7 Things That GROSS ME OUT As A DOCTOR! 

Many people tend to forget that the medical community are all "human", which, is what you are reminding them of, you.are.human. Prone to what anyone who is not in the medical community prone to, how human of you. A stress relieving video to those who don't find an outlet. Great video.

ER/Burn ICU RN here: What bothers me the most? Administrators.

I worked both as an ER nurse and an Interventional Radiology nurse so everything you talked about brought back "fond" memories. Here's my disaster. A patient vomiting feces. It was so awful I started vomiting in a kick bucket and to add to my humiliation at making my patient feel bad, every time I retched, I farted and peed my pants.

I’m an ER doctor. I see everything on a daily basis. As a human being, I too get grossed out sometimes. But as a doctor who is helping sick and vulnerable patients (sometimes fighting for their lives and afraid), I never let it show. Never. It helps them maintain some dignity.

I worked in dentistry. The closest I ever came to hurling in the office was when an elderly patient with dementia who was not getting proper care came in. I removed the patient's dentures to clean them up. Oh. My. ****. I have no words to describe what was under those dentures. They had to have been left in there and not cleaned for a Very Long Time. I got to get the horrific gunk off the dentures while a specialist came in to handle the ulcerated tissues underneath. Disgusting, stomach-turning experience for everyone involved, and I don't think the patient ever realised there was anything wrong. I wish I'd scraped the nastiness off those dentures and threw it at the knuckleheads who were supposed to be taking care of that patient. No excuse. NONE.

I work with a lot of nurses who make fun of patients, complain about patients and are so derisive, it shocks me. I always remember that the patient is most likely much more horrified than anything we might feel. The embarrassment and humiliation would be overwhelming. I work with the most horrific and strong-smelling infected wounds, and although the odor can't be denied, I would never speak derisively about it. If the patient perceives any negative reaction, the horror is internalized, and may be with them to the day they die. Don't do it!

These examples are why I am SO glad there are people that can handle medical procedures. I can’t do it, so thank you all of you: EMTs, doctors, nurses, police, paramedics, hospital housekeeping, lab techs, med assistants and anyone else I didn’t mention. Thank you

This video is hilarious. As a veteran nurse, I can honestly say none of these “gross” substances/scenarios bother me at all! I’m glad you chose medical school over nursing. On the flip side, nothing terrifies me more than the thought of accidentally transecting someone’s artery during an IR procedure. So, I’ll gladly mop up after a patient and forego performance of dangerous invasive procedures. Nothing but respect for IR doctors and the life-saving magic they perform. We all have different callings I guess.

The worst thing I ever dealt with during a 40 year career in hospital nursing was a pt who vomited up pus. It was truly gross. The pt was very ill-he had already had abdominal surgery and was not progressing. I saved a specimen of the pus & rang the surgeon who came to see the pt. His first question was "Are you sure it was pus"? I replied "I knew you wldnt believe me so Ive saved a sample for you". The surgeon took him straight to operating theatre. It must have worked because the pt recovered!

As an RN of 34 years I can't even tell the number of times I performed some function with a smile on my face & my own vomit in the back of my throat. Sometimes it can't be helped but the trick is to never let your patient know, as I'm sure this doctor hid his discomfort also. Maggots in flesh are my trigger. One time, after removing a home applied dressing I told a patient I had to go get something & said I'd be right back. I went & threw up, then came back as if nothing happened. Every nurse I know has a trigger of some sort. We're human too.

I’m a CNA I think vomit not even the vomit itself but the process, hearing the persons body make all the noises and when they struggle to vomit it just makes me so uneasy.

I worked in the ER as an aide. The ambulance came in with a person from a car accident and waiting for the dr to pronounce him dead. As they were putting him in one of the rooms the person’s head was moving around. The tech reached under the sheet and grab the head and handed it to me. Need less to say I almost hit the floor.

So thankful for nurses and aides who care for people in all conditions while making an effort not to embarrass or humiliate a patient when “things” happen.

