We all have our nursing vices. That one thing that we as a nurse have to ‘gear-up’ for just to make it through the experience. We have to ‘stomach’ some pretty disgusting things throughout our day, and for the most part we don’t think twice about it. BUT there is always one thing that every nurse has a tough time with.

Me?

Decubitus Ulcers.

I mean the really bad ones. Like a stage IV that is necrotic, tunneling and oozing the most mal-odorous funk-da-fied drainage known to man.

Yeah… ya know what I’m talking about. That ischial or sacral ulcer that is tunneling so bad that you can fit your fist as far up as your elbow in there.

I blame my vice on nursing school. LOL

There was a particular patient that every student had the pleasure of taking care of. We all had our rotation of taking care of this certain patient, since the patient was almost a permanent fixture in the facility.

The patient had 2 very large stage IV’s on their backside that were exactly as I described above. And due to the lack of help and staffing, we all teamed up on a daily basis to change the dressings. I loss count on how many times I saw those two horrifying sites. They are forever burned into my brain, as well as the foggy aroma that emanated from them!

So what was, or what is your vice? We all have one.

Carpe Diem

Tags: nurse, vice