Nursing home experience..?

I am currently a Nursing student and am certain I want to do this for the rest of my life. One problem however is that I seem to get sick whenever I experience bad odors.

Today our class was instructed how to change dressings on a wound. Since this patients was infected, the smell seemed to just fill the entire room. It was absolutly rancid. I thought as though I could handle it so i stood there a little longer, then I started to feel light headed, sweat, see dots, lose temporary hearing, and began getting dizzy.

After I rushed to the hallway and sat in a chair I began to feel better after about ten minutes. But I still felt pretty terrible because many of the students in my class told me "if i couldn't handle that, there is no way I could handle being a nurse."

So I was just wondering if that was true or if anyone else ever had this happen to them when they first started out in a medical profession. Or maybe even some tips to prevent this from occuring again. Thanks!

Funny.. that same exact thing happened to me in my first year as a RN!

I remember pacing the hallways (were BTW I could still smell the wound. that is how bad it was!) thinking "I made a mistake. I cant do this!"

I went home. Went to bed. Went to work the next day.
It got better. I developed a tolerance and I moved on.

Nowadays, I can't remember the last thing that grossed me out. As I think of the last 24 hrs.. I have messed with some pretty nasty stuff. So this question of yours has made me smile at how far Ive come.

If you have a the "calling" ..there is no job more rewarding. Never give up. You'll see!

Hang in there kid! It'll get better.

Maybe you can put a dab of vicks in you mask. That can help.

Good luck!

There might be some sort of mask you could wear. The ones with carbon or activated charcoal. There might be other fields of nursing where you wouldn't experience this type of situation.
Good Luck

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