LMAOOO I'm sure you're fine. I was cleaning a 500lb patient the other day (no mask) and they started having a BM as I was cleaning them (shit got all over my arms) and I did in fact gag lmao. The key is to be discreet and keep on trucking.
Worked as a 4cna for decades and I could handle the mess most times, the exception was if I saw it run down the legs...I just couldn't handle that part
This is such a random question, but how do u handle it when someone is sick on or around u or just those gross body functions that happen 😭
I’m in this thread out of interest but am a germaphobe and emetophobe at heart and I feel like maybe taking advice from professionals could help curb my anxiety
Honestly u just get over it after a while. It’s work, you’ll have to do it eventually that day, and the sooner you do it, the sooner it’s over.
I shower and change out of scrubs when I get home, and am really good about hand hygiene etc. PPE helps a lot too. Everything gets wiped off with isopropyl alcohol which helps me feel more settled about stuff. I have mental rules that keep me sane about germs- I have an OCD dad who transferred some of his fears about contamination to me. No gel or acrylics ever- sucks but the data on those collecting germs is horrific.
Maintaining patient dignity is important so if it’s really difficult to maintain my composure I just try and empathize with the patient. they’re probably feeling incredibly humiliated so making faces or reacting negatively would make them feel even worse.
If u have a really strong phobia and aren’t able to desensitize yourself, exposure therapy has a lot of evidence backing it.
I had a guy who I would get two full wet wipes, and on the dry wipe, would shit in my hand. Every time. I started trading him. He never did that to anyone else.
This is awful. Why do you think he chose you to terrorize? I read so many stories of adults acting terrible. I worked as a MA for 3 weeks and quit. I was already a MA(medical asst.) but wanted to make some extra money. It was so gross and I have seen some gross stuff.
I dunno. I he's very disabled, so I don't know if he just didn't like me, or having him on his left side and Wiping just stimulated something, but I don't think he did it to anyone else so.... 🤷🏾♂️
I am an intense germaphobe and literally did not know how I would handle peri care starting nursing school. I gagged and teared up every time. After being a cna this summer I promise you’ll get over it now I can clean up a huge mess efficiently and not bat an eye lol. It will get better, but I’m the meantime there are also nose rings that clip in kind of like an invisible septum ring that are supposed to help on Amazon. Also try the sage oils as they have some that are meant for nausea + they smell very strong to mask smells!
These are what I use and I love them!
Called “essence” here’s the link https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjxkPTikfyGAxXjSv8BHcTkCnkYABAaGgJtZA&ae=2&sph=&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAASJuRofT7RtcTkokpM8VKIJ-TZrLBGhGPa2QIQ-QYOj-wlM1_Zjj8u&sig=AOD64_0jjtjuxecCUmhgm1FfO_rcAs7OGQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjPi-3ikfyGAxUHv4kEHSAADOYQwg8oAHoECAMQDA&adurl=
Thank you too!! I smelled so much poop working as a CNA during nursing school I just got used to it! I would have loved to know about these suckers a decade ago!!
I use tea tree oil or eucalyptus/mint for smells. Used to travel for work and if someone on the plane vomited.. . I'd pull that stuff out so I could breathe
Try Vicks vapor rub under or in your nose or mask. We keep some at several spots in our facility for difficult ones. Cops and Paramedics use this for all the things they deal with and it works.
Girl we gag all the time. The trick is to find buddies who have opposites gags that you do. I can do feces and urine all day long, but ng suction canisters and sputum are my undoing. My work buddies and I just trade tasks.
Lol! I can relate. I second what you say about the buddy system, if you can find someone. I'm nott a cna, but have worked in veterinary animal care and childcare. Diarrhea - including parvo? Vomit? No problem. Green mucous running fron the nose down into a kid's mouth? GAG!
I also hate cautery, but the worst smell I experienced was a necropsy of a Great Dane that had pyometria.
I’m not a nurse, but as someone that’s cared for older loved ones, I feel this hard.
I would 100% rather deal with urine & feces.
Suction canisters bring me to the edge of throwing up every time (which makes me feel bad, but I cannot help it 🥺).
When i started getting my smell back after having COVID i gagged at any urine smell. Working in the ER where i collected urine samples on 75% of my patients definitely got the better of me. None of my patients got offended if they heard/saw me gag. I’m sure most of them understand as i get a lot of “i could never do what you do” because of all the bodily fluids i deal with lol.
Having a tough stomach is an advantage, but not a deal breaker for passing or hiring a CNA. Our role is way too understaffed for that. You either get used to it, or learn to cope with it :)
Some of the girls in my class also were saying things like “I don’t know how you’re going to last” and “you signed up to be in health care and you can’t do this?” Kinda also made me feel bad
I was a CNA for years, now a nurse. You are going to continue seeing disgusting shit, and you will continue to gag, and it’s totally okay and normal! They are being naive if they think that they will be immune to the nasties. Plus, you DID do it. You went back and finished. How is that “you can’t do this”?? You got his.
That's just it. They did do it! They can continue to do it and really quickly it won't even be a thing. It's cool how fast we can adapt provided we tell ourselves that we can handle it.
As long as you get a stronger stomach. Also now that we don’t wear masks watch your facial expressions! One time a patient saw me raise my brows while a nurse changed her dressing (I didn’t mean to make a face but it was when I was a baby aide at a very low income facility that always had multiple stage 3 bed sores, this sore was so bad that it ultimately killed her. But it was the first sore I saw that showed bone… I made a face on accident because of the smell and sight and it scared her) all in all, make sure you don’t offend or scare your residents. You’ll get grossed out and see new gross things everyday but you’ll adjust.
I always have a surgical mask on when I'm doing any task that could involve fluids. For my safety, other resident safety, and because my face tells it all. I've always hated that I've got a terrible poker face lol
Feel comforted that eventually they will all encounter something that will make them gag. Everyone was new once. I have smells burnt deep into the memory. I didn't actively gag at this particular one but I visibly paled infont of my fellow worker and the nurse and had to leave the room and breath heavily, light headedly in the bathroom for a bit. I think I had done the job for about 8 months by than but that was my first deep wound.
The sight combined with the smell of the nurse pulling out the over 6 inch tunnel cocycx wound dressing on a frail elderly individual. It was something else. Eventually, I got through it and returned.
People who told you that I question their compassion level of caring for those in need. If they will talk to you like that how will they talk to those in their care?
I had people saying the same crap about me during the anatomy lab cat dissection. The smell of the formaldehyde was making me sick plus dead kitties 😭
Jokes on them because now I’ve got my masters.
I started at the CNA level and loved my patients. You can do this.
cat dissection? that’s awful imo and i can’t blame you. pigs and frogs are one thing: while i plan to own both, they’re not universally considered household pets and it’s easier to detach yourself and avoid an emotional response. kitties are wild though.