I am a retired nurse and have just about seen everything. The hardest thing I’ve had to do was while visiting a patient in their home during my home health care days who had deep and very large wounds on inner thighs (patient weighed over 700 lbs.) and had abscesses removed requiring wound vac dressing changes twice weekly. The odor when the packing was removed was almost unbearable ( no air conditioning in the home either). I actually had to stop sometimes and go outside to breath. I was a wound care nurse and as I said had just about seen it all, but that one got to me. Another time I visited a patient who had a colostomy, had no more colostomy bags and used a bread bag instead. Innovative of him, but was so gross. Prior to the 30 years as a visiting wound care nurse I worked in the hospital assisting with many births, and I swear was never grossed out, very stressed at times, but never grossed out. Overall I loved my profession, worked until I was 74 and miss it so very much.

I just retired after 30+ years as an RN and the grossest thing I had to deal with was while I was admitting a homeless gentleman that had had a cabg (heart bypass surgery) 3 weeks prior. He was being admitted due to a post-op wound infection in his leg where the vein was harvested. Being homeless he sorley lacked hygiene and his clothes were so dirty they were actually "crispy" and stiff from all sorts of dried bodily fluids and substances including but not limited to vomit, urine, feces and other excretions. Oh my goodness the smell was other worldly! Anyway, once the nursing assistant and myself finished cleaning him up he started complaining that he felt like something was crawling inside his infected leg and proceeded to scratch at his incision before we could stop him and just as I got to his bedside his leg wound opened up and hundreds of maggots were crawling all over and in the incision and all over the bed.....oh my gosh it was THE most disgusting thing. Between the smells that were hanging low in the room, his dirty clothes in a plastic bag and the sight of hundreds of maggots in his wound, this was the only time my 30 + years that I had to leave a patient's room to collect myself. To this day anytime I recall this event I can still smell all the smells and the sick feeling in my stomach.

This is where my true appreciation comes in for healthcare workers. You all do deal with so much. I have a hard time with all of it. I visit my dad in the dementia ward in a nursing home and he was projectile vomiting one day. I almost joined him because my stomach was turning. I felt like the biggest piece of crap calling the nurse to help clean it up. I couldn’t do it. I even had a hard time when my son would vomit as a baby.

I love health care professionals for the work they do. I received a lung transplant 14 years ago and was in an induced coma for several months. I know that there were times when my condition had to be gross. I am sorry for that but am very thankful for all the help I received. I am alive today mostly because of the nurses caring for me at that time. God bless all of you.

I can relate to the phobia of vomitting! Many years ago when I had my first child I knew that dealing with vomit and poop explosions would be an issue. I bought a 3M full face respirator with P100 main cartridges and organic vapor pre-filters (ie - activated charcoal). Whenever a kid would vomit I'd throw the mask on, don thick gloves, and head in with two garbage bags, a roll of paper towel, and a bottle of medi-wipes. One bag was for trash, the other was for laundry. With that mask you smell NOTHING, not the slightest hint of anything. Everyone thinks I'm a drama queen for doing that, but I would have barfed more than my kids if I didn't have that. With that PPE I was the one man MFing hazmat team. I'd wade into an ocean of puke, clean everything up, get the laundry going, degown outside and throw the trash away, and never smell anything. 5/5, would recommend again!

This past winter my husband had strep pneumonia which quickly went septic. Among other frightening issues he developed a virulent chest infection. The doctor who did a VAT procedure to remove it is our hero. She said it was one of the grossest infections she'd ever seen, when she laughingly told us about it later. She was so thorough and so determined to do all she could to help him survive. That doctor and all the medical staff in the ICU and the surgery ward saved his life several times over three weeks. Thank God for all the wonderful medical miracle-workers who help us when we need it most. You are angels!

Speaking of instant relief. I had a c-section and my incision became abscess. I didn't know it wasn't supposed to hurt so much(first baby). My aunt, an RN, was visiting and I mentioned my pain. She took a look and rushed me to the Dr. When he opened up that abscess and drained it I swear i could've done cartwheels. I felt instantly great. Glad I didn't get sepsis. She said it was pretty bad.

I used to work in high dependency dementia units and it was common for patients to remove their pads and fiddle with their faeces. I’ve found it plastered on walls, in their hair, everywhere. And trying to shower then without them grabbing at you with all this dirt on their hands is tricky!

