Tag: gross

That’s so gross

On By Nurse FredIn health, hospitals, nursing5 Comments

You would think the grossest thing that I have seen as a nurse would involve the patient.

Oddly enough, no.

I can say for sure the grossest thing I have seen is the patient’s family member(s) sleeping on the floor of the room.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAS BEEN ON THAT FLOOR?!?!?

I have walked into the room and nearly tripped over a family member sleeping peacefully on the floor. I was immediately freaked out. Like, what makes someone think sleeping on a hospital floor is safe or sanitary?

Oh, you have to get up off that floor honey.

There have been soiled linens, blood, body fluids that I can’t describe, EVERYTHING on that floor. Glare all you want but I’m not leaving you down there.

People think hospitals are far cleaner than they actually are…

Gory Glory

On By Nurse FredIn healthcare, hospitals, nursing2 Comments

I’ll admit it, I like the gory stuff that nursing involves. We recently had a crush injury admitted to our unit and when they took down the bandage I was all up in there! I wasn’t the only one. My coworkers were all up in it too.

The gory things never really bothered me. I have always been great at doing wound care. The bad wounds were the ones I really got into. I think that is why I really wanted to get into a trauma ICU at a true trauma center. I wanted to play in that fun stuff. Blood is just a part of the job. If there is blood coming out of the body I just need to replace. I can do that. Foot falling off? No problem. Blood spurting everywhere? Let me apply some pressure. Ribs cracking while I do chest compressions? Well, that just means I am doing a good job.

And then there’s mucus…

I HATE MUCUS. Nothing turns my stomach like the sound of a trach that needs to be suctioned. I don’t know why it bothers me so much. But that’s not the worst of it. When there are mucus bubbles popping up around the trach… Grossed_out

Before I go into suction I definitely have to take a moment to get myself together.

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Nursing convos with non-nursing friends

On By Nurse FredIn friends, nursing6 Comments

Guys, I apologize.

I bombard you with all these stories about my hot mess shifts. I rattle off all kinds of medical terminology. I tell you things that probably gross you out because I think it’s cool.

You listen anyway and try to make sense of this shit. You try to keep your questions about the 12 medical abbreviations I just used to a minimum. You participate in the conversation. You are actively listening despite not having a clue what the hell I am talking about.

tenor

I’m sorry.

My life is spent around nurses and doctors. We probably use more medical abbreviations that actual words. I have clearly forgotten how to communicate outside of nursing. I throw terms at you, expecting you to catch them the way my colleagues do. Bless you all, you stick with me for a long as possible.

I am going to try and differentiate between friends and coworkers from now on. I will try to speak in layman’s terms. I am going to work on breaking out of the habit of using medical abbreviations. I am going to continue grossing you out though. I’m a nurse, my entire shift is gross. You’re just going to have to suffer through that part with me.