I love my job and working with patients. But I recently started working at a nursing home and the only thing that gets to me is the smell of patents. Everyone all ways tells me all the usual 'stuff' we hear like "think of the patient" and "pretend its your grandma". But lets get real; my grandma would NEVER smell that bad or not take a bath. I need the inside tricks to how to actually survive my shift.
Justin
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July 17th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
If you can otherwise justify wearing a mask… put toothpaste on your upper lip and then hide it with a mask. You will be so happy and all you will smell is the pleasant minty freshness. This is my favorite for serious code brown clean ups.
If a mask would be too obvious, or isn’t needed for any other reason, try keeping vicks vapor rub in your pocket and put a tiny bit under your nose. That smell will overwhelm any other potential smells trying to sneak in!
This one is not very cost effective, but for some reason, iodoform guaze is another secret (just cut a little strip of it) and hang in the room. I can’t explain it, but odors seem to be drawn into it, and it sort of neutralizes the room – no flowery cover up smells, just the absence of bad odors.
I have seen other nurses melt a dial soap bar (the mini ones) in a microwavable throw away cup, then put it in the room to absorb odor. However, I personally think this ruins the microwave for the next person if they had any hopes of warming up food and not having it taste like soap. Many people swear by it though…
For the ladies out there – get some obnoxious fruity lip gloss from the kids section and put that on right before going in for clean up.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Well, try to count your blessings that the only thing that is a problem with your job is the smell. Then ask yourself what you are doing to help keep the patients clean.
When you are done with that, put on your big boy panties, grow up and stop whining. Then you can put on your professional nurse demeanor and investigate what the cause of the patient odor is and solve the problem. The patients probably don’t like it any better than you do and the smell could be a sign of impending illness!
July 18th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Sure, long-time nurse, perhaps you earned your pooper scooper degree for that purpose. I got mine so I could delegate code browns to those who can do it more cost efficiently, since this is an unskilled task. I hate code browns, too, which is one of the many reasons why I spent many dollars and years in college to avoid such tasks, whenever possible. It is much like going to business school so you can avoid being a ditchdigger or trashperson. All these jobs are essential and I am thankful there are people willing to do them.
However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing a career path that best suits your interests. Poop is the least interesting thing about this profession to me. If you like poop and giving bed baths – go for it! You could have saved yourself many years of training to pursue a tech career.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:47 pm
kudos to “i hate the stink factor too” ..
right on the money !
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:26 am
I work in a nursing home that does not have that old people smell that so many other homes have. We keep our residents very clean and each time we change someone they are washed with soap and water and their briefs are bagged and taken to the trash immediately. If it is the nursing home smell that you are talking about there IS something that can be done about it. It is how clean you keep your residents and their rooms. If you are just talking about “a code brown” (I hate that term…can’t we be professional here?) then suck it up and get the cleaning over with. Everyone poops and everyones poop stinks…even ours!
July 24th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
i found that if you just breathe through your mouth, the smells aren’t so bad. then i switched to working in the NICU and our babies’ poop smells much better!
May 8th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
There is an elderly disabled lady living in sheltered accommodation who I visit regularly to help with practical matters. The management and the local Council are getting complaints from other residents bcause her room smells. She keeps herself clean but she has to get up frequently in the night and often can’t hold it back before reaching the bathroom.
Where can I buy the old fashioned version of Lysol? They used to douse everything with it in Hospitals.
The strong disinfectant not only killed the odour producing bacteria, it also pervaded the whole place with a distinctive smell that one could never forget. Lysol website doesn’t have this product on general sale now. They just have sweet smelling germicides that I know will be ineffective.