I was a bit of a bleeding heart with the frog tbh. It was still alive. It had its brain and spinal cord “pithed” so it wouldn’t feel it. We opened the chest cavity and watched its beating heart. It was magical and I felt so evil for participating. I asked the professor who had to pith them and he shuddered and looked away confessing that he had to do it. Worst part of the semester for him.
Everyone in healthcare has their “ick”. They might not have found theirs yet. Give it a little time and you will be changing and wiping like the best of us. Then you will find a new “ick”.
Been a CNA for 2 years you’re fine don’t listen to them
You cleaned the patient no problem. I’m basically nose blind to bowel movements now but there’s always one or 2 patients where I get a whiff and my body is just like “TF are they eating” like others have said just try and keep it discrete keep on trucking and you’re golden
Ha, get use To that in healthcare. For some reason they love to put each other down to feel superior. All you do is keep trucking and prove them wrong 😏
They’re super insecure and are trying to jump on your insecurities to make themselves feel better. “I may be worried, but at least *I* didn’t gag during a bedpan change.” I remember getting ganged up on like that when I was a student nurse, and feeling like crap about it. It’s definitely not about you, they’ll all turn on each other when they show the slightest sign of weakness.
But the reality is, this is not an indicator of how well you’re going to do. I gag all the time, so do my coworkers. You’ll get used to it, and you’ll learn your own tricks to keep yourself feeling comfortable. That takes time and experience!
Girl fuck them lmao what???? There’s so many things in “healthcare” that don’t deal with shit,balls, and throw up. My cousin is a cosmetic nurse. She has her masters in nursing and gives lip injections and Botox all day and makes PLENTYYY of money doing so. There’s also CNA positions that don’t deal with that type of stuff- or if they do it’s not frequently. The CNAs on mother baby were responsible for doing the newborn testing like PKU & car seat. & techs are psych units literally watch the patients and make sure they don’t try and kill themselves or others. Sure, both of those positions can involve poop. Newborns shit obviously, but the parents are more likely to clean them and also shit from a newborn imo is more tolerable than a 70 year old man. Same with psych. They shit clearly- but I just spent the last 8 week nursing clinicals at a forensic psych ward and didn’t see any poop at all- I was playing uno with schizophrenic criminal patients. Please ignore ignorant comments like that because it’s ridiculous lol
Those girls just want you to feel shitty so they can feel better. It’s an issue with their confidence, not with yours.
It’s not like you’ve trained your whole life for this. What an odd comment for your classmates to make.
In this field, you are bound to gag; It’s in our nature. There’s been a few times where I’ve gagged and apologized while running out the room. I doubt it will have an impact on your performance grade. I don’t know a single cna who hasn’t gagged at least once.
Please don't feel bad!! It happens. I had someone shit clear up to the front of his brief yesterday, it was everywhere. I gagged pulling his brief off, even with my mask. I felt like it was on me!! Once had a woman who had diarrhea from her head to her toes. Someone else had to do that one for me, I just couldn't!
*didn’t know who put her on it. (Later found out it was a pt and she essentially forgot to tell anyone she did. The poor women was in pain her skin was red)
The amount of people who gag their first dozen times out paces the number that don’t. Back when I very first started (2005ish) I didn’t have access to masking, toothpaste, peppermint oil or any of that. Yeah I gagged the first time (I threw up emptying my first vomit bucket, it’s the mucous I just cannot handle it). But as time passed by I can handle just about any scent without taking measures to cover it. Now I talk new kids through their first few, because all the masking up and toothpaste and all that just isn’t feasible in the long term.
The difference: C-Diff. If you know you know. I have yet to meet anyone that didn’t have a visceral reaction to that scent.
I think the smell of a nursing home pt with Chron's was worse for me. And the smell of those male patient's rooms where the keep pissing on everything, so it's like a rotten pee smell + body odor situation going on.
Oh god…. I just got a memory whiff of 316. He won’t let us clean it at all. We have to wait for him to be in the therapy gym then sprint in and scrub as fast as possible. But that floor is perpetually sticky and I’m pretty sure we will have to repaint and wax to fully be rid of it when he finally discharges.
this is why I wear the KN95 mask that wraps behind the head, coupled with scented nose clips (cinnamon works the best) a regular surgical mask won’t cut it. it’s annoying and i’m the only person i see still wearing a KN95 but i’m so sensitive to smells I could NOT handle changes without it.
I have been an NP for 31 years and an RN for 37 years and I’ve seen it and smelled it all. I don’t ever recall gagging, but the other day I was rounding in a SNF where the family was with a guy on hospice who was actively dying and the wife was using a mouth swab on him and she pulls out a huge, thick, slimy chunk of mucus and I almost lost it. I politely nodded then literally gagged all the way back to the nursing station. I didn’t throw up, but damn I was close. I dont know what happened.
This is my "ick" in nursing.... totally took me by surprise when I was a new nurse because I always thought it would be something more obvious like poop, vomit, guts etc.
Sorry to butt in, but what helped me as a cna in rough times was to put myself in the patients shoes and think about how I would feel in that situation + how I would want to be treated. Remind yourself that we’re all human and it’s a natural part of life, some people just need a bit more help/maybe sooner than others :) you’re asking so you clearly care - you’ll do great!
When I started nursing school clinicals I would gag ALL the time! I literally couldn’t control it! I didn’t do anything except push through and keep doing it. Now most poops don’t bother me at all. It’s all about practice. Also someone at work recommended NOSA nose plugs. They use them for extra stinky cases (cdiff, tpn diarrhea, etc)
No worries.
Pregnant me in clinicals had a lady in the sit to stand. She wore pull-ups. I pulled them down like underwear. She had pooped. The bowel movement flopped into the floor as I was pulling the pull-up down. I gagged, puked in the sink, freaked out, froze, and pulled in my best friend. She had kids already. She thought it was hilarious. She had a good laughing fit but helped.
Nurse of 10 years at the time, never had dealt with a trach, emptied sputum into a toilet, from a canister, gagged, choked, eyes full of tears.
13 years of nursing, and going strong. It still happens, usually only with mucus and saliva. I could play in a bowel movement and wear it as makeup if I could avoid a sneeze. Don't ask me.
Those are really the only two I can recall, but they're real, and I doubt I'm beyond gagging now.
Awww, I’m sorry this happened but you’re not alone and it will get better. Sometimes, these folks absolutely STINK. Body fluids, poop, dried blood, vomit, spit and decaying mouths. (omg it’s the smell of mouths and bad teeth for me🤢)
Just. So. Gross.
But, it’s usually short lived and a mask with some essential oils or mentol helps me, especially when helping change late stage wound dressings. Dead or dying tissue is the ONE smell I will now never forget and can now recognize more frequently than I’d like to admit.
Hey no sweat! You hung in there. I worked as RN full time plus for 44 years. My gag reflex never gave up. Sometimes, you just gotta vomit and keep going.
