The "dirty" side of nursing...

I'm a nursing student and as dumb as this may sound, does the gross side of nursing ever get easier to handle? Does dealing with poop and sputum start to gross you out less after a while? Do catheters and genital upkeep become less uncomfortable? These are the areas I'm kind of having a hard time stomaching right at the moment and its making me question my decision to enter nursing school.
Quote from jordanlI'm a nursing student and as dumb as this may sound, does the gross side of nursing ever get easier to handle? Does dealing with poop and sputum start to gross you out less after a while? Do catheters and genital upkeep become less uncomfortable? These are the areas I'm kind of having a hard time stomaching right at the moment and its making me question my decision to enter nursing school.

When your patient looks at you with utter appreciation that you are willing to take care of the things that they can not, you will no longer feel such a burden as you do now.Now does that mean I don't gag when I suction someone...oh heck yeah I do, but I know it is for the best.

Yes, but some things take longer than others to get used too. And you may find that some things you will never be 100% ok with :spin:

They do get easier to deal with but there is one thing that makes me gag 100% of the time and that is a nice sweaty hairy caked up with baby powder groin

I just wrapped up my 4th clinical day, and I have to say that all the things that I thought would really freak me out on the floor haven't felt anything but natural. I haven't been disgusted yet (a little freaked out by having to clean around a urinary cath, since they make me nervous!!!), and I'm on a trauma med-surg floor in a major urban teaching hospital. We literally see it all. It's absolutely fascinating and amazing! I love it!

Believe it or not, it does get easier with time. Then all of a sudden you realize you are having lunch with your nurse friends and talking about the grossest things and absolutely nothing bothers you....you can eat and drink and not bat and eyelashAt work, I could pretty much handle anything except suctioning trach's.....that one still got to me...I think everyone has one special procedure that hits their "ick" button---but it's all part of the job and you never learn to like it...but you do learn to deal with it.Really, you'll be fine, we have all felt that way.

Quote from _KevinThey do get easier to deal with but there is one thing that makes me gag 100% of the time and that is a nice sweaty hairy caked up with baby powder groin

I think the best thing is to put yourself in their shoes. As gross as it is to clean up someone after a BM...imagine how it is to be the person who cannot make it to the toilet anymore.

Look - nursing is not the pretty, clean profession that you see on TV. You will deal with a lot of really gross stuff. And just when you think you've seen it all, something will come along to totally make you feel iike losing your cookies. What you learn is that you need to deal with this gross stuff to make your paitent feel better/get better. Yes - disimpacting someone is gross- but they feel so much better afterwards. And once you've done several, you will find it less gross..

Quote from _KevinThey do get easier to deal with but there is one thing that makes me gag 100% of the time and that is a nice sweaty hairy caked up with baby powder groin

Quote from Pepper The CatLook - nursing is not the pretty, clean profession that you see on TV. You will deal with a lot of really gross stuff. And just when you think you've seen it all, something will come along to totally make you feel iike losing your cookies. What you learn is that you need to deal with this gross stuff to make your paitent feel better/get better. Yes - disimpacting someone is gross- but they feel so much better afterwards. And once you've done several, you will find it less gross..

"Genital upkeep". I like that. Yeah it does get easier but some things ares still tough to stomach. Wait until you have to change the dressing on a necrotic wound. I'd take a poopy bum over that any time.