Does anyone here actually like or "not mind" cleaning poop???

Nurses New Nurse

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I have just completed my first year as an RN, BSN a couple of weeks ago. Nothing much to celebrate after I find out that I worked that hard

only to be cleaning so much poop as a person with a 4 year degree.

I think the nursing profession is too modest and afraid to admit that someone else should be doing the dirty job. I love medicine....and I love being a nurse even when orders pile up, and next shift nags at you for every little thing undone during your shift because of time constrictions, like they come on their shift to just sit around and do nothing. I can take snobby, unexperienced, stubborn doctors; I can get along fine with middle-aged bitter, old nurses; I can handle grumpy patients, and suspicious families; I can handle snobby unlicensed assist. personnel; I can handle all that even when all that can be tiring.

But on top of all that, we RNs have to clean poop! I think that is why the nursing profession don't get so much credit, that's why nurses grow old bitter and eat the next generation of nurses, it's because they are overworked, underpaid, and cleaning poop really lowers their morale. You get out of school thinking wow i'm a professional....I worked so hard...then you go and clean poooppp....!!! Nasty, foul smelling poop.

For that reason.....only for that reason I am quitting being a hospital staff nurses at the Veteran's Hospital. I am going to continue being an RN, but not one who cleans poop. I hate that poopy part of our profession, so shoot me. :welcome:

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I won't say I enjoy cleaning up poop. And some days/shifts are definitely worse than others.

However, phlegm definitely geebs me out worse! I can deal with the smell of poop, but the sound of someone hawking phlegm can send me running from the room at times. . . .

But I know other nurses who feel the same way you do and work their way into a position that doesn't involve poop.

For me, I guess I rationalize it. The techs catch the code browns sometimes. I catch them sometimes. But the gratitude you get from someone who is mortified not to be able to "do for themselves" for what may be th first time in their lives, although it may not make it "worth it", at least alleviates a bit of the "ugh" factor.

Now, when I get a patient who is perfectly capable of wiping themselves but refuses to do so, I channel Nurse Ratchett just a tiny bit.

You'll find a spot you are comfortable in, I'm sure, but please don't demean what other nurses do. It's not a dirty job, it's not a tech's job, it's not the aide's job.

It's just a job that needs to be done to make someone else feel a bit better.

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

One of my favorite nurse's quotes is: "let's face it, we all wipe ass for a living, then we save it...."

Nursing is a very humble profession. Keeping feces off a person's skin is a primary goal. Nursing care is judged by skin integrity.

I think it is perfectly OK not to like cleaning up BM. We all have body fluids that we have had to deal with and learn to tolerate. I can't think of very many areas of direct care nursing where you won't be dealing with bodily substances.

Did you really think this wasn't going to be part of your job? As an ICU nurse, I want to be the one do the cleaning so I can inspect my pt's skin and do early interventions if necessary. I can't say I like it, but I know that the pt's skin is a reflection, not only of my care, but of all the nurses who work in my unit. If skin issues become a problem in our unit, all of our nursing care comes into question. If a patient has to sit in BM for even a short time, skin integrity can start to break down.

I think you need to step down from your horse, eat some humble pie and decide you are going to be an excellent nurse, which is reflected in your pt's well-being and not what degree you have on the wall.

I can tell you that if you start a hospital job with that attitude, you will be chewed up and spit out faster than you know what happened to you.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I don't really mind cleaning fecal matter, and I would never think that I am too good to clean a patient's butt.

Let's face it: every single continent person in existence must wipe his/her own butt after using the restroom. Doctors, supreme court judges, nuclear physicists, and other highly educated professionals must perform the humble duty of relieving themselves several times a day in the bathroom. As nurses, we must also assist the sick and convalescent people by cleaning up their poop on occasion.

Either you can choose to become acclimated to cleaning poop, or you can ultimately decide to bail from the bedside like so many other nurses that have come before you.