Phlegm and the SOUNDS of bringing up Phlegm. I'll take poop, puke, blood, and wounds all day long any day!

I'm actually not that grossed out by blood or vomit, but the "floodgates of stool" is basically my definition of hell 🤮🤮🤮thank you for your service to humanity!!! 🙏🙏🙏

I’m a Vet Tech, but I think think this applies to people too. Anything to do with bones sticking out of the skin. Also the sound when a bone is dislocated and put back into place. It doesn’t make me sick per say, but I start sweating and cringe every time.

I like the fact that even though you build these up as really grossing you out, you then say, “That grosses me out just a little.”

Urine normally doesn’t bother me but one time I was checking on a patient and she stepped on her almost completely full urine bag while I was standing right next to her and her urine just got everywhere - on my shoes, my socks, my trousers... it was disgusting. And I couldn’t even react disgusted because I felt sorry for her and the nurses were like “oh can you just attach a new Urine bag really quickly, we’re so busy” before they let me change 🥲 because you know, it’s always fun to torture the med students 😂😂

I think everyone who's in the medical field, should bring an extra set of clothes with them to work..

I was a care aide/ LPN for over 15 years, I was oddly immune to most gross things in medicine as I don’t have the sense of smell, so unfortunately I was always nominated for the worst scenarios because everyone else was 3 shades of green lol however my biggest annoyance in medicine is when people refer to incontinente products as “diapers”, or clothing protectors as bibs.. seriously those 2 words should never be in the same sentence when referring to anyone over the age of 2!! Talk about loss of respect

As a fellow radiologist, I couldn’t help but commiserate with you at the same time as being unable to stop laughing from your stories. They are the war stories of the radiologist physician!!!

As a patient I honestly hate giving urine samples and there's a reason for it. One time I went to my local doctors office for a uti test. I did the usual, pee in the cup and go back to your room. Well this doctors office wasn't very big. Like my room was right across from where they test urine, blood, etc. Well as I was sitting there for my results I overheard the nurse say: "why is it so warm? It smells disgusting, I think I'm gonna vomit". And as someone with social anxiety to begin with, hearing that made me feel super embarrassed. I understand if something is gross but c'mon, you could at least say it quietly since your literally 10 feet away from the patients room. Now everytime I give a urine sample I feel extremely bad. The nurse even messed up the uti test too so I had to give her another sample.

As a nurse I am grossed out by vomit, so I always make sure my patients that are nauseated get their meds to prevent them from vomiting. I have vomited along with patients in the past.

I’m a retired medical technologist and worked at a hospital with a trauma ER. I’ve seen and analyzed blood, body fluids and tissue specimens but the only thing that made me gag was when the ER sent me a specimen coughed up by a homeless person to ID It looked like a huge gray meatball. When I took it apart it was filled with maggots. He was eating out of garbage cans.

Not in medicine -- I'm a Mom. Patients are desperate for relief and fluids of all types and generally are not aiming for anyone. Compassion goes a long way toward these aversions. I do hear that in a couple of your stories. It's just part of living.

I was a veterinary technician for 12 years. 6 years on the ER shift. Smells were always the grossest things. Parvo diarrhea, necrotic flesh, necrosis, maggots,....also I spent about 4 hours in an exam room with two mean huskies who had eaten a skunk....ewwww. My sister was also a vet tech. Our parents banned us from talking shop at family dinners because we'd always try to gross each other out.

Love your sense of humor. Watching eye surgery can gross me out, but a lot of this is “welcome to motherhood!”

I'm so happy to hear that someone else has emetophobia. I've nearly walked into the path of a city bus to get away from someone doing it. I've even gone to out patient rehab to work on the phobia. Nothing works. It has ruined my life and kept me from doing so many things. If that guy had vomited on me on purpose, I'm not sure if I could have kept myself from harming him.

Me, too. Vomit is my down fall. I was so sick with kidney disease and was under going an IVP. I told the Dr. Doing the procedure that I was going to throw up. It told me that it would pass. I told him 3 times and then I proved to him it wasn't going to pass like he said. I painted the doctor entire outfit with the white crap they made me drink. I was horrified and so embarrassed.