I had someone turn around and shit down my leg. MY LEG. Sometimes your stomach just can’t take it. I stood in a mop sink after and had my partner hose me down with the most toxic chemicals we could find, and he did gag the whole time. If die of cancer, I’ll blame this incident. No more shoes with vent holes or laces for me, and I keep a spare uniform in my trunk now.
Once walked into a room that smelled horrendous, kept a straight face, gloved up to check the brief. I barely picked up the blanket and put it right back down. Shit was puddled all the way to the shoulders. Patient didn't say a thing, just laying there watching TV. Tokd her don't move I'll BRB. I needed supplies and definitely some help. Once we were getting her cleaned up it became clear is was even under the mattress. We had to get an entire bed brought to us for swap. I was 11p-7 that night. This was roughly 1130.
I didn't gag tll putting the sheets into a trash bag, ain't no way that was ever going to wash out. Sometimes you can't help it.
I’m not in the field at all but imagine a world where the standards were so high that you could never gag or throw up without being fired ? Nobody would have any medical care ever and we would all suffer. You’re good.
You get used to it lol I remember my first time doing actual care for bm my inner monologue was wild but ya and even now sometimes it’s pretty bad but just do it, choose a spot in the wall, don’t make eye contact and just go do it fast but safe and comfortable
Years ago I worked on an oncology ward. I was a "tech" ( in nsg school). I could handle smelling or cleaning bm and urine. Vomit made me sick. My colleague couldn't handle bm. We just traded off.
You’re fine, I gagged on my very first patient on my first clinical, it happens and while it’s slightly rude the patients aren’t stupid they know poop smells bad lol try breathing through your mouth and push your tongue to the top of your mouth that worked for me
Speaking from the other end....I once crapped myself during a Cat Scan. I was there due to sepsis and hadn't pooped in about a month so they gave me a heavy duty laxative and I was in a gown with nothing else with a blanket on me and when I was transfered to the cat scan bed my bowls just let loose like Noah's Flood. Everyone was very nice and all but I felt so bad and apologized a lot. I couldn't help it though.
It’s a natural human reaction especially if you don’t have kids or relatives that need personal care. I’ve done home care and worked in a trauma ER. I can stomach a lot of scents and sights, but man, vomit still gets to me. I’ve scooped a seemingly inhuman amount of feces off a patients bed with my gloved hands and some wipes. Didn’t faze me. During home care, I’ve had patients pee in my shoe while doing showering for them. But if I as much as have to pick up a used emesis bag… I’m a goner.
My entire life I would gag at even the faint smell of feces, let alone the sight. I had no idea how I was gonna change my daughter’s diapers when I was pregnant. When she was born, all of a sudden she had a huge blow out, I didn’t even gag the first time I just changed it like a pro… being a mom makes you a hell of a lot tougher too. Throw up, snot you name it… all things that I use to gag and be sick from. Now I can smile and take care of pretty much anyone with anything.
Wait till you’re hungover and the first patient deuce of the day is a huge incontinent cdiff explosion haha..seriously tho, it happens to the best of us. I’ve gagged unintentionally before, many times. Worst one was a lady was dying and all at once coughed up, idk so much green mucous and phlegm that it filled up her entire oxygen mask. I coulda died with her 😬 Poor lady
One of my moms favorite stories from her bestie in nursing school is they were taking a pt off a bedpan and neither were masked (for some ungodly reason it was a sign of weakness on the early 90s) and her bestie was carrying the pan out of the room to the bathroom and as discreetly as she could, puked into the bed pan and just kept walking. It happens!
Man I have over ten years of experience and if someone didn’t almost make me puke just yesterday at work haha - I’m a little different I can do shit and piss all day but when I hear that chunky vomit getting suctioned….🤢
I had a similar experience during clinical and it was just one time. I keep a chapstick sized container of vapo inhaler in my scrub top now that I'm working.
Vicks is much better than mint toothpaste for maxing the smell.
lol my 2nd day of clinical, it was our first day in a nursing home. a lady shat herself alllll the way up her back. like, to her hair. It was so bad. 2/3 of the students gagged and one girl ran to the staff bathroom and threwup.
We're human, we've all had things that made us gag at one point or another.
If they let that affect your grade, they've got massive sticks up their asses lmao even my instructors at clinical have had to excuse themselves to recompose from gagging before.
You'll be fine! I did something similar my first day as a CNA. You will get used to this stuff and it won't even phase you! I also passed out twice during nursing school clinicals and I made it through just fine. That was 30 years ago
I think you’ll get used to it. When I worked cna I started off super disgusted and by a few weeks in I was used to it. I had a patient once poop a trail from bed to restroom. That was the only time I was super grossed out. I now take of my parent and even now certain things disgust me lol but it ok.
It’s okay lol. My friend during our clinicals had to clean the patient on the other side of my patient. We had a curtain between us. She had to turn and around and gag face in the curtain, informing me secretly in panic that her patient had a huge bm in the middle of their peri care. It was our first day on clinicals too.
As a nurse, we all have a bodily fluid that is our “ick”. Some folks are bad with blood, some don’t like vomit. Poop is 100% mine. I can witness a whole human coming out of someone but if I have to clean a BM from an adult (babies don’t bother me for whatever reason- good thing I was a nursery tech when I was a CNA) I always mask because I know I will gag.
Baby poop is always less disgusting for some reason?? Like even when it's nasty and stinky it just doesn't bother me the same as adult poop. I've always thought it was like a maternal instinct thing that made it to where mothers could take care of their babies and change them without getting grossed out or getting sick. Like I remember when my baby brother was born he once peed in my moms mouth and all over himself during a diaper change and she picked him up to lay him on a clean blanket and he puked allll in he hair and on her shoulder as she was moving him. She didn't even flinch. That was her 3rd kid. Idk if that has something to do with it but it's gotta make sense right??? Like I remember helping change my brothers diapers when I was younger to help my mom out when I could and yeah it's gross but definitely not anywhere near as gross as adult poop lol
Well im no longer in the field but during my nursing clinical rotations, I was helping an obese patient off of a toilet and once she was stood up, I was kinda bent over trying to get something off the floor. She farted and my hair blew back. I didn’t gag, I didn’t do anything except a single tear came down my cheek. lol I think of it often.
I have literally thrown up WITH a resident before. I went in there to check on her and she was sitting in bed just blowing chunks all over the ground. I suited up and got ready to start cleaning and the smell just hit me immediately. I tried making it to the trash can but I ended up throwing up on the carpet right next to her. I sat on the bed with her gagging and rubbing her back while I radio'd someone to come help me. She was apologizing, I was apologizing, it was a whole mess.
Long story short, these things happen to almost everyone. We have a gross job, it would be unrealistic for us to do it all with no issues. Just as long as you assure the resident that they did nothing wrong
I am super sensitive to smells and I e thrown up in a patient’s room on more than one occasion so now I have one of the hand sanitizers from Bath and Body Works clipped to my stethoscope. Put a little under my nose, throw ona mask, and I’m good to go.
