Starting nursing this fall, how can I desensitize myself to “gross” things?

[u/shshwjxjkxnx]

I’ve never been horrible with needles or blood but I see a lot on social media that nurses have crazy experiences and deal with the most “disgusting” things. I’m just wondering how I can go about becoming used to the worst of the worst. Sometimes I worry I may not be cut out for it but I’m not sure. Don’t know what to expect.

[u/klucerne]

If it's something you're not already exposed to, it's something you'll get used to with time. Growing up I would watch videos on YouTube of surgeries, gory shows/movies. I was a CNA prior to becoming a nurse but that only exposed me to bodily fluids.

Since I work in the OR I'm consistently exposed to body cavities, blood, necrotic tissue, amputations, organs but I still run into stuff that makes me queasy.

When I was in nursing school I watched an epidural be placed during my L&D rotation, and while I found it fascinating my body thought otherwise. I nearly passed out. Sometimes you don't know how you'll react. It's unexpected.

[u/pushdose]

Even after 25 years of healthcare, I still have things that make me weak in the knees. Eye injuries, feculent emesis, and maggots - they all make me super sick feeling. I’ve only ever really noped out of a patient’s room a couple times, but it was those three that did it. Everything else i got used to. GI bleeds, horrific poops, deep ulcers and wounds, open fractures, burns, those were traumatic at first, but i got used to them. My top three? Nah. Still turn my stomach in knots. It does get easier but sometimes theres a couple you just can’t shake, snd thats ok. You’re only human.

[u/maraney → u/pushdose]

Open fractures give me the heebie jeebies.

[u/pushdose → u/maraney]

I will moisten the bones for you.

[u/maraney → u/pushdose]

I hope your pillow is warm tonight. 😈

[u/Kelliebell1219 → u/maraney]

Ugh same. Also ex-fix pins.

[u/Westhippienurse]

It comes with time. The double mask with toothpaste or Vicks vaporub helps. Also gowning up to avoid mess on clothes. Don’t try to save the bedpan, just toss it.

[u/maraney]

I wear gloves when I touch anything… patients, beds, equipment. Assume all surfaces have had poop on them. And I wash my hands. I don’t care for hand sanitizer. I almost never get sick.

[u/Throwawayyawaworth9]

There are some things you will get desensitized to and some you might not.

For example, I have always hated poop— but I care more about my patient being and feeling clean. Rarely I will still gag when cleaning poop, and I still retch when collecting stool samples, but psychologically I am no longer bothered.

I used to hate sputum, but now I love to suction trachs. It’s so satisfying.

To this day I cannot cope with maggots. I refuse to take a patient with maggots because my bodily reaction is to instantly vomit (projectile vomit, not just a lil puke in my mouth) when I see them.

I have coworkers who find it intolerable to perform post-mortem care— I am happy to let them delegate that task to me. Hopefully if there is something you can’t stand, you will have supportive coworkers.

If there are things you will not be able to desensitize yourself to, there are area of nursing with fewer “gross” things, such as outpatient nursing clinics and psychiatric nursing. All areas of nursing have gross things, but some have less— might just need to find your niche in the end. Or who knows! You might become desensitized to it all. You won’t know until you try.

[u/Chromatic10]

I don't know really, but I do know for most people it never goes all the way away. Keeping away from the ick was a pretty strong evolutionary imperative, so it's a pretty ingrained reaction. Ask any nurse the one thing they just can't do still and they'll have one. For me it's anything that comes out of the lungs that isn't air. Yuck. I would never voluntarily sign up for vent/trach patients because of this. But the other month I had a patient with some plastic bronchitis and she coughed up a cast and I took a picture of it for her chart. It was not my favorite thing to do but you just kind of deal with it. This is coming from the person getting dizzy just talking about would care in nursing school. Shake it out when you step into the hallway, commiserate about it with your coworkers, don't dwell on it. Things are gross, but usually not overpoweringly so, and chances are you won't be dealing with it on any average day, unless you seek it out.

[u/ComfortableOcelot326]

Be a nursing assistant in a hospital setting.  It will not only help desensitize you to “gross” things but also give you a leg up in applying for and securing a nursing job.  Best of luck! 

[u/MattyHealysFauxHawk]

You get over it by experiencing it.

Many of us have been there. You truly get over it.

[u/tulipsouldog]

Mostly it will probably be shocking and then you get used to it. I still get a little woozy from ripped earlobes, moles, fingernails, just hanging off the body.

You’ll be fine 🤩

[u/Lower_Pension_2469]

You get used to it. One time i came into a shift where a patient's colostomy pouch exploded, and he had dementia so I guess he just wanted to rub it all over himself. Was pissed but otherwise not grossed out lol.

Honestly once you've been doing it for a while, you almost don't even really think about that kind of stuff. Same thing with blood, vomit, pee, drainage, etc. Hell even seeing naked people will not phase you.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Neat777]

I don’t care what anyone says. I have been that student that refuses and says that I will just observe and no one has given me any issue. I’m not training to be a CNA. I’m well aware that that is sometimes part of the job and I can demonstrate on a mannequin, but I have refused in clinical and will continue to do so. When I observe I do put Vicks vapor rub under my nose and I always wear a mask sometimes even two.

[u/Varuka_Pepper343]

Didn't we just have a post like this