From a patient prospective, what really bothers me is a smell in dentists cabinets. The smell of medicine and drilled teeth. Even now, when I am writing it, I feel some anxiety.

With gloves and a gown I can deal with everything BUT vomit. I cannot be in the same room, or there will be two patients.

I feel you, on the necrotic foot. When I was a brand-new RN (we're talking "second day on the job" new) I did a bandage change on an uncontrolled diabetic nursing home admit- I unwrapped her foot & two of her toes came off in the wrapping & landed on the floor. They looked like wet rotten grapes. I immediately felt a terrible sense of dread- I thought for some reason that I was going to get fired! 😳🤦‍♀️🤣🤣🤣 The best & worst part was that the patient never noticed- she just kept chatting away. She did end up getting that leg amputated up to the knee, a few days later.

For any type of job we all have things that can disturb or grosses us out. I worked at a major airport as a contract worker on a team responsible for cleaning up aircrafts for the turnaround flight. Many times this would involve cleaning the lavatories. Most were dirty from routine use , but from time to time you would see a bloody pad or tampon which did not bother me( i'm a male). One day as a flight attendant did her final exit check she told me that someone vomited in the lavatory sink and it would not drain. I'm thinking no big deal, I open the door , looked at the vomit in the sink and then I vomited too. Instant reflex at seeing it. So I can understand why this would be # 1 on his list.

I am a retired police officer and EMT in Ohio. Just wanted to say I absolutely loved the video! The thing that I had a hard time with was eye injuries. I have really sensitive eyes myself so looking at diseased or especially trauma to the eyes was one of those things ended in me owing my partner lunch. lol

During my 23 yrs as a nurse, the specific circumstance that has grossed me out the most is when I had a patient with a bowel obstruction vomit fecal matter, and of course I have had 2 separate patients do this!!

I am a Crohn's patient and I am sooo thankful for people like you who can do procedures that are gross. Only once I had a bowel impaction and it was the worst thing ever to happen to me other than rectal abscesses. Thanks to all medical professionals who care for people. Poop grosses me out as well as saliva too!✌⚘

I relate 100% to your #1 thing that grosses you out: vomiting. I had a couple of traumatic violent, projectile vomiting episodes as a kid that left me with a lifelong phobia. I'll do anything to avoid vomiting myself and I can't stand to see, hear or smell others vomiting. I wanted to become a nurse but knew I'd never be able to handle vomiting so I chose a different career. I still have the phobia but not as bad as when I was younger. It has helped to understand that the smell, as awful as it is, is simply bile, a natural body fluid and it has a purpose. And the contents of vomit is simply digested food. So it's mostly food and bile. Gross but understanding it that way helps.

A friend of mine can clean just about anything, feces, vomit , but don’t ask her to clean dentures.

I don't work in healthcare, but the #1 thing that I can't stand is someone throwing up.. If a person threw up in front of me, I would have a heart attack and die!

You are too funny! I was an RN for 25 years, the last 10 as an Oncology RN. We have seen and done it all. I could suction a patient with one hand, and eat a sandwich with the other! Vomiting was nearly a daily event in the clinic. The docs would run every time as the nurses jumped in to help.

Hands down mucus, I could NEVER be a RT. Bless RTs 🙌

I just want to say THANK YOU to all the doctors and nurses out there. You’re human, you get grossed out by the same things we all get grossed out by, but you persevere and you treat the patients anyway! True heroes!

Thank you all health care doctors, and first responders.

Okay, chiming in here because while I'm sorry you deal with emetophobia, seeing that you can still be in the medical field is amazing!! I completely avoided it even though I've always been interested in medicine because I just can't with vomit. I get panicky and have anxiety attacks when I get too nauseous. Maybe I can try the medical field after all..

I am a PACU nurse and I totally agree with your #2 gross out. I cannot handle tracheostomy secretions or any sputum. Right up there are false teeth. I gag at even the thought of them. I still have PTSD from the time I accidentally stuck my hand in a patient’s dirty denture cup!!

As a severe emetiphobe that wants to go into healthcare it's really inspiring that you've been able to somewhat adapt to your job. Thank you for sharing your stories. It really is the only thing holding me back, I hope I can adapt too.

