The Less-Than-Glamorous Duties

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I was at my public library and found a Fundamentals of Nursing textbook. I sat down and flipped through it and I was thinking, "I could really do this . . . I can really see myself doing this with pride." But I'm still a little concerned about adjusting to the less-than-glamorous duties. I get a bit uncomfortable when I read about, for example, digital manipulation of an impacted stool. Or looking at some of the skin ulcers made my stomach churn a little bit.

How did you all adjust to these type of tasks? I'm sure some of you weren't at all affected by it, but what about those of you who were a bit more squeamish? How was the adjustment process?

~Miya~

OK. Scratch that idea. Apparently there are some really extremely weird people out there and of course, after I did a Search on "manual disimpaction technique," I found them. :stone :uhoh21:

are you serious??? man . . . really?

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Hi, At my hospital we only give soap suds enemas, saline enemas, fleet enemas & sometimes the Fleet oil retention enema. Please tell me about the milk & molasses enemas, what is the purpose of them?

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Hi, At my hospital we only give soap suds enemas, saline enemas, fleet enemas & sometimes the Fleet oil retention enema. Please tell me about the milk & molasses enemas, what is the purpose of them?

Milk and molasses enemas work mostly (sometimes better) than any enema, except that milk and molasses is mixed together (1/2 parts equal-1/2 milk, 1/2 molasses), warmed in the microwave (not too hot), and is placed in the enema bag and inserted into the rectum. The high sugar content of the molasses allows the hard impacted stool to be softened so that it can pass easier.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
are you serious??? man . . . really?

(I can't believe that a New Yorker is asking me this.) :p

Yes, really!!! :uhoh3:

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are you serious??? man . . . really?

wait a sec...aren't you the person who said this:

originally posted by miya

and , no one goes into nursing (well, save for a few odd birds) thinking, "gee, i'd love a career doing digital disimpactions and enemas. . . what career offers me that opportunity?"

and now you are surprised they can be found by googling those terms???? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

nursefirst

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Never heard of Milk and Molasses sounds good enough to eat :chuckle Is it something that comes pre packed or do you mix it up

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When I first told my family I was going into nursing, they all thought "no way is she going to make it" I used to get sick just thinking about stuff. I've dealt with disimpacting patients, horrible bed sores, things I didn't even think about before. Not that I haven't had to turn my head to gag, but you just find that the patient is way more important than your stomach. Maybe that's why they always say nurses don't take care of themselves, you are always way more worried about the patient.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
OK. Scratch that idea. Apparently there are some really extremely weird people out there and of course, after I did a Search on "manual disimpaction technique," I found them. :stone :uhoh21:

A colleegue at work did a similar sort of search except she put in 'manual evacuation' and ended up on a dutch Media web site lol :rotfl:

How i did laugh until I realised I was logged on and she had done it in my NAME :rotfl:

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And now you are surprised they can be found by googling those terms????

NurseFirst

u missed something. nevermind.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Never heard of Milk and Molasses sounds good enough to eat :chuckle Is it something that comes pre packed or do you mix it up

You have to mix it up: 1/2 milk to 1/2 molasses, then warm it up. This is not something I imagine drinking...

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Specializes in Adult M/S.
You have to mix it up: 1/2 milk to 1/2 molasses, then warm it up. This is not something I imagine drinking...

Is this done with a DO? I'm a student nurse and I'm still not clear on when you need a DO and when you don't. I would assume you'd need one.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Nursing Education.

milk and molasses enemas.

'nuff said.

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