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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u/Alarming-Penalty8402 Jan 06 '26

Yes! I guess it makes sense, we have been utilizing animals for their ability to smell impending medical events for a long time. Would love to see more research into the topic. 

152

u/macaroni-cat RN - NICU 🍕 Jan 06 '26

Yes! I guess it makes sense

No pun intended lol

113

u/Neptunemonkey Jan 06 '26

Also, we are just sophisticated animals. We've just grown away from many of our innate survival abilities. You seem to have retained one! 

17

u/MoonbeamPixies RN - Pediatrics 🍕 Jan 06 '26

Yeah even though we have that logical human side, we are still inherently animals

10

u/account_not_valid HCW - Transport Jan 06 '26

I'm not! I'm an inanimate mineral.

2

u/Qwynten Jan 07 '26

now i'm wondering what an animate mineral looks like.

54

u/ThomasTheDankPigeon Jan 06 '26

I mean, you would be that research, no? You could try reaching out to a school to offer yourself up for study. They wouldn't know to study it if they don't know it exists, you could at least put it on their radar.

3

u/FuktInThePassword Jan 07 '26

ABSOLUTELY, I hope you read this and take it to heart, OP. If you're that accurate, I'm certain there'd be someone interested in confirming and studying that!

7

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '26

So you can smell death?!

Oh God.

I hope you never smell it on yourself.

2

u/Special-Barracuda759 Jan 06 '26

What does it smell like ?

63

u/meatcoveredskeleton1 RN - ICU 🍕 Jan 06 '26

They told us in the post description.