I thought I was getting into hospice and not all home health. (as per a very controversial conversation in GN) In one of my homecare cases (not hospice) I sat in pee again. ALOT of pee so that my pants were wet through. Call me an uncompassionate nurse or what h ave you, but I was completely grossed out. I'll clean your pee and poo, but sitting in it to soak through to my skin was the icing on the cake. I hung around for the next hour to try my best to help this woman who's apartment was filled with pee as was she because she disconnected her nephrostomy bags for hours to "clean in the sink" and pour urine all over the place and open her self up to loads of infection. I had to send her to the hospital as per my supervisor because she lost some "parts" and she's been open to infection all day.

I am just not cut out for this I think. I'm woman enough to admit it. I've been "dirtied" before int he hospital setting but there wa always the oportunity to change right away. Not get in my car I drive my young daughter in, soaked in pee.

Sigghhhh, maybe i am ready for a new career altogether.

Sorry to hear what happened to you... That was certainly disgusting!! I could imagine everything in my mind as I was reading your post .. I would've been grossed out also .. try to take it easy ... We all have bad days .. Don't be too harsh on yourself , nurses are very well needed ..you might want to go back into the hospital or work in a outpatient clinic which might be less stressful than a hospital ... **Hugs**

I think you just had a really bad visit and that is not the norm. I have been doing HH for 4 years and yes, I have been in homes that I can't wait to get out of, but for the most part, it is not like that. I love home health, yes, I have bad days, but the good days make up for it and when a patient gets better, when a wound heals, when an infection resolves, and you know you were part of the healing process, it is a very rewarding feeling. Hang in there.

Some of us are not cut out for home health, me being one of them. It is just not my cup of tea. Perhaps it isn't yours either. Keep looking, you'll find your niche!

I have a few really bad visits lately. I am given the patients others would rather not see. It's the truth. I am worked to the bone for very little money and I'm not even doing what I signed up for. I signed up for hospice. A different kind of healing process. And it's not what I'm doing.A good part of me wants to go back to the icu, but I can't. Another part wants to step away from the stress of bedside all together.

That actually sounds like one of my regular days and I have been doing this for over 20 years. The other days make up for that one bad day. You may have saved that woman's life. I do have a personal policy about not sitting and not putting my bag doen if there is the slightest odor of urine and stool. I would have been grateful it was humad and not animal. I do keep a spare set of clothes and shoes in my car, you never know what you mey step in. Just remember the good does outwight the bad.