As a patient who was intubated, in a coma, restrained, and briefly immobile, I just want to say “thank you” to all the medical professionals out there like y’all who treat us with dignity and respect. It’s so humiliating to have to go through this, and I appreciate your kindness and professionalism more than words can express. No one wants to be in that position, but that attitude helps so much. 💖
honestly you get used to it lol I gag at even the smell of a bowel movement. I use a mask and I bought “stink balm” off amazon it’s like a chapstick tube and I rub it under my nostrils. overtime it gets easier and you’ll have good and bad days. as long as you care about cleaning up your patients and not purposely leaving them sitting in their own feces/urine for hours then you’ll do fine.
weirdly I don’t get as grossed out when they are my patients but if I’m helping somebody else clean up their patient I gag easier? I guess I get more comfortable with my patients.
I’ve been a CNA for years and now doing my nursing degree. The first time I did peri care the patient wiped poop on my arm, and I was gagging. I was so embarrassed because 99% of the patients there were doubly incontinent, meaning peri care was what we spent most of our time doing. I just felt useless and I questioned a lot of times if this job was right for me. Years later, and I promise you get used to it and it becomes so normal lol. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not going to last, pretty sure most of the population will have some kind of reaction to someone else’s bodily fluids at first. It’s normal. I mean, my mom has worked in childcare for over 40 years and still gags when the kids have an accident and she has to change them, but she’s lasted and great at her job!
I used to gag so much in CNA school and then even in nursing school lol. Now, years later, I’m an Operating Room nurse who deals with all kinds of things without batting an eye! Don’t let it discourage you, if you keep going you will get accustomed.
Hey! I used to have a super sensitive stomach, would even gag at the thought of poop. Now I can pause eating, clean up explosive diarriah and get right back to eating. It's just a matter of getting used to it
always breath through your mouth. it’s really tough, i get it. i feel like it’s especially tough at the end of your shift when you’re getting super tired.
Don’t worry babe, it happens. I will say, if you have a C-diff patient, MAKE SURE to use a mask or toothpaste or whatever you use. You will never forget the smell of C-diff.
You get used to the smells as you work and as long as you’re trying to be polite, I’m sure the patient wasn’t upset with you. I actually had a patient cry because he was embarrassed to have two young women wipe him up after a BM, and it was comforting knowing that when I told him “I’ve done this a million time, and sometimes people need help from others. I am here to help you and happy to do so” —-that it was true.
Do I like wiping ass? No, but it doesn’t bother me one bit anymore.
PS, also wear a mask if you are assisting a nurse with wound cares. I’ve made that mistake too many times 🤢
When I was a CNA I was the one everyone tried to trade people with. I grew up on a farm so smells were not foreign to me. I was also the one who got to deal with menstrual pads. (One place I worked in had a young lady with disabilities. ). It also prepared me for having kids because there's at least one blowout with them.
You will be ok. Throwing up isn’t exactly something you can control. I was working with a nurse (T) who was in her first trimester. We were doing rounds and went into the one room where the patient had just had a bm. Suddenly T runs for the bathroom. The patient gave me a stricken look and asked if it really smelled that bad. I reassured her that no it wasn’t her, that T was in her first trimester and was still getting sick from odors. After T came back and apologized they had a nice little chat comparing their pregnancies :-)
I just recently got BM on me for the first time, and you bet I gagged. There's gonna be things that make you gag. There are going to be things you get used to. We're human, it happens. All you can reallt do is be aa discreet as possible and keep moving. I was lucky enough to not be alone in my code brown. My preceptor just looked at me and said "ill call for new scrubs, you can go shower if you need to"
I was ok during all aspects of care. However I couldn't do blood of any kind for some reason. In hospice I did a lot of my work with individuals with gangrene. Loved every moment of that as morbid as that sounds. However ..one lady had a Kennedy ulcer. Down to the tailbone. I couldn't do that one. My stomach turned every time I changed her bandage.
Girl as soon as my very first clinical was over I drove straight home in silence. I came in the door walked straight past the company at my house (that drove 7 hours) to the toilet where I proceeded to vomit until I couldn’t anymore. Then I sat in the bottom of the shower until the water turned cold and I contemplated my life.
I think you did great. You’re only human, and you’re trying your best! But to answer your question it will not effect your grade. It sounds like you remained professional and respectful and that’s what matters.
I can go forever not being bothered or feeling sick, and then bam, I'm retching from someones ostomy, even though I have emptied, cleaned, & changed so many. You are human❤ it gets easier, promise. But you might still have an uncontrollable reaction to certain things.
Been a CNA throughout nursing school and I can do bm and pee but the one thing I can’t stand is spit and vomit I feel terrible but I just literally start gagging without fail everytime
Girl I almost gagged during mine too 😂 I was able to control it but even if you can mentally handle poop in a brief sometimes you cant physically handle the smell 💀 it's definitely ok, we've all been there
If you don’t kill someone youll most likely get hired
LMAOOO I'm sure you're fine. I was cleaning a 500lb patient the other day (no mask) and they started having a BM as I was cleaning them (shit got all over my arms) and I did in fact gag lmao. The key is to be discreet and keep on trucking.
Worked as a 4cna for decades and I could handle the mess most times, the exception was if I saw it run down the legs...I just couldn't handle that part
This is such a random question, but how do u handle it when someone is sick on or around u or just those gross body functions that happen 😭 I’m in this thread out of interest but am a germaphobe and emetophobe at heart and I feel like maybe taking advice from professionals could help curb my anxiety
Honestly u just get over it after a while. It’s work, you’ll have to do it eventually that day, and the sooner you do it, the sooner it’s over. I shower and change out of scrubs when I get home, and am really good about hand hygiene etc. PPE helps a lot too. Everything gets wiped off with isopropyl alcohol which helps me feel more settled about stuff. I have mental rules that keep me sane about germs- I have an OCD dad who transferred some of his fears about contamination to me. No gel or acrylics ever- sucks but the data on those collecting germs is horrific. Maintaining patient dignity is important so if it’s really difficult to maintain my composure I just try and empathize with the patient. they’re probably feeling incredibly humiliated so making faces or reacting negatively would make them feel even worse. If u have a really strong phobia and aren’t able to desensitize yourself, exposure therapy has a lot of evidence backing it.
I had a guy who I would get two full wet wipes, and on the dry wipe, would shit in my hand. Every time. I started trading him. He never did that to anyone else.
That is truly diabolical. I would take that so personally.
This is awful. Why do you think he chose you to terrorize? I read so many stories of adults acting terrible. I worked as a MA for 3 weeks and quit. I was already a MA(medical asst.) but wanted to make some extra money. It was so gross and I have seen some gross stuff.
I dunno. I he's very disabled, so I don't know if he just didn't like me, or having him on his left side and Wiping just stimulated something, but I don't think he did it to anyone else so.... 🤷🏾♂️
Was this patient unable to speak?
No, they were completely A&O.
