Poop in nursing

Students General Students

Published

You are reading page 3 of Poop in nursing

KelRN215, BSN, RN

1 Article; 7,349 Posts

Specializes in Pedi.
Lets be honest..RN's don't deal with poop as much. They do but not like cnas and lvns

Says who? I cleaned WAY more poop in my days on the floor than most of our CNAs. Why? Because after they did their VS, they were usually nowhere to be found and, if I could find them, it was a fight to get them to come help. Was always easier just to grab a fellow RN and change the patient- what kind of nurse is going to leave a patient sitting in poo just because they want to wait for the CNA?

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

There are two kinds of people in the hospital: those who can't poop, and those who can't stop.

PMFB-RN, RN

5,351 Posts

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
It absolutely amazes me when I hear nurses or aspiring nurses say this......:eek:

Poop ain't nothing. Just wait until she learns she is going to have to work at least some night shifts, weekends and holidays. I wonder if she won't be "that kind of nurse" too?

She will also learn there are much worse things that can come out of a body, and that a nurse needs to deal with, than poop. Even today I have a hard time with the really nasty things that come out of the lungs of some patient's with trachs or intubated.

ktwlpn, LPN

3,844 Posts

Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Lets be honest..RN's don't deal with poop as much. They do but not like cnas and lvns
You must be a student in a " poop free" school,too...:roflmao: Just who do you think cleans up the poop when cna's and lpn's are cut back? Most of my local hospitals are all RN or there may be ONE,maybe two, cna's on the entire unit.

PMFB-RN, RN

5,351 Posts

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
You must be a student in a " poop free" school,too...:roflmao: Just who do you think cleans up the poop when cna's and lpn's are cut back? Most of my local hospitals are all RN or there may be ONE,maybe two, cna's on the entire unit.

Lots of units don't even have CNAs or LPNs. Several of the ICUs where I have worked didn't have any.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Lets be honest..RN's don't deal with poop as much. They do but not like cnas and lvns
I dealt with very little poop during my four years as an LVN. The amount was minimal because, in LTC, the CNAs are usually the ones who do all the toileting and changing of briefs.

Now that I am an RN in a specialty hospital, I deal with plenty of poopy briefs, incontinent cleanups, toilet seats with smears of poop, colostomy bags, and bowel stimulation.

IcySageNurse

133 Posts

I went through nursing school with little to no poop interaction. I chose clinical electives with less exposure to it.

And yes it's possible to be a nurse without being near it. You can work in insurance, education, infection control, a specialty office, etc. The options are endless. Sure, maybe the rare "accident" but not daily cleaning like floor nursing. The only people who believe you have to love cleaning poop to be a nurse are those who think working the floor at a hospital is the only option.

I've been working as an RN for quite a while in my current job and haven't encountered poop or any other bodily fluids since I started. I also don't work weekends, nights, overtime, or 12 hour shifts. Nursing can be a lovely, non-stressful, normal profession if you find a job outside the hospital.

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Poop ain't nothing. Just wait until she learns she is going to have to work at least some night shifts, weekends and holidays. I wonder if she won't be "that kind of nurse" too?

She will also learn there are much worse things that can come out of a body, and that a nurse needs to deal with, than poop. Even today I have a hard time with the really nasty things that come out of the lungs of some patient's with trachs or intubated.

So true, poop is nothing compared with bronchial secretions, oh the sickly sweet smell of the phlegm of a patient with bacterial pneumonia as they hack a plug from their tracheostomy.

Just make sure you're standing to the side...

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

It might be a good idea if students could be exposed to pictures of pts with C. difficile, or a video of a particularly juicy tracheal deep suctioning. Ideally, this would happen at the "Welcome" meeting. If there could be a way fan the specific odors in to the room at the same time, all the better.

wooh, BSN, RN

1 Article; 4,383 Posts

Now now, let's be nice. OP's niece might have a physical aversion to poop. She could always go to this poop-free nursing school then become a case manager or maybe even a CNO, there are after all nursing jobs that are poopless. And obviously easy to get straight out of nursing school.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
The millenium generation kids expect their iPhone to do everything for them. Please discourage her while you can before she becomes one of those miserable nurses that we unfortunately come across almost on a daily basis. I have disimpacted patients with my digits and I am not talking about 1 2,3,......[/quote']

^As a millennial, I worked with baby boomers who would straight up say "I don't do vowel routines" on a SCI floor...the RAs would come find me...I was code brown whisperer...disimpact and GO!! Just saying! :)

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
It might be a good idea if students could be exposed to pictures of pts with C. difficile or a video of a particularly juicy tracheal deep suctioning. Ideally, this would happen at the "Welcome" meeting. If there could be a way fan the specific odors in to the room at the same time, all the better.[/quote']

^This!!!!

I'm VERy proud that I can clean up a pt smeared in C.Diff...scrub down, and eat lunch and enjoy it, lol...Or removing that Nast pseudomonas plug?? Whew, time for a snack!!!

I got used to poop, blood, vomit (and I was one if those "vomiting is contagious" individual) when I worked in the ER as a 19 year old waiting to go to nursing school. I went in with my eyes open, no expectations; my "anything can happen and WILL happen" philosophy...I'm actually glad I did.

I suggest if she could volunteer at a hospital...maybe a step-down unit, preferably at a hospital that staffs all RNs in a unit...then I hope she will get a reality check of the world of nursing...I hope :nailbiting:

+ Add a Comment