That time I walked into a SNF men's ward with 4 beds, all of which were assigned to me that morning, and found one of the men had been digging in his rectum and thrown stool all over the room, all 4 men needed baths, it was in the theater curtains, on the walls and windows, in the sheets and blankets of all 4 beds, I marched right to the RN and asked her to come see this because it had to have happened well prior to the shift change, much of the stool was dried out. The man had likely not been to the toilet in several days and had become impacted. I had 12 other patients in addition to these 4 and it was just going to take all day just to get these guys and their room in order, that was the day I decided I was done with nursing. It took a while yet to get back into college for a finance degree, but in my mind healthcare, especially long term care, was finished. That was the day I mentally said I QUIT! By the way, housekeeping will not clean up stool smeared and thrown all over a room. Anymore than laundry will not touch sheets that have not had bowel movements rinsed out of sheets before they are sent to laundry. I had to clean these men, including getting the shit out from under their nails, clean the room, dress and feed them, and take care of a dozen other of the least capable residents.

Something I learned on my med surg nursing school rotation is that you can put a disposable absorbent pad/chux in the bottom of the basin/bedpan and it helps to prevent spillage and sloshing. I thought that was a great tip and I will definitely use it when I become a nurse! Thanks for another great video!

I'm a nursing student with little medical experience but I think mine is going to be vomit. One of my instructors hates sputum so much, we aren't allowed to say the word in class

I’m in mortuary school. It gets even worse when handling dead bodies 😩

Vomit is my trigger. Years ago, I was a working as an firefighter/EMT on a cardiac arrest call. I was asked to assist with cpr during transport to the hospital. A few minutes into the drive the patient vomited, a lot and I REALLY cannot deal with that so in turn I vomited causing the paramedic that was bagging the patient to vomit and that causing the other EMT driving the ambulance to vomit as well. It was so slippery on the floor in the back that I almost fell several times. It was so bad we had taken the unit out of service to take it to a car wash and clean it thoroughly. I will never forget that day now even years later.

ER Tech here and I can’t stand the smell of someone with bad hygiene down “there” if you get what I mean 🤮

As an RT, seeing a child cough up a worm was the one thing that really got me. And the radical necks, throat neck & tongue cancers are the worst. I hate being in the room when they work on dislocated shoulders

I've been puked on, pooped on, peed on, bled on, and I've had to take care of bad wounds and I'm not even a doctor or a nurse! I'm a mother and this all happened when my kids were babies & toddlers. A mother has to see & take care of all of those things on a daily basis when she has children. Kudos to all the moms & healthcare workers out there!

I was an ICU nurse that retired a few years ago and I saw so many gross things that the average person could not handle! Here is my disgusting thing: Necrotizing Fasciitis. I had a patient that came in with a small quarter size wound on his chest and within a couple of weeks he was dead. The surgeon came into ICU to do nightly debridements and you know it is bad when the Surgeon says it is the grossest thing he had ever seen! The skin rotted off and turned jet black over his entire body and the smell. Ugh.

I literally have never met anyone that has the issue with vomit like I do. People that just feel sick, I make sure to stay away from.

I'm a nurse working in critical care and the one thing that really grosses me out is sputum! I just about gag when providing trach care. I once had a patient who had a trach and coughed with such force that sputum went everywhere including on me. I kept dry heaving. So embarrassing...

When I was a nurse and first started working on the respiratory unit I had a hard time suctioning trachs...I eventually got used to it. The worst smell is emptying a colostomy bag. I would never let it show on my face, I did not want to insult a patient! Just wear a mask with a mint in my mouth.

@Dr Cellini: Morning Doc! Corpsman here, worked in NUMEROUS settings. At the small hospital in Groton, CT, the ICU, CCU & Recovering Room were combined. We had pts come out of Surg, post Spontaneous AB's. I couldn't stand the cryers. I'd trade for a puker. Puke on me, just no tears. I went on to X-ray school & during my Didactic rotation, my lead tech told me to x-ray the foot in room x. There was no pt. Just the foot, on ice, post amputation. Diabetic gangrenous foot. Gee, maybe why i hate touching feet. Esp when they jump up on the table with shoes, covered in dog poop. Yuck!!!