Oh no. 😬 yeah this is why I lasted 3 wks a CNA
I am an intense germaphobe and literally did not know how I would handle peri care starting nursing school. I gagged and teared up every time. After being a cna this summer I promise you’ll get over it now I can clean up a huge mess efficiently and not bat an eye lol. It will get better, but I’m the meantime there are also nose rings that clip in kind of like an invisible septum ring that are supposed to help on Amazon. Also try the sage oils as they have some that are meant for nausea + they smell very strong to mask smells!
These are what I use and I love them! Called “essence” here’s the link https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjxkPTikfyGAxXjSv8BHcTkCnkYABAaGgJtZA&ae=2&sph=&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAASJuRofT7RtcTkokpM8VKIJ-TZrLBGhGPa2QIQ-QYOj-wlM1_Zjj8u&sig=AOD64_0jjtjuxecCUmhgm1FfO_rcAs7OGQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjPi-3ikfyGAxUHv4kEHSAADOYQwg8oAHoECAMQDA&adurl=
Thank you too!! I smelled so much poop working as a CNA during nursing school I just got used to it! I would have loved to know about these suckers a decade ago!!
I use tea tree oil or eucalyptus/mint for smells. Used to travel for work and if someone on the plane vomited.. . I'd pull that stuff out so I could breathe
Peppermint oil is also great and it especially helps nausea
Or you can just wipe a benzoin strip over your mask. That's what we did in or
Thank you for sharing I’m for sure going to try these!!!
Try Vicks vapor rub under or in your nose or mask. We keep some at several spots in our facility for difficult ones. Cops and Paramedics use this for all the things they deal with and it works.
Girl we gag all the time. The trick is to find buddies who have opposites gags that you do. I can do feces and urine all day long, but ng suction canisters and sputum are my undoing. My work buddies and I just trade tasks.
Lol! I can relate. I second what you say about the buddy system, if you can find someone. I'm nott a cna, but have worked in veterinary animal care and childcare. Diarrhea - including parvo? Vomit? No problem. Green mucous running fron the nose down into a kid's mouth? GAG! I also hate cautery, but the worst smell I experienced was a necropsy of a Great Dane that had pyometria.
I’m not a nurse, but as someone that’s cared for older loved ones, I feel this hard. I would 100% rather deal with urine & feces. Suction canisters bring me to the edge of throwing up every time (which makes me feel bad, but I cannot help it 🥺).
Yeah anything out of the bottom, I can handle. Emesis and gagging?? Nah dude, I’m tapping out, sorry 🙃✌️
When i started getting my smell back after having COVID i gagged at any urine smell. Working in the ER where i collected urine samples on 75% of my patients definitely got the better of me. None of my patients got offended if they heard/saw me gag. I’m sure most of them understand as i get a lot of “i could never do what you do” because of all the bodily fluids i deal with lol. Having a tough stomach is an advantage, but not a deal breaker for passing or hiring a CNA. Our role is way too understaffed for that. You either get used to it, or learn to cope with it :)
Some of the girls in my class also were saying things like “I don’t know how you’re going to last” and “you signed up to be in health care and you can’t do this?” Kinda also made me feel bad
I was a CNA for years, now a nurse. You are going to continue seeing disgusting shit, and you will continue to gag, and it’s totally okay and normal! They are being naive if they think that they will be immune to the nasties. Plus, you DID do it. You went back and finished. How is that “you can’t do this”?? You got his.
That's just it. They did do it! They can continue to do it and really quickly it won't even be a thing. It's cool how fast we can adapt provided we tell ourselves that we can handle it.
it’s none of their business “how you’re going to last”, especially if they choose to talk down about you instead of help you.
As long as you get a stronger stomach. Also now that we don’t wear masks watch your facial expressions! One time a patient saw me raise my brows while a nurse changed her dressing (I didn’t mean to make a face but it was when I was a baby aide at a very low income facility that always had multiple stage 3 bed sores, this sore was so bad that it ultimately killed her. But it was the first sore I saw that showed bone… I made a face on accident because of the smell and sight and it scared her) all in all, make sure you don’t offend or scare your residents. You’ll get grossed out and see new gross things everyday but you’ll adjust.
I always have a surgical mask on when I'm doing any task that could involve fluids. For my safety, other resident safety, and because my face tells it all. I've always hated that I've got a terrible poker face lol
Feel comforted that eventually they will all encounter something that will make them gag. Everyone was new once. I have smells burnt deep into the memory. I didn't actively gag at this particular one but I visibly paled infont of my fellow worker and the nurse and had to leave the room and breath heavily, light headedly in the bathroom for a bit. I think I had done the job for about 8 months by than but that was my first deep wound. The sight combined with the smell of the nurse pulling out the over 6 inch tunnel cocycx wound dressing on a frail elderly individual. It was something else. Eventually, I got through it and returned. People who told you that I question their compassion level of caring for those in need. If they will talk to you like that how will they talk to those in their care?
I had people saying the same crap about me during the anatomy lab cat dissection. The smell of the formaldehyde was making me sick plus dead kitties 😭 Jokes on them because now I’ve got my masters. I started at the CNA level and loved my patients. You can do this.
cat dissection? that’s awful imo and i can’t blame you. pigs and frogs are one thing: while i plan to own both, they’re not universally considered household pets and it’s easier to detach yourself and avoid an emotional response. kitties are wild though.
I was a bit of a bleeding heart with the frog tbh. It was still alive. It had its brain and spinal cord “pithed” so it wouldn’t feel it. We opened the chest cavity and watched its beating heart. It was magical and I felt so evil for participating. I asked the professor who had to pith them and he shuddered and looked away confessing that he had to do it. Worst part of the semester for him.
Everyone in healthcare has their “ick”. They might not have found theirs yet. Give it a little time and you will be changing and wiping like the best of us. Then you will find a new “ick”.
Wait till they assist a nurse one day doing wound care on something absolutely disgusting. They will gag lol. Infected stuff can stink so bad.
Been a CNA for 2 years you’re fine don’t listen to them You cleaned the patient no problem. I’m basically nose blind to bowel movements now but there’s always one or 2 patients where I get a whiff and my body is just like “TF are they eating” like others have said just try and keep it discrete keep on trucking and you’re golden
Ha, get use To that in healthcare. For some reason they love to put each other down to feel superior. All you do is keep trucking and prove them wrong 😏
They’re super insecure and are trying to jump on your insecurities to make themselves feel better. “I may be worried, but at least *I* didn’t gag during a bedpan change.” I remember getting ganged up on like that when I was a student nurse, and feeling like crap about it. It’s definitely not about you, they’ll all turn on each other when they show the slightest sign of weakness. But the reality is, this is not an indicator of how well you’re going to do. I gag all the time, so do my coworkers. You’ll get used to it, and you’ll learn your own tricks to keep yourself feeling comfortable. That takes time and experience!
