Scared Of Poop!!!!!!!!! Help!!!!!!!

Nurses New Nurse

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I'm starting my nursing program on Jan.25th, and i'm really, really excited. Ever since I can remember I've always dreamed about being a nurse. I'm a medical assitant at a cardiologist office and I love working hands on and I love my patients to the point that I can't wait until I become a RN and work at a hospital. During orientation we were told that our first practice cite will be at a nursing home :uhoh3:. One thing I'm actually not looking forward to doing is looking at poop!!! I could deal with blood, I can deal with pee, but i'm actually scared of my reaction to looking at poop and changing patients, I'm scared I might:barf01:

I've changed a childs diaper before and i've had no problem...but I have never changed a adults diaper nor smelled or been up close and personal to it. I'm so afraid of how i'm going to react to it...does anyone ever felt this way? Does anyone have some advice or suggestions??? Is it true that it's just like changing a child. I'm scared of the smell and how i would react to it. HELP!!!! i feel recidiculous...:trout:

Oh, honey! What a fear! LOL

Well, the truth is, poo is gross. It's normally kind of gross, and at times it is shockingly, appallingly, filthy gross. But, it's OKAY. That's my general response when people ask me about how I can do a job like that- "Yeah, it's gross, but that's okay."

Usually patients don't seem to mind- I suppose it's the acceptance that right now you can't do it, and you need some help. But sometimes it is hard on people, like 20-something patients or your little old ladies who are upset because they "don't want to be a bother". I always tell those ladies that one of the wonderful things about being human is that we are there for eachother when we need help. And the big kicker- if our situations were reversed and I needed help, I bet they would do the same for me.

But it's true, sometimes it's super gross! Sometimes you can smell it in the hallway 20 rooms away! Wow! That's gross! But, what are you gonna do? Give your patient the love you've got to give, fix them up, and laugh to yourself (or a good nurse pal) about how you thought you would pass out. It's okay. You get used to it very, very fast. :)

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omg, I had a little old lady who would NOT keep her fingers out of her bum one night- she was on the bedpan, she WAS going, but I guess at home she uses digital stimulation daily to alleviate chronic constipation- that's fine, and apparently quite common, but it was very not necessary when she was in the hospital and on a bedpan, and GOING, because she'd had a suppository! There was poo EVERYWHERE!

I believe my first reaction was a judgmental, horrified "STOP THAT!"

Poor lady. It was funny, it was sad: it was tragic. She was confused. It took a lot of time to clean up. I understand your feelings, which are not evil, but things that many of us think all the time at our jobs. No worries. Be grossed out, and act with love. :)

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I to hate poop, not the formed normal stuff, but the messy smelly kind. I have been a RN for almost 4 years now, and my way around poop was to be honest with my co workers, they all know my dislike for poop so they help me as much as they can, we kind of trade off, they'll clean up the poo, and I dive into the sputum, which most nurse's gag over, but it doesn't bother me at all. Now there was one night when a call light went off, when I entered the room there was a trail of poop from the patients bed to the bathroom all over the walls of the bathroom and all over the patient, I told the patient I would be right back, everybody was busy, so I grabed a bunch of towels and washcloths, I told myself I can get through this, the patient told me he was sorry, I just said it happens, and we would get through this together, which we did. All nurses have a hang up of some sort, and we all work as a team to get through them.

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one night i had a patient who wanted me to digitaly remove a impaction, i had just gave him MOM and told him to give time to work, i went to assess my patients, and when walking by his room he yelled out, hey john ! I got it, when i looked in his room, there he sat with a large amount of poop in his hand, he dug himself out, it was about the size of a softball, I thought OMG

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As soon as it becomes really offensive, BREATH THROUGH YOUR MOUTH, not through your nose. Just turn off your nose like you do while swimming...ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES, and PUT ON DOUBLE GLOVES...it's that easy...no need to become upset and further upset the patient. I am always EXTREMELY proud of myself after a good clean up! Be happy for them that they went, and be proud of the type of person you are becoming. Only the best of the best does God allow to be caretakers over the forgotten.

