Desensitized to blood--or not?

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lateralligator

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I'm interested to know how/when/where along the way you became sufficiently desensitized to blood to not react to it and to be able to do your job.

I'm making an assumption that this does occur, so I'm also interested to know if it hasn't happened to you and you struggle with it.
 
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If you are anything like me, seeing blood has never been a problem in the first place.

Of the people I do know in EMS, none of them have ever had a problem seeing blood.

Kinda comes with the territory if you ask me.
 
Right, I know it does come with the territory. You sound like you've had no issues and I'm curious whether that's the case with most in EMS from the get-go, or whether the casualness develops over time.
 
When you see lots of blood, chances are you'll be wondering where its coming from, and bot going "eww, icky!"
 
Schroeder said:
If you are anything like me, seeing blood has never been a problem in the first place.

Of the people I do know in EMS, none of them have ever had a problem seeing blood.

Kinda comes with the territory if you ask me.
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Same.
 
blood does not bother me any more or any less than any other body fluid. it bothers me from a stand point of possibly being pathogenic but not from a OMG blood stand point.
 
Doczilla said:
When you see lots of blood, chances are you'll be wondering where its coming from, and bot going "eww, icky!"
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This.

I've never had a problem, nor do I know anybody that has made it known they have a problem. I know many people that have issues with smells, or vomit, or feces, or truly traumatic and mangling injuries, or starting IVs (that one seems to go away quickly); but none just from the sight of blood. Not saying they aren't out there; just that I can't help you too much :P
 
I’ve heard this lot from new EMTs and I think you're concerned about the "ick factor"... Not so much blood in general, but the fact that you may be seeing mangled limbs and people who've been turned into hamburger by machinery or motor vehicle wrecks.

As a matter of course, we don't deal with much blood. Obviously, serious trauma can be a bloody mess, but the majority of calls that involve traumatic injury have bleeding controlled quickly and there's just not that much blood splashing around. It's certainly not like a horror movie.

If you're worried about being able to do the job when you're seeing gruesome, grievous injuries, know you're not alone. I still see things that make me queasy and I've been involved in EMS since 1989. The top of my “ick list” is eye injuries. :(

But, if you do your job and focus on treatment, the ick factor just kind of goes away.

And you can do what I always do... if the injury is making me sick or queasy, I just cover that $#it up! Sheets, towels, trauma pads... whatever!
 
"A day without blood is like a day without sunshine."
 
lateralligator said:
I'm interested to know how/when/where along the way you became sufficiently desensitized to blood to not react to it and to be able to do your job.

I'm making an assumption that this does occur, so I'm also interested to know if it hasn't happened to you and you struggle with it.
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17 years old volunteering as a Police Explorer. Working a parade, and this happens: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980419&slug=2745980

Our role was assisting with traffic control once the scene was secured. First dead body I ever saw.

Blood and guts never bothered me. We all have it inside of us.

What DOES bother me isn't the injury, but rather watching the injury happen. That makes me cringe.
 
I've never minded blood.
Vomit's another story though. The smell really gets to me. Speaking of smells... walking into a room of a vasovagal patient is always wonderful...
 
What would get to me is entering a darkened room seeking a patient and having my foot slide out from under me once it hit the blood. Worse yet, encountering a blood trail with my hands.

There's something very creepy about sliding in blood. It feels like no other liquid on the planet, especially when it starts clotting!

It ain't the looks that made me retch, it was the "feel"!
 
NJEMT95 said:
I've never minded blood.
Vomit's another story though. The smell really gets to me....
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This. If I'm not careful, seeing/smelling vomit can turn me into a sympathy puker. Heck of a problem for an EMT to have..... :lol:
 
firstshirt said:
This. If I'm not careful, seeing/smelling vomit can turn me into a sympathy puker. Heck of a problem for an EMT to have..... :lol:
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Don't worry about it.

The best medic I have ever met is a sympathy puker. I wouldn't know 1/2 of what I do and couldn't do 1/3 of it were it not for his mentoring.
 
Veneficus said:
Don't worry about it.

The best medic I have ever met is a sympathy puker. I wouldn't know 1/2 of what I do and couldn't do 1/3 of it were it not for his mentoring.
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Oh, I'm not worried about it - it is what it is. Does make for some interesting encounters, though. Besides, as a relatively new EMT I'm hoping that more frequent exposure will help to eventually desensitize me. Sort of like the OP was referring to with blood.
 
As i started learning about the human system I find blood to be interesting. What would bother is if its pathogenic as stated before.
 
I have a friend in nursing school with me who is deathly afraid of needles. She literally shakes and passes out during sim labs just holding one. She is incredibly smart and would make a fantastic nurse however I do not see how she will be able to do her job if she can not get over that fear.


I never had a problem with blood, guts, vomit, etc. Sometimes the smells do get to me (Ex. GI bleed / C diff) but not enough to stop me from doing my job. If you are not comfortable with trauma there are a lot of websites out there with tons of pictures of accidents, GSW and stuff that you can look through and get used to. It may help to get used to seeing pictures before you see it in real life.
 
Bestgore... Beside all the really cruel stuff the medical section is cool.
 
I've never had an issue with blood. Even as a kid if I had to have blood taken I was more interested by how they did it and what it looked like than how it felt. I still find myself watching when I get blood taken.

I know one of my old instructors doesn't mind other people's blood, but freaks out when she knows its her own. :blink:
 
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