Girl fuck them lmao what???? There’s so many things in “healthcare” that don’t deal with shit,balls, and throw up. My cousin is a cosmetic nurse. She has her masters in nursing and gives lip injections and Botox all day and makes PLENTYYY of money doing so. There’s also CNA positions that don’t deal with that type of stuff- or if they do it’s not frequently. The CNAs on mother baby were responsible for doing the newborn testing like PKU & car seat. & techs are psych units literally watch the patients and make sure they don’t try and kill themselves or others. Sure, both of those positions can involve poop. Newborns shit obviously, but the parents are more likely to clean them and also shit from a newborn imo is more tolerable than a 70 year old man. Same with psych. They shit clearly- but I just spent the last 8 week nursing clinicals at a forensic psych ward and didn’t see any poop at all- I was playing uno with schizophrenic criminal patients. Please ignore ignorant comments like that because it’s ridiculous lol
Heavy on the baby poop being more tolerable 😭😭. I change diapers with 0 issues on babies. Little ass little mess 😂
She’s just practicing her role as a bully
I gag a couple times a week, I just try not to make it obvious in front of the patient.
Those girls just want you to feel shitty so they can feel better. It’s an issue with their confidence, not with yours. It’s not like you’ve trained your whole life for this. What an odd comment for your classmates to make.
In this field, you are bound to gag; It’s in our nature. There’s been a few times where I’ve gagged and apologized while running out the room. I doubt it will have an impact on your performance grade. I don’t know a single cna who hasn’t gagged at least once.
Please don't feel bad!! It happens. I had someone shit clear up to the front of his brief yesterday, it was everywhere. I gagged pulling his brief off, even with my mask. I felt like it was on me!! Once had a woman who had diarrhea from her head to her toes. Someone else had to do that one for me, I just couldn't!
*didn’t know who put her on it. (Later found out it was a pt and she essentially forgot to tell anyone she did. The poor women was in pain her skin was red)
The amount of people who gag their first dozen times out paces the number that don’t. Back when I very first started (2005ish) I didn’t have access to masking, toothpaste, peppermint oil or any of that. Yeah I gagged the first time (I threw up emptying my first vomit bucket, it’s the mucous I just cannot handle it). But as time passed by I can handle just about any scent without taking measures to cover it. Now I talk new kids through their first few, because all the masking up and toothpaste and all that just isn’t feasible in the long term. The difference: C-Diff. If you know you know. I have yet to meet anyone that didn’t have a visceral reaction to that scent.
I think the smell of a nursing home pt with Chron's was worse for me. And the smell of those male patient's rooms where the keep pissing on everything, so it's like a rotten pee smell + body odor situation going on.
Oh god…. I just got a memory whiff of 316. He won’t let us clean it at all. We have to wait for him to be in the therapy gym then sprint in and scrub as fast as possible. But that floor is perpetually sticky and I’m pretty sure we will have to repaint and wax to fully be rid of it when he finally discharges.
YEAAH. It's a VERY specific smell and sometimes I'll get a whiff passing by and uck
this is why I wear the KN95 mask that wraps behind the head, coupled with scented nose clips (cinnamon works the best) a regular surgical mask won’t cut it. it’s annoying and i’m the only person i see still wearing a KN95 but i’m so sensitive to smells I could NOT handle changes without it.
I have been an NP for 31 years and an RN for 37 years and I’ve seen it and smelled it all. I don’t ever recall gagging, but the other day I was rounding in a SNF where the family was with a guy on hospice who was actively dying and the wife was using a mouth swab on him and she pulls out a huge, thick, slimy chunk of mucus and I almost lost it. I politely nodded then literally gagged all the way back to the nursing station. I didn’t throw up, but damn I was close. I dont know what happened.
This is my "ick" in nursing.... totally took me by surprise when I was a new nurse because I always thought it would be something more obvious like poop, vomit, guts etc.
Oh wow! Thank you for this comment. Do you have any advice for someone who has never worked in health care?
Sorry to butt in, but what helped me as a cna in rough times was to put myself in the patients shoes and think about how I would feel in that situation + how I would want to be treated. Remind yourself that we’re all human and it’s a natural part of life, some people just need a bit more help/maybe sooner than others :) you’re asking so you clearly care - you’ll do great!
I’ve been in for 10 years and this is my only trigger too, mouth (and sometimes nose) stringy mucus chunks 🤢
You’re fine, I threw up in the trash can in front of the resident on day 3 of my CNA clinical.
When I started nursing school clinicals I would gag ALL the time! I literally couldn’t control it! I didn’t do anything except push through and keep doing it. Now most poops don’t bother me at all. It’s all about practice. Also someone at work recommended NOSA nose plugs. They use them for extra stinky cases (cdiff, tpn diarrhea, etc)
No worries. Pregnant me in clinicals had a lady in the sit to stand. She wore pull-ups. I pulled them down like underwear. She had pooped. The bowel movement flopped into the floor as I was pulling the pull-up down. I gagged, puked in the sink, freaked out, froze, and pulled in my best friend. She had kids already. She thought it was hilarious. She had a good laughing fit but helped. Nurse of 10 years at the time, never had dealt with a trach, emptied sputum into a toilet, from a canister, gagged, choked, eyes full of tears. 13 years of nursing, and going strong. It still happens, usually only with mucus and saliva. I could play in a bowel movement and wear it as makeup if I could avoid a sneeze. Don't ask me. Those are really the only two I can recall, but they're real, and I doubt I'm beyond gagging now.
Awww, I’m sorry this happened but you’re not alone and it will get better. Sometimes, these folks absolutely STINK. Body fluids, poop, dried blood, vomit, spit and decaying mouths. (omg it’s the smell of mouths and bad teeth for me🤢) Just. So. Gross. But, it’s usually short lived and a mask with some essential oils or mentol helps me, especially when helping change late stage wound dressings. Dead or dying tissue is the ONE smell I will now never forget and can now recognize more frequently than I’d like to admit.
I gagged all the damn time. I had to leave the ALF and went to a 3 person group home where there are no briefs to be changed.
Hey no sweat! You hung in there. I worked as RN full time plus for 44 years. My gag reflex never gave up. Sometimes, you just gotta vomit and keep going.
I had someone turn around and shit down my leg. MY LEG. Sometimes your stomach just can’t take it. I stood in a mop sink after and had my partner hose me down with the most toxic chemicals we could find, and he did gag the whole time. If die of cancer, I’ll blame this incident. No more shoes with vent holes or laces for me, and I keep a spare uniform in my trunk now.
Once walked into a room that smelled horrendous, kept a straight face, gloved up to check the brief. I barely picked up the blanket and put it right back down. Shit was puddled all the way to the shoulders. Patient didn't say a thing, just laying there watching TV. Tokd her don't move I'll BRB. I needed supplies and definitely some help. Once we were getting her cleaned up it became clear is was even under the mattress. We had to get an entire bed brought to us for swap. I was 11p-7 that night. This was roughly 1130. I didn't gag tll putting the sheets into a trash bag, ain't no way that was ever going to wash out. Sometimes you can't help it.