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what a great reply! as a newbee myself on med/surg all I have seen my first week is poop and colostomy bags, not to mention my first post morteum on day 5!! OY VEY! but there is nothing more satisfying than knowing I helped keep a little of their dignity in tact and hopefully aided in their comfort and health....and whoever said if you don't like poop yopu shouldn't be a nurse..please, I don't know anyone who says "yippee, more poop!":yeah:

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When I first started nursing, I worried about gagging around feces since I have a really bad gag reflex when it comes to smells. I worked at a LTC this summer and encountered enough feces to last me a lifetime. I surprised myself. I really didn't mind the changing of adult diapers/soiled bedding etc. Sure, some of it did smell really bad and some of it was in all varieties of shapes and sizes. However, my motto was to get the job done as quickly as possible while trying to be as gentle as possible. It is a lot easier to change a pt. with another aide because it goes so much quicker. Make sure to have everything you need with you when you go into the pts room such as periwash, wet and dry wipes, any neccesary bedding, pads, and chucks etc. I did not gag once on the smell of poop where I worked and I had to deal with everything from a colostomy bag exploding and going all over my pt. to a 300+ lb women with an XXL diaper filled with diarrhea. For me, I thought of it as a another task that needed to be done. Quite honestly, some of the patients stunk more of BO than feces. I did gag on one woman's BO almost everytime I went into her room. This woman really had a really bad stench to her. She was on hospice and I think it was just her body decaying. When I would wash or change her I would have to try to not breath. The woman was completely out of it but when I did have to gag I would go behind the curtain or into her bathroom to wet a washcloth or something , just to catch my breath. I think the problem of poop is just something you will get over with more and more exposure. I don't even think twice about having to change an adult diaper filled with feces. I just do it and get it over with. Best of Luck!!:D

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Specializes in ICU.
one night i had a patient who wanted me to digitaly remove a impaction, i had just gave him MOM and told him to give time to work, i went to assess my patients, and when walking by his room he yelled out, hey john ! I got it, when i looked in his room, there he sat with a large amount of poop in his hand, he dug himself out, it was about the size of a softball, I thought OMG

I've been a nurse for 6 years now in ICU where a lot of the times the RN has to clean the poop or help clean the poop... and I HATE POOP! I still have never gotten over it, but what can you do? You have to clean it up.

One day, I was helping a more experienced nurse clean this huge liquid poop mess,, and she knew that I was always grossed out by this crap... so what did she do ? She grabbed the suction and yaunker wand and stuck it in the puddle and started sucking up the poop.. lmao... I almost vomitted right there. Of course afterword she changed out all the suction supplies,, BUT STILL!! HAHAH OMG. THAT WAS like combining the sputum suction with the diarrea thing... lol

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Specializes in Haematolgoy.

Learn to breathe through your mouth and block off the nasal passages - makes one hell of a difference! and to be fair, you just get used to it - clean up one big mess and then go grab your lunch ; be it curry or chocolate sponge with chocolate custard!! :wink2:

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Specializes in geriatrics.

LOL Rusty! That is so true. I've only been a nurse for a year and poop used to permeate my nostrils for the entire day, even after I got home. (Talk about a complex.......I was so paranoid I smelled!) But in time you do get used to it for the most part. Most of the time you are so busy, you just get in there and do it, you dont have time to reflect on the grossness of it. My first few months, I could have never dealt with poop and then went to lunch................just the other day I told myself I must be broken in because I helped the tx nurse change a stage 4 decubitis ulcer and went to lunch afterwards. Does that make me weird? :imbar

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How often do you guys have to change diapers and other duties alike? obviously it's a day to day issue but a rough estimate if you will

Ronnie, I have changed so many diapers I don't even know if I could give you an estimate. If I have kids, I'm totally hiring a nanny because between babysitting and working peds, I have changed enough diapers for one lifetime. Actually, let's see: if I have at least one patient per week who needs a diaper change for an 8 hour shift, no parents or CNAs around to help (believe it or not, it happens more than you think), and I change them at least every 2 hours (provided that they don't have some crazy diarrhea, DI or are on diuretics), then that's 4 diapers. But, I work 3-12 hour shifts per week, so it's usually more. And even if I don't change them, I still have to open them up and look at the contents, then weigh them. And if it's the hem/onc floor, then I have to dip the urine and check stool for occult blood. But when you get to play with kids and rock babies to sleep, you forget about all of those dirty messes. :nurse:

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one night i had a patient who wanted me to digitaly remove a impaction, i had just gave him MOM and told him to give time to work, i went to assess my patients, and when walking by his room he yelled out, hey john ! I got it, when i looked in his room, there he sat with a large amount of poop in his hand, he dug himself out, it was about the size of a softball, I thought OMG

That's a pretty bad poop story.

In nursing school, I had to help turn a 600 lb patient while the doctor digitally removed stool. The pt's son was wondering why their home health care CNA (who worked alone) didn't use the same measures to get poop out that we were doing at the hospital, like suppositories, enemas, and digital removal. The doctor looked up and made some comment, like, "it takes at least 3 people to move her, that's why." What an afternoon! Fortunately, the patient felt much better afterwards.

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