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Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

I really don't mind. Like kcalohagirl said though, when a pt is perfectly capable and wants me to wipe him/her, that's a different story. I tell those people, in a nice way of course, to do it themselves. Cleaning up a patient gives me an opportunity to do a good skin assessment and treat any problems before they turn into big ones. Often I tell the aide to come and get me when the person goes because I want to get a good look at his skin. They also appreciate the help and that goes a long way. A secondary benefit of this is that most of the aides on my floor will do anything to help me because kindness and teamwork go both ways.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele, ER.

Really though - in the scheme of things, poo is the least of our problems. Personally, I think rotting flesh is much worse, among other things.

Additionally, I hardly think the burn-out of more experienced nurses has little to do with cleaning filth, and a lot more to do with a system which pressures us to perform superhuman workloads every day, all while delivering "good customer service" and handling all the other challenges of the modern nurse. Again, poo is the least of the problem.

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Specializes in Psych.

I just imagine myself lying there, and think how hard it would be to allow someone else to do that for me, how humiliated I would feel, how scared I would be that I couldn't do it myself at that time (or forever, even scarier). Then I realize it's a loving act that I can do for someone who truly needs me.

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Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.
Really though - in the scheme of things, poo is the least of our problems. Personally, I think rotting flesh is much worse, among other things.

Additionally, I hardly think the burn-out of more experienced nurses has little to do with cleaning filth, and a lot more to do with a system which pressures us to perform superhuman workloads every day, all while delivering "good customer service" and handling all the other challenges of the modern nurse. Again, poo is the least of the problem.

:yeahthat:

You've pretty much summed-up the problem with nursing today. Body fluids are the least of my problems at work. Unrealistic expectations and politics are what have me counting the hours and minutes until my shift ends.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Surgical ICU, Medical ICU.

I love poop!

As others have said, thats the LEAST of the problem! I pray that each day my BIGGEST problem will be cleaning up some poopy doo! I mean, youre gonna have kids some day, and you may have animals, and guess what, they all POOP! Poop is not a nurses job, its a public job! I'm glad I poop, thank God for the poop! and if my patients DONT poop, were all in trouble lol! Seriously though, a lot of my friends who went other directions in college always say "I just couldnt do that job, I cant stand poop or pee" Its something you get used to, and everyone has problems with it at first, but you soon realize that it could be worse! When I went into nursing my mom told me this much (she has been a nurse for a long long time) "You know, its gross, but then I think, I'm getting paid $20 an hour to do this, I can feed my family and provide for my kids, what could be better?" I know kids think $20 an hour is NOTHING, but its a lot more than you think. Its more than 50% of America makes. So think, you'll make $60,000 a year to clean up some turd, sign me up!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I don't think there's a nurse alive who actually ENJOYS cleaning poop. But the day one gets too high-and-mighty to wipe the bottoms of patients who can't do it for themselves, is the day he or she ought to quit.

Of course, if we've tried repeatedly and really can't stomach it, there are always jobs that minimize the necessity of being in contact with bodily substances. It's the attitude that one is too good, too educated, or too technically gifted to perform this humble, yet vital task, that's unacceptable IMHO.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I don't like it either. But I guess I don't mind because it's part of being a floor nurse. As a charge nurse I still step in and do hygiene. My patients derserve it.

Anyway, with some experience perhaps you'll be able to find a position that doesn't involve cleaning poop, a "BSN preferred" position away from the bedside.

As long as you remain at the bedside, all team members, RN BSNs included will be expected to do the dirty deed, but no one says you have to like it.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I'd much rather clean poop and body fluids than:

1. Try to artfully drape the face of a 21 y/o who shot himself in the face so that his parents could view the body.

2. Watch seasoned detectives collapse in tears when they see the damage done to a beautiful but very dead 4 y/o who died of abuse.

3. Have to arrange for a rocking chair for a grieving mother so that she can rock her baby for the last time.

I think you get my drift. If cleaning poop is upsetting to you, might I suggest you try another nursing specialty?

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