How much poop/puke/cleaning of bodily fluids is there in nursing school?

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2013

Wow, this topic is heated!! I want to be an NP one day as well. Preferably a family or women's health NP. My plan is to go straight after nursing school............I would prefer the NP that was a nurse for 5-10 years prior to being an NP.

I am curious......if you personally want a NP that has 5-10 years experience prior to becoming a NP....why would you not follow that path?

msfrance · Jul 15, 2013

Whoa guys. This thread really blew up. As I understand it, OP just wanted to know about people's experiences with bodily fluids in nursing school. I didn't get the "I'm too good for this" vibe personally. It's unfortunate that so many people started attacking OP's motives and suggesting that they may not be a good nurse. I'm about to start nursing school too and I doubt anyone really loves cleaning poop, but for new students, we don't really know what it'll be like. I'm not particularly looking forward to poop/vomit and it'll be a new experience, but I know it's necessary to care for patients and I will do it for them. I feel like this was what OP was trying to get across.

RNnewbie2014 · Jul 15, 2013

I am curious......if you personally want a NP that has 5-10 years experience prior to becoming a NP....why would you not follow that path?

If I go part-time, don't you think it would take me about that long (5 years) to get that degree? I would work while I was going. I may just work for a year before applying anyway. And who knows. You don't get accepted into things right away sometimes lol

catman88 · Jul 15, 2013

Whenever people say "cleaning poop" I always get a visual of them placing the poop in a tub and shining it up with soap and a loofa. Are we cleaning the poop itself or the patient?! Not trying to be a grammar nitpick if it comes off that way...it gives me a good laugh each time. :) ah, sorry -- carry on.

picklemouse · Jul 15, 2013

I personally believe that cleaning and shining up the poop is the best idea ever. Let's make the poop feel comfortable! XD

luv_o_so_much · Jul 16, 2013

Chrisrn, I know I can handle it. I mean, I don't know, I feel your tone is a little judgmental/dismissive (it could just be the effect of the interwebs). I just was looking for factual information--how often does poop cleaning come up in nursing school (not everyone who goes to RN school plans to work as an RN for an extended period of time in an inpatient setting). Like once every clinical, twice every clinical, twice every other clinical.

I will start nursing school this fall and work in an ICU as a tech. Varias medications, tube feeds, diet types, and diseases cause different types of body fluids to come out in different consistencies at different rates. So the TRUE answer is no one can give you more than their own experience .... BUT I will say this... In my unit every single time there is a "code brown", a patient without a foley that missed the urinal (male or female) or were not able to notify staff, copius secretions from the mouth or lungs, etc ... our staff has the nursing student be first hand in the game to prepare them. Some of the nurses I work with have said its to "weed" them out, others have said its so they can build that skill. BELIEVE me it is a SKILL to have to change an entire bed when you have a critical patient that can't be moved or lie them down flat.

I will add that I have worked in many units (Tele, ICU, and ER) and by far the worst smells are cdiff and ER patients that have defecated, urinated, and puked on themselves. It happens. Its part of the process. Despite all that, if I am cleaning up someone with runny poopoo I ALWAYS wear a shield mask and most of the time a gown. I have seen way too many get sharted on (hope thats ok to say).

Good luck! Maybe you will not have to deal with much. If you do it will be in clinicals and every acuity has its own type of body fluid demons :)

PS I used caps to highlight not to sound mean or mad.

luv_o_so_much · Jul 16, 2013

HAHAHAHAHA yesterday we had a poor soul finger paint and fling his poopoo all over the room. Not his fault completely he had psych and developmental issues. Not gonna lie! Glad it wasn't my patient!

Sorry I forgot to hit the quote but this was in response to the war paint post

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2013

HAHAHAHAHA yesterday we had a poor soul finger paint and fling his poopoo all over the room. Not his fault completely he had psych and developmental issues. Not gonna lie! Glad it wasn't my patient!
Sorry I forgot to hit the quote but this was in response to the war paint post

That was me and my war story.

Yes, I've also encountered the body fluids/products version of "Paint by Numbers" as well. That's psych for you.

ER(notso)n00b, ASN, RN · Jul 16, 2013

I'm about to begin my last semester of nursing school and I've encountered poop/urine/other fluids just about every time I've been at clinicals. After a while it just become part of the "job."

Jennifer425RN2B · Jul 16, 2013

Cleaning up urine, feces, vomit, and giving sponge baths are about the only things a RN nursing student does on a regular basis at clinical. At my school your only allowed to do anything neat (administer meds, cath a pt.) with your clinical instructor present and when you have one clinical instructor to 10 students, don't hold your breathe waiting to do one!

kris_10 · Jul 17, 2013

OP, I think you don't need to get so stressed out about the bodily fluids. Like you, I am also planning to become a PMHNP, but I am a volunteer EMT currently. Even though my long term goal is psych, I recognize that psych is still a medical field where the patients will be sick with various different problems, both physical and mental. Plenty of EMS patients come into the ambulance soaked in urine, feces, puke, anything and everything you can think of. Do I ENJOY being in the small space of the ambulance with an unclean patient? Nope. But I remind myself that the patient is sick, and that I am there to help, and that requires taking care of the WHOLE person, including the gross stuff. Even though my interest is psych I consider this valuable experience--and trust me, some of the ickiest patients are the combative psych patients. Being okay with getting your hands dirty will help you be prepared to deal with the myriad of psych patients and their varying levels of hygiene. Even if you plan on outpatient I imagine you will have a psych ER rotation, etc. where you will be exposed to this. You'll be fine.

priorities2 · Apr 11, 2014

Just thought I would update this thread now that I'm almost done with my first half of nursing school and clinicals. Can't believe I'll be a senior in just a month!

So, I've gotten straight A's, worked as a student nurse on a psych unit, and got an awesome mental health summer externship in a clinic. Moral of the story: never let anyone discourage you! It's totally worth it to get through your med surg rotations of RN school if you want to be a PMHNP, FNP, CRNA, CNM or whatever other profession that requires an RN as a stepping stone. Plus, you don't clean up gross things every shift. I have only cleaned body excretions 3-4 times out of about 27 clinical days. Just keep a positive attitude, get involved, learn valuable lessons from it and keep your goal in mind.

Most importantly, don't let any smug superior old floor nurse anonymously ******** online get you down :)