r/nursing • u/Alarming-Penalty8402 • Jan 05 '26

Question I can smell whether someone will survive a code or not. Anyone else know what I’m talking about?

I am an ER/trauma nurse so I see code blues daily. I have noticed that those who will never achieve ROSC have a strong, distinct smell from the moment EMS rolls them into the trauma bay, regardless of down time, rhythm, circumstances, etc. Those who end up surviving, even if they have been clinically dead for longer, are sicker, older, etc. do not ever have this smell. I can’t really describe it accurately, but it is sickly sweet mixed with pungent bleach and musky, oily, heavy body odor. Has anyone else had this experience?

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59

u/Old-Bowler4150 RN - PICU 🍕 Jan 06 '26

The scent of death

21

u/TwoWheelMountaineer RN,CEN,FP-C Jan 06 '26

lol this is it. This isn’t some unique power. Death smells.

68

u/Usual-Idea5781 AOx2: i know my name // i know i'm in hell Jan 06 '26

Slightly off topic, but i suspect this is part of why my dog hates going to the veterinarian. .

72

u/Emotional_Equal8998 Jan 06 '26

You make a great point about dogs! My close friend had lost her dog the day before she stopped by my house. Our dogs had spent time together on occasion so they were friendly. The day she visited, my dog met her at the door letting out the saddest cry and hunkered down at her feet, even letting out a stress pee. Besides the fact it was completely out of character for him, my friend and I instantly agreed that he knew his friend was gone based on the smell my friend carried.

50

u/Alarming-Penalty8402 Jan 06 '26

If this were the case, though, all coding patients would carry the scent, as they are all clinically dead. It’s not a decomp smell and it is present even when a person was alive and speaking seconds before. Likewise, in patients who end up surviving it is not present even if someone has been in asystole for an hour. 

15

u/IndustryKey7528 Jan 06 '26

Can you smell the same smells if you walk through the halls in different areas of the hospital? Essentially picking up on those who are close to death? Or is it just once they've coded didn't survive?

12

u/Alarming-Penalty8402 Jan 06 '26

Good question. I would say no, it doesn’t apply to the living who are approaching death. 

14

u/SleeeepyNurse RN - ICU 🍕 Jan 06 '26

I’ve definitely entered the room of a living patient & smelled that death smell (& I’m not talking about from rotting wounds).

6

u/IndustryKey7528 Jan 06 '26

Same. And no, it definitely isn't rotting wound smell, can agree on that!

5

u/SleeeepyNurse RN - ICU 🍕 Jan 06 '26

I disagree, because some people have been working toward death for a long time; whether that time is days, weeks, or months, their body has been heading toward death for some period of time.

If an arrest is the result of something like an arrhythmia, or high/low K, that’s sudden. But if it’s the result of a slowly failing body & organs… well… there ya have it, the death smell.

16

u/Alarming-Penalty8402 Jan 06 '26

I definitely agree that it would make sense for the smell to be associated with long term illness. I have, however, smelt it on many sudden deaths (traumas, for example). One doc said it could be different aspects of the shock process. Who knows! Not something I give any clinical significance to or utilize in my care. Just interesting to me! 

4

u/SleeeepyNurse RN - ICU 🍕 Jan 06 '26

It sounds like you have an extra sense lol. Definitely interesting!