As someone who has a good friend who needed interventional radiology several times in the last year, and who will for years to come, I can't thank you enough for what you do. She had to fight so hard to get proper treatment. I'm just so grateful it finally happened/is happening. Your gross things ... I'm not in the medical field, but I know I could never do it. I'm too easily grossed out by bodily fluids, mine and someone else's. I can handle picking up after my dog, even having certain conversations about dog poop at the dinner table (long as you don't start comparing it to things!), but human stuff? Nope, count me out. I think I have a fear of vomiting, too, hearing it, experiencing it, etc. Okay, need to stop, and need to stop reading comments about this. lol

I'm a retired interpreter and medical interpreting was my 'thing.' There were three things that bothered me most. I always hated to hear the doctor say they were calling respiratory because that meant phlegm. The sound of someone coughing and choking on phlegm and being suctioned....omg gagged me. Second was hearing someone vomit...so gross, but my fear was that I was going to catch whatever they had. The third thing that grossed me out was going to the podiatrist's office where someone with nasty feet was having their toenails clipped. Those things would ping off of everything in the room. I hated dodging nasty, flying toenails.

Emetophobia is the #1 reason I became a Medical Coder instead of a Nurse. I wish I could have done more to be there for patients, but that phobia & some of the others you mentioned held me back.

After 33 years as an RN with 10 of those years in the Operating Room, the only thing that ever got to me was necrotizing fasciitis.

🙋‍♀️I'm in wound care and almost universally we all have issues with mucus. I can debride, drain, pick off maggots, clean up necrotic foot but cannot be in the room when a patient is suctioned.

I totally agree about a Necrotic foot being so awful as I work in a funeral home and see so much of this.. Makes me all the more attentive to my own feet and that they are properly taken care of. Many people in general (diabetic or not) do not take care of their feet and it can be gross. Plus they seem to wear flip flops alot and exposing those nasty piggies and hooves.. New subscriber and am enjoying your videos.

Ok, this video was in my recommended and I’m so glad that it was 😂 I’m a retired OR scrub nurse, as in I was elbow deep in peoples insides daily. The only thing that bothered me was bones breaking, especially the nose!! “Frozen” limbs manipulated to be mobile again also creeped me out, lol.

Worst for me is port wine stool from an active GI bleed. Just cannot get the odor of blood and feces mixed out of your senses The other thing that happened to me was a coworker who had an emergency appendectomy post op vomiting of broccoli and I was pregnant! She kept apologizing because I was gagging. We were both glad when she got it all out!!!

I really enjoy wounds & suctioning! It feels so good to debride or clear that airway & help someone breathe more easily. Stool does not bother me at all, unless you find it smeared all over your patient, their bed, and everything within their reach. Grossest thing in my first year as an RN.

I was a certified nursing assistant for 35 plus years. I never once gave an indication if I was uncomfortable dealing with body fluids. I chose my job. The patients did force me. Now I am a patient. I'm made often to feel uncomfortable by the way my care givers and providers present themselves in my various situations. Sometimes I said it just may be my thoughts only. Hearing this just proves it.

I worked as a dental assistant, then a hygienist. All the dental gross smells were bad, but the worst was dirty hair. Some people don't wash their hair. Some just run a wet comb through and call it good.

I was in Healthcare for 26 years. Blood and guts don't bother me but vomit will get me everytime. It makes me start gagging.

Listening to this video and then reading the comments was a hoot. As a nurse in the nursing home for 27 years...ahh the memories 😵‍💫. I've dealt with just about everything (cancer, necrosis, feces, vomit, blood). As a matter of fact my grandson always comes to me to clean up the dogs puke. When I ask when are you going to learn to do this he just smiles, cringing. I went into grumbling about "after being the oldest kid, having my own kids, nursing and helping raise my grandchildren then their dogs I'm only good for cleaning up puke and poop!". Of course I was just ragging him 🤣. But to me it's phlegm. We used to have this one pt. with a trach and he was always spiting globs clear across the room. We had to clean the walls because housekeeping wouldn't. We got good at weaving and dodging when working with him (he wasn't doing it on purpose and was born with many issues). But one day I "thought" I was good until I went to pick him up to transfer him to a chair and stuck my hand right it a mess I missed under his neck and groaned "yuck 🤢" needless to say he laughed! Good thing he a one of my favorites for I could have strangled him. TBH I think this cringe originated from a kid I knew who wouldn't stop eating his boogers 🤣😂