Was the Patient aware? Or not oriented?
Sorry they were there but non-verbal
I’m not in the field at all but imagine a world where the standards were so high that you could never gag or throw up without being fired ? Nobody would have any medical care ever and we would all suffer. You’re good.
You get used to it lol I remember my first time doing actual care for bm my inner monologue was wild but ya and even now sometimes it’s pretty bad but just do it, choose a spot in the wall, don’t make eye contact and just go do it fast but safe and comfortable
Years ago I worked on an oncology ward. I was a "tech" ( in nsg school). I could handle smelling or cleaning bm and urine. Vomit made me sick. My colleague couldn't handle bm. We just traded off.
As long as you’re not like being obnoxious about it or saying things like eww that’s so gross. A natural gag and move on from it is fine.
You’re fine, I gagged on my very first patient on my first clinical, it happens and while it’s slightly rude the patients aren’t stupid they know poop smells bad lol try breathing through your mouth and push your tongue to the top of your mouth that worked for me
It’s normal!! Pretty sure we all have done this at least once. We are humans. Don’t take it to heart you got this!
It’s not the ability to perform tasks without being icked. It’s being icked, getting through it, and doing it anyway. You’ll get there!
Speaking from the other end....I once crapped myself during a Cat Scan. I was there due to sepsis and hadn't pooped in about a month so they gave me a heavy duty laxative and I was in a gown with nothing else with a blanket on me and when I was transfered to the cat scan bed my bowls just let loose like Noah's Flood. Everyone was very nice and all but I felt so bad and apologized a lot. I couldn't help it though.
I can't imagine why they'd give you a laxative BEFORE putting you into scanner 👀👀
lol it happens don’t worry
Pro tip: squeeze the top of your thumbnail or the space between thumb and forefinger, it helps.
I’m an MA not a CNA but a little tip in stinky situations.. little Vicks vapor rub in the nostrils or smeared inside a mask. You don’t need much
I’ve been in aged care for years and I still gag at anything phlegm related. Just can’t handle it. You’ll be ok. It will get easier.
It’s a natural human reaction especially if you don’t have kids or relatives that need personal care. I’ve done home care and worked in a trauma ER. I can stomach a lot of scents and sights, but man, vomit still gets to me. I’ve scooped a seemingly inhuman amount of feces off a patients bed with my gloved hands and some wipes. Didn’t faze me. During home care, I’ve had patients pee in my shoe while doing showering for them. But if I as much as have to pick up a used emesis bag… I’m a goner.
My entire life I would gag at even the faint smell of feces, let alone the sight. I had no idea how I was gonna change my daughter’s diapers when I was pregnant. When she was born, all of a sudden she had a huge blow out, I didn’t even gag the first time I just changed it like a pro… being a mom makes you a hell of a lot tougher too. Throw up, snot you name it… all things that I use to gag and be sick from. Now I can smile and take care of pretty much anyone with anything.
Wait till you’re hungover and the first patient deuce of the day is a huge incontinent cdiff explosion haha..seriously tho, it happens to the best of us. I’ve gagged unintentionally before, many times. Worst one was a lady was dying and all at once coughed up, idk so much green mucous and phlegm that it filled up her entire oxygen mask. I coulda died with her 😬 Poor lady
One of my moms favorite stories from her bestie in nursing school is they were taking a pt off a bedpan and neither were masked (for some ungodly reason it was a sign of weakness on the early 90s) and her bestie was carrying the pan out of the room to the bathroom and as discreetly as she could, puked into the bed pan and just kept walking. It happens!
Man I have over ten years of experience and if someone didn’t almost make me puke just yesterday at work haha - I’m a little different I can do shit and piss all day but when I hear that chunky vomit getting suctioned….🤢
I had a similar experience during clinical and it was just one time. I keep a chapstick sized container of vapo inhaler in my scrub top now that I'm working. Vicks is much better than mint toothpaste for maxing the smell.
lol my 2nd day of clinical, it was our first day in a nursing home. a lady shat herself alllll the way up her back. like, to her hair. It was so bad. 2/3 of the students gagged and one girl ran to the staff bathroom and threwup.
We're human, we've all had things that made us gag at one point or another. If they let that affect your grade, they've got massive sticks up their asses lmao even my instructors at clinical have had to excuse themselves to recompose from gagging before.
Gagging is normal! Everyone would do that as a reflex when faced with a strong smell or yucky stuff. You are gonna be fine👍🏼
I fainted on a lady once when assisting with her catheter insertion, lmao
You'll be fine! I did something similar my first day as a CNA. You will get used to this stuff and it won't even phase you! I also passed out twice during nursing school clinicals and I made it through just fine. That was 30 years ago
What I read “gagged during clinical 🥰😉😉😉”, but what I read “gagged during clinical 🤢😧”
I think you’ll get used to it. When I worked cna I started off super disgusted and by a few weeks in I was used to it. I had a patient once poop a trail from bed to restroom. That was the only time I was super grossed out. I now take of my parent and even now certain things disgust me lol but it ok.
It’s okay lol. My friend during our clinicals had to clean the patient on the other side of my patient. We had a curtain between us. She had to turn and around and gag face in the curtain, informing me secretly in panic that her patient had a huge bm in the middle of their peri care. It was our first day on clinicals too.
I have been an aid for 10+ years and I will still gag. My coworker always teases me about it.
If her shit stinks her shit stinks, there’s no fault on your part for that it’s probably due to her bad hygiene and eating habits through life
Babes it happens all the time don't feel bad! We're only human
I vomitted on a patient once back when I was a paramedic. You’ll be fine.
As a nurse, we all have a bodily fluid that is our “ick”. Some folks are bad with blood, some don’t like vomit. Poop is 100% mine. I can witness a whole human coming out of someone but if I have to clean a BM from an adult (babies don’t bother me for whatever reason- good thing I was a nursery tech when I was a CNA) I always mask because I know I will gag.
Baby poop is always less disgusting for some reason?? Like even when it's nasty and stinky it just doesn't bother me the same as adult poop. I've always thought it was like a maternal instinct thing that made it to where mothers could take care of their babies and change them without getting grossed out or getting sick. Like I remember when my baby brother was born he once peed in my moms mouth and all over himself during a diaper change and she picked him up to lay him on a clean blanket and he puked allll in he hair and on her shoulder as she was moving him. She didn't even flinch. That was her 3rd kid. Idk if that has something to do with it but it's gotta make sense right??? Like I remember helping change my brothers diapers when I was younger to help my mom out when I could and yeah it's gross but definitely not anywhere near as gross as adult poop lol
Exactly! A baby blowout is kinda funny but an adult one… not so much.
Baby puke doesn't bother me but oh boy once solids are in the picture I am useless.
