Ick factors

Colostomy and trachs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Definitely Vomit. A little sputum I can handle, but the aforementioned tex-mex/beer vomit is a definite day killer.
 
Burnt flesh

Fatal fires, car fires, Its awful.

Once you smell that, you smell it everywhere for weeks.

Coffee beans do help.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
fingernail and toenail injuries, eyeball injuries, and nasty feet in general.

And the sound of vomiting.

I can handle nasty stuff and nasty smells, it's nasty sights that get me.

And I hate when I'm cleaning up stinking filth and can taste it. That makes me gag.
 
Anything related to poop. Suctioning, although I have gotten better. It used to be just hearing the unit turned on would trigger my gag reflex. I also have a pretty sympathetic gag reflex.
 
I'd like to think that I have a fairly strong constitution. I might go "ewww" when someone starts yakking, but if I'm working then barf (so far) hasn't bothered me at all.

Some things that have made me cringe....
  • Man who (for reasons I will never know) put his junk into a bottle of lotion, where it promptly go stuck. He didn't call EMS for several days. By the time our people got there, they said it looked like someone dropped a grenade down his pants. Just all swollen, purple, starting to rot/die. I understand he had to have some serious surgery and it still wasn't fixed back to normal. I used to have a problem just thinking about catheters going into my johnson until I heard about this guy.
  • Older lady who got dehydrated due to the runs and ended up trapped in the bathroom too weak to stand. I think she was there 2 days before we got called. Everything was covered in poo - the walls, floors, and her head-to-toe.
  • Pt who had a malfunctioning colostomy and ended up vomiting feces. Probably the absolute worst. Like I said, I can do vomit, and I can (usually) even handle a code brown. But when you're vomiting a code brown, even I have to take a step back.
 
abckidsmom said:
fingernail and toenail injuries, eyeball injuries, and nasty feet in general.

And the sound of vomiting.

I can handle nasty stuff and nasty smells, it's nasty sights that get me.

And I hate when I'm cleaning up stinking filth and can taste it. That makes me gag.
Click to expand...


Pretty much spot on for me, especially the aforementioned nasty feet.

Oh, and not so much "ick factor" as the heebie jeebies factor; Catatonic pts who do nothing but stare at you. I know they can't help it, I know it's beyond everyone's control, but for some reason it just creeps me out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Puke and anything respiratory. I'm a sympathetic puker and my old partner knew if we had a puker to hand them a barf bag and me the trash can. I can handle suctioning someone, but the sound makes me queasy. And whoever mentioned lung butter earlier.... agreed!
 
The sound of snapping or grinding bones (especially blown out skull) and exploded Colostomy bags
 
katgrl2003 said:
Puke and anything respiratory. I'm a sympathetic puker and my old partner knew if we had a puker to hand them a barf bag and me the trash can. I can handle suctioning someone, but the sound makes me queasy. And whoever mentioned lung butter earlier.... agreed!
Click to expand...


At least I had him well trained for you, when you got him! :P
 
I remember that from both Katgrrl and Epi-do. All I had to do was turn the suction on in the back and the truck would start weaving. did it even when I didn't need it
 
Mine is vomit with alcohol.


I would give up just about anything to work with Epi or Kat again
 
I haven't yet started classes nor been in the field, but my ick factors *outside* EMS are: vomiting, poop (though I do okay with baby diapers), meat baby food, and canned pet food. Blech!
 
EMT2B said:
poop (though I do okay with baby diapers)
Click to expand...

Hopefully this won't be true for you, but for me, baby poop doesn't really bother me. However, baby poop and anybody that either currently is or is old enough to have ever been out of diapers poop are two completely different things.
 
johnrsemt said:
I remember that from both Katgrrl and Epi-do. All I had to do was turn the suction on in the back and the truck would start weaving. did it even when I didn't need it
Click to expand...

Yeah, and you got a clipboard upside the head when we were done with the run because of that.
 
Epi-do said:
Hopefully this won't be true for you, but for me, baby poop doesn't really bother me. However, baby poop and anybody that either currently is or is old enough to have ever been out of diapers poop are two completely different things.
Click to expand...

Yeah, grown-up diaper content is an Ick for me. I never did like the ... aroma I got when visiting my grandfather in the nursing home. Yuck!
 
I once had a girl who called 911 because she got her man's spunk in her eye and "it burned". Soooo other dudes' spunk is at the top of my list.
 
EMT2B said:
Yeah, grown-up diaper content is an Ick for me. I never did like the ... aroma I got when visiting my grandfather in the nursing home. Yuck!
Click to expand...

That aroma is cdiff.

Sent from LuLu using Tapatalk
 
Addicted2Narcan said:
I once had a girl who called 911 because she got her man's spunk in her eye and "it burned". Soooo other dudes' spunk is at the top of my list.
Click to expand...

She couldn't just rinse her eye out? That would be embarrassing for ems to come after I came in her eye. So funny though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top