I'm so glad to see a physician being transparent about this topic! Thank you for this because vomit really gets to me and I've been wondering if I can even make it into medical school 😩! I have the exact same phobia as you, Dr. Cellini and when I was shadowing in the OR & PACU, I saw this happen one day with this poor patient who couldn't stop vomiting and I was like man, how can I become a doctor (this was before covid btw)

Lol...I am a a retired respiratory therapist. I have NEVER met a nurse who wasn't grossed out by secretions. I find that sound satisfying. You can tell SO many things about a patient from their secretions.

I am no longer working but I was a nursing assistant in a nursing home back in the 70's, 80's (when AIDS was new). I took a short break and went back for more. It was the hardest work I ever did. The pay sucked; the families were often angry that we did not take good enough care of their family members; they didn't realize that we didn't have the time to take care of everyone the way we wanted to. The nurses were often abusive to us, we were chronically short staffed, and we were scolded if we didn't get our work finished, which led us to lie when charting. I hated the system but loved the people I cared for. On my off days I would take people out to lunch on the waterfront or bring homemade food and visit and often brought my guitar and played and sang old songs my grandmother used to sing and listen to. Most of us were uneducated but loving people. Nothing ever grossed me out. All I had was sadness that nursing homes existed. They are horrible places to drop your family off at. I am so glad I was able to take care of my grandmother and husband at home. The only thing that makes he feel ill and pretty angry, is that you and others are talking this way about people who are suffering and in pain. I would not want to be your patient.

Imagine what it is like for the patient.

I totally agree with you about vomit being the worst. Makes me start gagging if I see it or smell it..

I'm new to this site, and as a dentist I decided to throw in my 2 cents. For several years I was a consultant for a nursing home. Occasionally I would do an in-service with the medical assistants. I told them to remove patients' dentures once per day and rinse food debris, etc from the inside of the dentures and have the patient rinse their mouth out. They were always too busy to do this. Occasionally I would do it myself. Gross! There must have been a month of rotting food inside, the smell of which was horrendous. An examination of the oral mucosa displayed fungal infections and extreme inflammation. In my own practice there is always the occasional patient who hasn't brushed in a month, and I scrape off plaque like I'm shoveling my driveway after a snowstorm. Very often this is accompanied by many rotting teeth Very often, this is accompanied by a cloudy yellow film covering the dorsal aspect of the tongue. Once I was going to do fillings on a Saturday morning on a minor patient, and I was going to use nitrous oxide analgesia rather than shooting up the young boy with lidocaine. I instructed the father to not feed the boy breakfast because nitrous oxide occasionally will cause nausea and vomiting. As I was working I saw this advancing wall of vomit approaching my face. I backed up, ripped the facemask off the patient and lifted him over the bowl. The father forgot about feeding the patient, and I had liquid Egg McMuffin all over the room. Dentistry is fun.

I never realize how much you as a radiologist. Props too you brother! I appreciate the work you do! Thank you! 🥰

I'm a speech therapist in a nursing home, and what grosses me out the most is vomit. Unfortunately I have to deal with it every now and then, working with people with dysfunctional swallows. I actually have emetophobia, so it grosses me out and gives me major anxiety about getting sick myself! Although, the grossest thing I've experienced in a nursing home was a patient defecating all over the floor and smearing it on the walls, and several CNA's and nurses coming in the room and sliding on it. 🤢

I'm not in healthcare but did have to be a primary caregiver for my mom in her last years. The worst for me was the commode. Stale urine and feces; the smell would get to my normally strong stomach. I have a heap load of respect for those in healthcare, especially the CNAs and nurses who deal with this daily.

Retired/disabled nurse here: 1. sputum 2. MRSA pus. 3. Pseudomonus in a burn. 4. vaginal bleeding from someone with advanced cervical cancer. 5. fistulas. 6. stool coming up from a bowel obstruction. 7. Necrotic tissue.

