You will still have to wipe butts even as a NURSE !

[NurseLoveJoy88]

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend of mine who graduates in May as a RN and since she is head of me in the nursing program I was asking about the second year courses and how they were. I graduate in July 09 but I'll be a LPN and still have two more semesters before getting my RN.

She tells me about theory and then she gets to the clinical part and says : " Don't worry about clinicals, just get your tech to do all the am care... second year you are a " real nurse" and don't have to wipe butts"

That comment made me soooo mad ! :angryfire Yes, I know that in nursing school and as a nurse we can delegate to the techs to provide AM care and etc. but to say that we don't have to wipe butts as a second year student or nurse is absurb. As a nurse and especially a student we are responsible for our patients and we have to make sure they are cleaned. Obviously as a nurse we won't be able to clean up every single patient, due to doing our other nursing duties, however as a nurse I will NEVER let me repeat NEVER feel as though I'm so high and mighty that I can't wipe a butt here and there. I've worked with nurses like this before and its a terrible way to be. I've worked with nurses who'd rather chit chat at the nurses station but when the patient needed a change of linen or to be cleaned up they would just go get the " tech". I've also worked with nurses that took it upon themselves to clean up a patient or to help me clean a patient.

Later that day, I also heard two more nursing students talk about not having to wipe butts as a nurse !

Well I news for you nursing students that feel this way, in bedside nursing yes you will have to clean someone up here and there, and if you don't like it you mind as well get over it now. Yes techs are wonderful because they are able to assist the nurse with these types of duties, however they are busy too and they may not always be able to help clean a patient in time, thus nurses will have to step in.

This just breaks my heart. I can't wait to get out there and start working, I want my techs to know that yes I'm a nurse but I'm also not excused from doing the " dirty" work either.

My mother works in LTC and her techs love her ! Mainly because she helps them out when it comes to bathing. Yes she's busy with her RN duties, however it doesn't take long to help assist with these things. No she doesn't do it on a regular basis and neither will I, however my techs and patients will always know that I'm never above cleaning a soiled patient. :redbeathe

[Natingale, EdD, RN]

LOL spade queen

mochabean, I think theres a unspoken rivalry between students and aids

Sometimes the students (well in my own experience) get blamed for all the non sense that happens on the floor, like not emptying the soiled linen basket. Meanwhile we know we have to hold our school to a certain standard, so we ALLLLLL do it. The PCAs I work with, I dont ask them to do anything. Mainly because they have this "if you even look in my direction Im going to say something" SO i get another student to help me turn a patient, or a boost or something.

One aid waited till we got back on the floor (a week later) to tell one of our professors that so and so didnt change the sheets. I laughed my (you know what) off.

I just realized I went off tangent, and got off topic. Sorry. Said all that to say, we have to please our professors, and we have to please the people we're working with and sometimes the 3 hours we're on the floor its a little difficult so be nice to nursing students!!!!!! ok!

Yeah AM Care is important for RN's to do. Cellulitis, necrotic tissue under the breast of a patient who was admitted 5 days ago gets OVERLOOKED! Or unaddressed, and poop. What better assessment of elimination than to assess poop.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I think you're right about that, there is some jealousy and resentment by aides of students.

[mattsgirl]

during my first clinical, we didn't delegate anything- we followed the techs around and wiped,cleaned,fed...the works. How else are we supposed to learn? I love doing all that hands on care, but some of my fellow students complained that they shouldn't have to do it. Please! Just because you are getting a BSN doesn't mean that you won't have to "wipe butts". I reminded them that someone would ahve to wipe theirs someday.

[mochabean]

The nursing instructor and the nursing students tell us up front what they're going to do. In fact, they even post a sign on the board that tells what they'll be responsible for that morning. They're not responsible for linen bags or accuchecks. I work with a couple of nursing assistants who are nursing students and they are very helpful and eager to explain and show me things. It has nothing to do with "jealousy and resentment" but with respect. But this is getting off topic.

