How to handle bad smells in the rig or on scene.
I know when I first became a Nursing Assistant, I only lasted a year in the career, because I was underpaid for the job making 6.72 an hour back in 1995 still today underpaid. In that Job you deal with the unknown. Vomiting, Diarrhea, GI bleeds and Abuse from the resident, then the smell of what comes out! That for some we cannot handle. How to handle it as an EMT may help, I know my EMT-instructor told me this one and I think it works. Use Carmex, or Vicks Vapo Rub and put it under your nasal cavity and try to breathe it in, if you run into a dilemma involving body odor or foul smelling feces or emesis. That may save your gag reflexes, because in the rig, you cannot spray any lysol or odor eliminator, because with COPD patients, they cannot handle aerosol sprays. Unless your agency has the spray mist kind of odor eliminator on board. But you don't want to spay that in front of the patient anyway. You might want to do that after the patient is in the ED. then do it during rig restock or cleanup.
