So if you've been a nurse for any amount of time at all, you'll notice that your sense of smell is ridiculously useful. For example, most people know the smell of feces... HOWEVER, nurses know what c.diff feces smells like. For those of you who have never smelled c.diff, then you are the blessed for sure.
Another example is something that I heard yesterday. We had a laboring patient come in saying she was having pains, when we checked her she was 9 and pretty much having the baby. Mass chaotic erupted then and it was less than 30 minutes I'd say before the baby was born. One of the girls was telling me that her vagina had a different smell. A quote, "not your normal nasty vagina smell, this was a different funky vagina smell". You know that you're a L&D nurse when you can distinguish the smell of hoo-hahs. Turns out the patient tested positive for several drugs, but that's a whole other story for a different post... One day, when I have time to rant I'll discuss how bad the issue of drug head preggo's piss me off.
So anyway, there's another time smell plays a strong impact on your nursing skills, not just assessment either. In the case of extremely smelly vaginas or bodies for that matter, you are more on game with your skills because you definitely don't wanna lag around and experience that smell any longer than necessary. For example, my catheter skills are most on point when I know I'm going to have to hold my breath for an extended amount of time. Not to brag, but I can get a catheter in place in less than 2 minutes without ever breaking sterile field. Just sayin. :)
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