they just can't stand - I'm the same with dog vomit, can't stand it's mucosy consistency when you try and clean it up! For others its anal glands, eye ops etc.

Unfortunately, it's just one of those things. I'm a lot better with it now but every now and then I come across something that'll make me wretch. It'll take time, I think you might need to face your fears and maybe try and do it a bit more often - even if you help the other nurses? You could also speak to the other staff in your practise and see how they could maybe help you?

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Julie-Anne Wilson — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 20:58:19 GMT

I was exactly the same when I started training. Even picking up after my own dog made me boak. But I basically forced myself to clean up after every dog in practice and eventually got used to it. Eventually I was poking and prodding through faeces with no problem at all.

The first thing I would do is stop breathing through my nose as soon as I knew there were faeces anywhere nearby and I started off with cleaning with as much between me and the faeces as possible and then I'd quickly run away for fresh air as soon as I finished. There was a lot of boaking and gagging at the beginning but over time I got used to it.

RE: Need a stronger stomach ASAP! HELP!!

Katherine Jayne Hart — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 20:40:38 GMT

Firstly you're not in the wrong job especially if this is what you want to do and you really enjoy it,secondly you shouldn't worry about what people think because this is such a minor thing in comparison to the nursing job as a whole,I feel sick when watching orthopaedic procedures but thats just how we are and finally just think the patient probably feels worse than you do when they vomit or have diarrhoea so try your best to focus on the job and think that you are really helping the patient. It may help to wear a face mask or something similar to help block the smell.

Hope this helps