To ask if nurses have no sense of smell?

[Cinders29]

Right so my son is hospital with suspected gastroenteritis ( has been tested for covid ) and his diarrhoea has been extreme. We are in a side room and when nurses enter the room after he's had a bowel movement I apologise for the smell. Every.single.time they've replied with 'oh don't worry I have no sense of smell' surely every nurse in this hospital has no sense of smell 🤣 or is this part of their etiquette that they just say this , to make patients feel better ??

I think it is. They be one immune to the smells though and have very strong stomachs. My gran was a nurse for many years but had a great sense of smell. I
Am far to squeamish you ever do their job.

I think she’s just being nice, though I imagine you do get used to smells and sights that would make most of us heave.

I think they must just get use to it, and have a strong stomach.

You do get used to it, and also, learn to mask it! Imagine your poor son's embarrassment if they walked in and started making comments on how smelly it was??!
As a HCP, as long as I'm not gagging, I'd put a smile on and ignore the smell.

Immuned to the smell, ive been a carer for 30 yrs. Nothing bothers me at all lol

You really do get used to the smell! Although I have to say C. Diff and pseudomonas still get my eyes watering would absolutely never let on to a patient/their family though

I was a care assistant through college and uni and you just get used to it. After all, it's a fact of life. Everyone poos, poo smells.

Paediatric nurse here. You breathe through your mouth. The only time I'd ever comment on a smell, is if I was changing a babies poonami and I'd tell them it was a bit rich. But never ever with an older child!

You do start tuning it out if you are exposed enough. I used to spend a lot of time at my best friends house growing up. Her little brother was disabled and would often soil himself to the point he had a permanent smell around him. After 6 months I stopped noticing it.

They’re being polite, OP! I was a hospital doc for 36 years and some smells (pus filled abscesses, florid diarrhoea, severe halitosis etc) could floor an ox. But we are all professionals, and there is no way any of us would upset a patient by complaining about something they cannot help and are suffering from themselves.

And rotavirus ugh!!

We’re just being nice, we can definitely smell it! You don’t get used to it either.

You do definitely get used to.smells. The only thing that I ever registered in the end was melaena ( bleeding from the bowel) but even that Disney affect me, it was just that the smell lingered.

I think.its like anything. If you experience it often enough it stops having much of an effect on you.

Registered nurse here...breath through mouth rather than nose !! I havnt smelt anything hideous for years !

I have a great sense of smell, I can diferentiate between certain strains of bacteria just by smell alone but when it comes to stinky things I am so used to them I can just switch it off.
Apart from gangrene, once smelt never forgotten.

From the amount of carbon bags and odour reducing cat litter that is used at work I'd say they were just being polite

Vet here! Uni was a lesson in how to take shallow breaths to cope. I don’t smell anyway and have just learnt to zone things out. Obviously some things will get to you but generally I think you learn to ignore..

Shallow mouth breathing, Vicks vapour rub up the nostrils (if forewarned), good acting to minimise additional distress for the patient.
We don’t lose our sense of smell, just learn control.

My friend is a midwife and actually has no sense of smell. It happened during the birth of one of her children. Apparently it is a side effect of something that happened in her brain.

She had to have surgery to repair the brain issue but sadly didn't result in regaining her sense of her smell.

She said it definitely comes in handy at work! She's often called by other midwives to clean up vomit or erm, other bodily functions

She also has three sons that are teens and nearly teens so think it's coming in pretty handy at home too!

She said that because she can remember how things smell she can often imagine it quite clearly.

In 30 years of nursing the only time I've ever nearly heaved in front of a patient was with a poor soul with a lung abscess or empyema.
It was a worse smell than all the poo,wound infections,gangrene etc.
It was probably about 1980 and I was in my thirties so not unused to smells but I can still remember it so well. Not envy.

I have one colleague who genuinely has no sense of smell and we envy her. Most of them are probably lying, I would smile and pretend I wasn’t affected then go and gag in the sluice.

I’m an a&e nurse and I definitely have a sense of smell!

To be honest I say this to patients/relatives too and I’m just being polite. I can smell it- and tbh some some makes me feel sick (melaena the poo that is dark with fresh blood from a GI bleed) .

But I just smile and reassure the relative/patient.
The same for when the previously independent patient with a fractured neck of femur needs a bed pan but is embarassed, I just reassure them ‘it’s my job, don’t worry!’. But yes, I can still smell it

I’m a midwife and I wish I had no sense of smell sometimes! I always try to be really polite and think I usually get away with it but I’m aware I have no poker face!

We’re being polite and very professional there’s no way on earth I would want to embarrass a patient in hospital - and no I never got used to the smell😊

Doctor here. Many of us healthcare practitioners don't have a sense of smell currently, having been infected with coronavirus at work. Not being able to smell is a common symptom, that lasts a long time after recovery.