Background: Even though disgust has been recognised as a common and prominent emotion in healthcare, very little is known about how healthcare professionals understand, experience and conceptualise disgust. A literature review revealed that healthcare professionals do experience disgust, yet they struggle to talk about it and may use empathy as a means to cope with and overcome disgust. Further in-depth analysis is required to further our understanding in how professionals experience disgust and how this might be influenced by their professional identity.

Objective: To gain an in-depth understanding of how nursing and midwifery students experience, understand and cope with disgust in their clinical work.

Method: 6 participants (all women; 2 nursing students, 4 midwifery students) from a University in the South of England were interviewed. Their interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Results: Four superordinate themes, We are not supposed to express disgust as professionals, We have ways of managing disgust, It’s easier to talk about moral disgust and ‘We’ respond to moral disgust by distancing ourselves from ‘them’ and eight subthemes were identified through inductive interpretative analysis. Together these themes show that the experience and expression of disgust in a healthcare context is a complex and delicate process, inextricably linked to the professional identity. This is further evidenced by the reluctance of participants to take part in the study and talk about disgust.