So, not a doctor or a nurse, here, but worked in the skilled nursing industry in accounting. Each month it was routine to go to the floor to pull charges sheets on each patient. Needless to say, you get to see some things you just can’t ever unsee. I had Medicare patient who was constantly having to be sent to acute care for a stage IV hip decubitus, the poor man’s hip kept dislocating through the decub. I can be pretty clinical when I need to be, but in order for to verify charges, especially decubitus patients, actual photos had to be in their chart for documentation of stage, etc. I think his decub was so upsetting was because of the hip dislocations. Eventually they did do a flap, but I have to say, that was pretty darn traumatic for & that wasn’t even being up close & personal. So kudos to you nurses, I love you guys, you’re the best. I think the only one worse was when it was my oldest sister. Her’s was sacral stage IV & she maybe weighed 80 pounds soaking wet. Even after I got her home with me, her tailbone was always real tender. Her’s came about because the nurse in acute care thought I didn’t know what I was talking about. My sister had come in with meningitis, almost died before they were able to figure it out. She was too out of it & not strong enough or even with it enough to turn herself. I told her nurse she’d need to be on a turn schedule, before I’d talked with the nurse I told her my sister already was showing signs of a pressure sore on her tailbone. Before I’d left my sister’s room I’d done my best to get her somewhat on her side. Think I had a pillow I used to kind of cradle her with. Next day I came In she was wearing a bandage. So I knew it didn’t go well over the evening.

This was a great video! A necrotic foot is very specific but makes complete sense! It’s nice to hear that every doctor has some things that gross them out because I was worried about becoming a doctor because those fake trypophobia pictures sometimes make my skin crawl! Good to see that you’re doing well! I love your videos and the clear progression of the quality is amazing

When I was on oxy for my severe knee injury, nobody told me about the severe constipation. After a week of being stuck, I laid on my side on my home bed screaming in pain. It was WORSE than delivering my 2 babies. I finally passed the mess, and thanked God my daughter wasn't home to hear my screams. I never felt that much pain. I felt so much better, I really didn't mind cleaning up my own mess.

Colostomy bags are another thing that always got me…but, you get used to all it, being a Nurse (somehow, you just deal)

I had a client projectile vomit all over me from about 6 feet away and I was covered head to toe and I was working in over the night shift, and I had to show were we showered the clients and then I had to use one of my clients sweat clothes because I was on duty till 7am. Lets just say that for the next 27+ years I always carried a duffel bag with anything and everything I would need for showering changing clothes more than once or twice and even shoes

I was an EMT, also studied as a PA, I dealt with a lot, the main thing that bothered me was coffee ground vomit. I also had to do CPR without a mask and had people vomit in my mouth. I can still smell and taste it after 35 years.

This was so validating! I also have a vomit phobia and work in heath care, in addictions specifically, there is a fair amount of vomit, especially with detoxing patients....I struggling with this everyday. Thank you for normalizing these phobias/anxiety and exploring what it is like to confront it on a daily basis through our jobs!

Be thankful you didn’t desire to be a dairy farmer or large animal vet. I’m retired now but loved dairying. Not much bothered me with animals. Don’t know if working on people would.. Thank you for all the help you give to patients.

In the mid ‘70’s I was a nurses aide at a nursing home. The worst thing was vomit! My last day, before starting nursing school, one of my patient’s yelled for me. It was 11:00 at night and I just wanted to go home, but I went to his room to see what he wanted. I walked into his room and he promptly projectile vomited all over me, the bed and the room. I cleaned him and his bed up, called for housekeeping to clean the rest of the room up. I cut my uniform off, in his room, put on a pair of scrubs and paper booties, anything I was wearing went into the trash. Oh yeah, I went into the shower room to get the puke out of my hair. Worst night EVER!!!!

I had Emetophobia from when I was a young child until my mid 20s when I started experiencing migraines. The vomiting with the migraines totally removed the mystery around vomit for me and there’s no way I could have worked as a hospital ward based pharmacy professional as I have done since 1998 if that hadn’t happened. I’m the only person on earth thankful for the migraine experience because it cured my puke phobia! Weird huh?!