Cringeworthy Stories

Tell us about a Nursing situation that made you cringe:

We’ve all been through it from time to time – nurses and nursing students alike – situations that just make you cringe!

The following Cringeworthy tales have been submitted by readers. Scroll to the bottom of the page to Submit Your Own Story

The first time I saw a pressure sore. It was down to the bone and had a horrible odor!

I’m a nurse in an aged care facility, one cringeworthy event was when a dementia client decided feaces looked and tasted like chocolate.

Someone came in with a painful ulcerated leg.
On examination, was found to be full of crawling maggots.
It made my skin crawl!

Helping the doctor at work trying to pull a worm out of an infected wound.

Nothing worse than mixing up the dreaded false teeth. Try getting patients to identify their missing choppers! Terrible and an almost impossible task!

Young bloke, Pilonidal sinus. Asked me out while I was pulling out packing from his arse. Then – said I was “stuck up” for saying NO.
*Winning Post Cringeworthy Comp 2009

Two days after surgery for major abdominal surgury (colostomy) the patient
resumed smoking his 25 a day habit.

Patient stark naked dizzy looking for the toilet I assisted him he weed on me I let go thus injuring himself more than he was

My son went to ED for resp distress. Nursing staff put nasal prongs on him (medically ordered). Shame he has a trache.

When opening up a spigated NGT the gastric contents in the tube flicked up and hit me in the face and mouth. Yuck!!
*Winning Post Cringeworthy Comp 2009

Dementia patients that liked to finger paint (on a daily basis) with their own faeces.

offered to take the elderly lady into the dept first only to be told very loudly i am a man , nothing but a red face for me

A patient had diarrhoea and had opened his bowels in bed, going all over the sheets.

Feeding a resident in the communal dinning room, only to have their colostomy bag explode down the front of them while spoon feeding them and copping most of it on my shoes.

When I was nursing my wife. She vomited into the bucket and unfortunately a contact lenses sunk into it and I had to retreive it!

The only thing that makes me cringe is having to give injections as I personally hate having injections myself.

Waiting for an operation, I was semi-conscious in a corridor. I could do nothing to stop random nurses lifting my gown and having a gander!

I could not draw up 1ml of heparin I felt like such a twit since all the staff were watching me.

My daughter fainted when a nurse was taking out my IV line.
Mind you she is a second year uni student studying nursing.

I was a student nurse and had never seen a naked male-I had to bedbathe a fellow- I went red from head to toe!

A patient smeared faeces all over the walls.. not a nice situation to have to deal with!!

Working in ED, there was a youth with an eyepad in situ. On closer inspection, there was a large shaft of metal sticking out

RN standing over a paralysed (from a stroke) patient saying: haha XXX you can’t hit me now! Understandably I reported her!

A nurse told me she would never go into the hospital I was just about to have surgery at

In an orthopaedic ward 30 years ago, I was horrified to discover the presence of maggots thriving and wriggling enthusiastically in a patients traction pin sites.

On my final placement, my teacher wanted to give medication to a naked lady in the shower! My patient and I were horrified and embarrassed!!

Working in aged care I cringe whenever there is an outbreak of gastro and its time to collect poo samples.

A male dementia patient escaped his bed in the night forgetting about the catheter bag, and pulled it out- Yowchee!!! thats gotta hurt!

Having to clear away magots that were boring deep inside a large infected wound on an older gentlemans scalp on a hot smelly summers day

We were standing by a dying ladies bed and son asked if anyone knew of a cheap funeral home

Showering a homeless guy who replaced his colostomy bag with newspaper I discovered that hundreds of maggots had kept the site clean as a whistle.

Pt having a gynaecological check-up a couple days post labour, Dr turns to the husband, says ‘does this look the same to you as before!?’

Asked Dr to prescribe an aperient for a pt, dr replyed with ‘would 40mg lasix (diuretic) be ok’

In first week of postgrad was fooled into giving spounge bath to completely mobile patient after he told me he couldn’t move.

watching a nurse squeese what i thought was the biggest boil in the world and the smell well lets just leave it at that

Patient presented to emergency having a sausage stuck in his throat. After removing such sausage the doctor left it on the overway, patient re-ate it
*Winning Post Cringeworthy Comp 2009

During a code blue, a male colleague of mine knelt on a suppository that had popped out of the collapsed patients bottom!
*Winning Post Cringeworthy Comp 2009

Giving a well earned hug, i then wore vomit, snot and faeces. My entire front was covered only to realise i sat in it to, have to smile still.

Infected Caesarian wound that had been left to fester – the smell, yuk!

The removal of a tampon that had been in situ for just under one month. Still makes me shudder.
*Winning Post Cringeworthy Comp 2009

I had walked an elderly lady to the toilet and after a few minutes she buzzed for help where she then said to me..”I am having a little trouble sister…do you have a metal spoon”!!!!

changing a ladies dressings on her legs, the skin was thick and flaking off,it was green and had a foul odour.

Dialysing a new patient, blowing their veins not once but twice, not capping off and getting sprayed with their blood.

An elderly patient told me to ‘come here and tug this – I won’t tell’. Puts a new spin on use it or lose it… eeuugghh.

A cringe worthy situation was when my boss got covered in puss from a pilonidal sinus on a mans bum. It was disgusting!

While showering an old man years ago and when washing his bottom he said ‘that’s it, wash it good because it needs a good clean’.

Peircings, in ‘special’ places, ( I’m a Midwife!)

A young man with brain damage from ETOH abuse trying to climb through a mirror in the bathroom

a little old lady not only opened her head up on the bath, she broke the bath too!! first skull sighting

Having a elderly gent (80′s) telling me i can help him wash his ‘old fella’ then giving me a wink.. VERY cring-worthy..

helping a new grad..she removed pan full of malaena, put it on the floor and yes…stepped in it. poo in shoes.cringe worthy

I work in the operating theatres so I am subject to a million cringe-worthy moments every day. The worst has to be watching a hip get dislocated and hearing that deafening ‘crack’ as small bits of blood and bone spurt across the room. Extremely cringe-worthy.

many years ago, pt had caesarean and was unconscious post-op therefore wasnt breastfeeding yet. new-age husband decided someone needed to bond with the baby and proceeded to take his shirt off and requested the baby attach to HIS nipple. ewwww

Attending to A middle-aged overweight farmer! He was known to the nurses but not me as I was a student. So the kind lovely nurses let me take his MRSA swabs (Nasal, auxilla and groin). Yep, when I told him I was taking a swab from his groin, he replied; ‘claw away’ blowing me a big sloppy kiss, and showing his one and only black tooth! The nurse I was with couldnt stand with the laughter! Not amused at all!