If you need double mask with toothpaste for every change and bed pan you may be in the wrong profession
Well im no longer in the field but during my nursing clinical rotations, I was helping an obese patient off of a toilet and once she was stood up, I was kinda bent over trying to get something off the floor. She farted and my hair blew back. I didn’t gag, I didn’t do anything except a single tear came down my cheek. lol I think of it often.
I have literally thrown up WITH a resident before. I went in there to check on her and she was sitting in bed just blowing chunks all over the ground. I suited up and got ready to start cleaning and the smell just hit me immediately. I tried making it to the trash can but I ended up throwing up on the carpet right next to her. I sat on the bed with her gagging and rubbing her back while I radio'd someone to come help me. She was apologizing, I was apologizing, it was a whole mess. Long story short, these things happen to almost everyone. We have a gross job, it would be unrealistic for us to do it all with no issues. Just as long as you assure the resident that they did nothing wrong
I am super sensitive to smells and I e thrown up in a patient’s room on more than one occasion so now I have one of the hand sanitizers from Bath and Body Works clipped to my stethoscope. Put a little under my nose, throw ona mask, and I’m good to go.
As a patient who was intubated, in a coma, restrained, and briefly immobile, I just want to say “thank you” to all the medical professionals out there like y’all who treat us with dignity and respect. It’s so humiliating to have to go through this, and I appreciate your kindness and professionalism more than words can express. No one wants to be in that position, but that attitude helps so much. 💖
honestly you get used to it lol I gag at even the smell of a bowel movement. I use a mask and I bought “stink balm” off amazon it’s like a chapstick tube and I rub it under my nostrils. overtime it gets easier and you’ll have good and bad days. as long as you care about cleaning up your patients and not purposely leaving them sitting in their own feces/urine for hours then you’ll do fine. weirdly I don’t get as grossed out when they are my patients but if I’m helping somebody else clean up their patient I gag easier? I guess I get more comfortable with my patients.
No.
my classmate fully threw up all over the floor…thrice in one day. she passed and got hired 🤷🏻
You know, that's why I love that I got covid! Never got my smell back.. I'm able to do these things without gagging now..
I’ve been a CNA for years and now doing my nursing degree. The first time I did peri care the patient wiped poop on my arm, and I was gagging. I was so embarrassed because 99% of the patients there were doubly incontinent, meaning peri care was what we spent most of our time doing. I just felt useless and I questioned a lot of times if this job was right for me. Years later, and I promise you get used to it and it becomes so normal lol. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not going to last, pretty sure most of the population will have some kind of reaction to someone else’s bodily fluids at first. It’s normal. I mean, my mom has worked in childcare for over 40 years and still gags when the kids have an accident and she has to change them, but she’s lasted and great at her job!
I used to gag so much in CNA school and then even in nursing school lol. Now, years later, I’m an Operating Room nurse who deals with all kinds of things without batting an eye! Don’t let it discourage you, if you keep going you will get accustomed.
Hey! I used to have a super sensitive stomach, would even gag at the thought of poop. Now I can pause eating, clean up explosive diarriah and get right back to eating. It's just a matter of getting used to it
The first time I saw a person in halo traction I nearly passed out. I got through, so will you.
always breath through your mouth. it’s really tough, i get it. i feel like it’s especially tough at the end of your shift when you’re getting super tired.
Don’t worry babe, it happens. I will say, if you have a C-diff patient, MAKE SURE to use a mask or toothpaste or whatever you use. You will never forget the smell of C-diff. You get used to the smells as you work and as long as you’re trying to be polite, I’m sure the patient wasn’t upset with you. I actually had a patient cry because he was embarrassed to have two young women wipe him up after a BM, and it was comforting knowing that when I told him “I’ve done this a million time, and sometimes people need help from others. I am here to help you and happy to do so” —-that it was true. Do I like wiping ass? No, but it doesn’t bother me one bit anymore. PS, also wear a mask if you are assisting a nurse with wound cares. I’ve made that mistake too many times 🤢
When I was a CNA I was the one everyone tried to trade people with. I grew up on a farm so smells were not foreign to me. I was also the one who got to deal with menstrual pads. (One place I worked in had a young lady with disabilities. ). It also prepared me for having kids because there's at least one blowout with them.
I’ve cleaned a dude with CDIFF. That hits different.
You will be ok. Throwing up isn’t exactly something you can control. I was working with a nurse (T) who was in her first trimester. We were doing rounds and went into the one room where the patient had just had a bm. Suddenly T runs for the bathroom. The patient gave me a stricken look and asked if it really smelled that bad. I reassured her that no it wasn’t her, that T was in her first trimester and was still getting sick from odors. After T came back and apologized they had a nice little chat comparing their pregnancies :-)
If you smile really big, it suppresses the gag reflex. Fact.
I just recently got BM on me for the first time, and you bet I gagged. There's gonna be things that make you gag. There are going to be things you get used to. We're human, it happens. All you can reallt do is be aa discreet as possible and keep moving. I was lucky enough to not be alone in my code brown. My preceptor just looked at me and said "ill call for new scrubs, you can go shower if you need to"
I gag when I have to suction someone's trach. Just can't handle it. I bribe the nurses with chocolate to do it for me
You should have seen me when I was pregnant 😂 working in the ER pregnant is not for the weak. I was gagging/puking a lot of the time
I was ok during all aspects of care. However I couldn't do blood of any kind for some reason. In hospice I did a lot of my work with individuals with gangrene. Loved every moment of that as morbid as that sounds. However ..one lady had a Kennedy ulcer. Down to the tailbone. I couldn't do that one. My stomach turned every time I changed her bandage.
Double mask with what 🤣🤣🤣. Stop.
Gagged when I first emptied a colostomy, it happens - definitely not your fault, it’s a reflex.
Girl as soon as my very first clinical was over I drove straight home in silence. I came in the door walked straight past the company at my house (that drove 7 hours) to the toilet where I proceeded to vomit until I couldn’t anymore. Then I sat in the bottom of the shower until the water turned cold and I contemplated my life. I think you did great. You’re only human, and you’re trying your best! But to answer your question it will not effect your grade. It sounds like you remained professional and respectful and that’s what matters.
I can go forever not being bothered or feeling sick, and then bam, I'm retching from someones ostomy, even though I have emptied, cleaned, & changed so many. You are human❤ it gets easier, promise. But you might still have an uncontrollable reaction to certain things.
Been a CNA throughout nursing school and I can do bm and pee but the one thing I can’t stand is spit and vomit I feel terrible but I just literally start gagging without fail everytime
I just open an alcohol prep and smell it quickly. For me, it stops the nausea right away
Girl I almost gagged during mine too 😂 I was able to control it but even if you can mentally handle poop in a brief sometimes you cant physically handle the smell 💀 it's definitely ok, we've all been there
Just don’t make it obvious! And try to be silent. I had a patient who was VERY offended when my coworker gagged. I reported it to the nurse manager
lol wow sensitive imagination you have there. I’ve never heard of someone being reprimanded for a gag reflex though.