[mattsgirl]

I think most techs would be majorly PO'd at nursing students bossing them around. They also don't appreciate seasoned nurses who hunt them down for every clean up job.

You are so right. At my first clinical, I was in awe of the CNA that I was shadowing and wouldn't dream of bossing her around.After all, she was showing me the ropes and I had so much respect for her and her techniques. Any new nursing student that comes in bossing the aides around has to get a dose of reality real quick.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

you are missing the point. step #1 of the nursing process--assess. one of the reasons a licensed nurse would want to wipe a butt is for the assessment information. it gives the nurse an opportunity to assess the person's skin, know that the patient did indeed have a bm that day and to know the character of the feces all that they observed with their own senses. getting the information from a cna or tech is subjective data.

people who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped.

[mattsgirl]

You are missing the point. Step #1 of the nursing process--Assess. One of the reasons a licensed nurse would want to wipe a butt is for the assessment information. It gives the nurse an opportunity to assess the person's skin, know that the patient did indeed have a BM that day and to know the character of the feces all that they observed with their own senses. Getting the information from a CNA or tech is subjective data.

I agree. I wish my fellow students would see it that way. They complain and ***** that they have to see or smell bodily fluids. A couple of them gagged audibly while with patients. I know, I know. It's terrible behavior.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I agree. I wish my fellow students would see it that way. They complain and ***** that they have to see or smell bodily fluids. A couple of them gagged audibly while with patients. I know, I know. It's terrible behavior.

Gagging is sometimes unavoidable, even from the best of us. I've been known to choke back gags in front of patients, even with my strong stomach.

[csclarkrn, RN]

Who ever these girls are, I feel sorry for them because patient care is what Nursing is all about. I work on a unit and we frequently have primary care for 3 Open heart surgery patients and don't have a tech. Our PCS is drawing all the blood and going EKG and in general helping but it our responsibility to do all the patient care. If a patient complaints and believe you me, they will, our manager will track down the patient care assignment sheet or look at the computer charting for the days in question and GUESS WHAT?? You will chewed up and spit out faster than you can stand there and say "But I'm an RN." Bull----, the manager will say "and Nurses do what? who is the customer? Do you want a job or not?" Those poor girls are in for a rude awakening.:redpinkhe

[Panthyr]

I agree with many of you. However, I believe the person who said that Nursing schools have to find a balance between delegation and getting their students enough experience with personal care has it right. One of the most important things about teaching students delegation in nursing school, IMO, is that delegation gives them the time to learn how to take care of an appropriate amount of patients.

I don't know of many situations where you get one-two patients and do total care on them, except for high-acuity wards and nursing students. In most cases nurses are given a large amount of patients and others who can help them manage their care.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't think delegation is something that should be withheld from a nursing school curriculum, because otherwise a student would get no experience with taking care of an increasingly larger amount of patients, because they wouldn't have time.

Which would you be more afraid of? A student who has less experience with personal care but strong assessment skills; one who may be a bit clumsy, but can get the job done with the education they've been given? Or one, who, when thrown on a real ward and given six-eight (or more!) patients has experience with handling just one or two and can't properly and accurately apply the nursing care priorities that they've learned due to lack of experience delegating?

Either way, whether you believe schools should be teaching delegation or not... I'd be ashamed to leave my patients room and spend thirty minutes hunting down an Aide to get them a drink of water or take them off a bed pan if it would only take me a few minutes and none of my other patients have immediate and pressing needs. "Wiping butts" is just part of the game, and they're paying to learn how to play it....

[Dr. Shelia, RN]

I find the slang "wiping butts" to be demeaning to patients and nurses alike. We care for patients when they are at their most vulnerable, and yes, sometimes we do have to delegate basic nursing care, including cleaning up bowel movements. We can delegate tasks but not the "caring".

[libnat]

It's better than wiping ass.

I just say wiping myself.