Category: Medical Education
Posted: 5/2/2011 by Rob Rogers, MD
(Updated: 12/13/2024)
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I found this neat little pearl on Michelle Lin's blog, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine, and thought it was worth sharing with everyone:
"In my theme of detoxifying malodorous smells in the ED (see Toxic Sock Syndrome and abscess drainage), I recently learned of a new way of masking odors. Imagine the stress on your olfactory nerves from the combined effects of urinary and fecal incontinence from a nursing home patient.
An ingenious nurse proposed nebulizing actual coffee within the room. Unfortunately, our ED was out of coffee at the moment.
Trick of the Trade:
Nebulized orange juice
I only learned of this trick after walking into the patient's very subtly foggy room. About 4 cc of orange juice had been nebulizing for a few minutes. The room smelled a little like a Jamba Juice (a smoothies/ juice shop). Quite pleasant actually. I was shocked to find that it masked the odors quite well."
Thanks for the tip, Michelle. Freshly-squeezed anyone??
Michelle Lin, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine
http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com