activities of daily living problem

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2003

There was another thread about this very topic. Yes, you can be a nurse and never touch a patient.

But you can't avoid it in school, in clincals, or in any kind of hospital/long-term care facility.

My advice: Find another career. This is not a flame. There's no way you're going to make it. There are going to be times when there isn't going to be anyone but you to wipe that ass that needs wiping.

Speculating · Oct 24, 2003

Originally posted by ManyQuestions
...I took a nursing assistant class as a warm up and I've just dropped it. The classwork was interesting but I just can't tolerate the clinical work were doing at the nursing home. Wiping asses, feeding demented patients who can't carry on a conversation with you, don't open their mouths for oral care, patients who have to be moved with total mechanical lifts who do nothing but lay there all day...it's horrible, just miserably depressing and unbearable awful.
My question is: Can I work as a nurse and avoid spending a lot of time on activities of daily living? Call me arrogant, but I really feel that my time (even untrained!) is too valuable to spend feeding a patient. Anyone can feed a patient, they don't need two to four years of schooling and clinical training to do it. I want to start IV's, clean wounds, give meds, educate patients, stuff that requires training. What are the best departments to work in if you don't like ADLs? ER? [/b]

I think your setting yourself up for a problem. I'm not an ass wiping, tray passing, bed making nurse myself so I parked my rear in the ER. You do have a lot of options say ER, OR, GI lab, Cath lab...I think if you can't stomach ADL's through a few weeks of a CNA class it certainly isn't a good career course for you. Your going to have to do ADL's in some fashion in every dept. I don't know about your state, but in mine they just implented that you have to be a CNA before you can even apply to the program of nursing for the same reasons that your second guessing yourself. If you can't handle the CNA stuff than you probable won't be able to stomach the nursing stuff. Think hard before you jump. Good luck to you no matter which path you choose!

sashibeak · Oct 24, 2003

I agree with Tweety, I'm afraid.

If you can't deal with long-term care patients then why do you feel you would have patience anywhere else?

ER can be depressing........... as when the 4 year-old child comes in bleeding todeath after a hit and run accident. EVERY department in the hospital can be depressing!

For me, the major test was going to these clinicals at LTCs........I knew it was a test, to see if I could really deal with it. Yes, I often go home and have a good cry at the end of a clinical, but only because I have spent that day giving those poor people my all, and because it breaks my heart to see them so helpless and alone.

And I don't care what anyone says............ they DO know you are there, and they DO know you are taking care of them, even if it is only to a small extent.

Maybe you should go into another type of medical career- an office job, maybe?

Please don't think me rude, but if you can't be doing with patients who desperately need your care, then I truly feel you are in the wrong field. Should you make it to RN, your techs aren't going to have much respect for a RN who won't get her hands "dirty".

Good luck to you.

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2003

You avoid a lot of the grosser ADL stuff related to nursing in the NICU. Butt wiping, yes, but little poop.

memphispanda, RN · Oct 24, 2003

Well...let's think about the important things here too...

The basic needs of human life include food, clothing, and shelter. Why would a nurse be above assisting a person with those tasks?

At any rate, unless you get a most cushy job, you will have to do those daily living things at least once in a while. You will always run into patients who are contracted, who have had a stroke, who can't do even the simple things for themselves. And there may not always be anyone else to delegate that to. Depending on where you work, you may always be responsible for those tasks, or you may usually have an MA or someone to help, but you can't count on anyone else doing it all the time. It just won't happen.

Nursing involves taking care of the person as a whole. If you can't or won't do that, then perhaps you should consider a different path.

Katnip, RN · Oct 24, 2003

I too, agree with Tweety. And even in the ER, I had to wipe bottoms, pass trays, make beds, and generally do a lot of dirty work.

Even if you have a floor with techs, (we have 1 for 13 patients) and one wing with no techs at all), there is no way you should let a patient lie in a soiled bed while the tech is trying to juggle vitals and fingersticks in a timely matter.

Sorry, but nursing just doesn't sound right for you. There are positions in hospitals, like Sashi said that are still invaluable but don't require direct patient care. You might want to look into some of those.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Oct 24, 2003

I agree with the above posters. I'm not flaming you either, but I don't see you as "nursing material". That's OK, not everybody is, and it's better to find it out now, before you waste a lot of time and money on educating yourself for a career you won't enjoy. Trust us; you don't want to be a nurse!

Best of luck to you in finding the right career.

RNmomma · Oct 24, 2003

Manyquestions - I really identify with you. ADL work can be physically and mentally grueling, and there are aspects of nursing that aren't as focused on it, but each one is going to have at least a little of it. LTC may not be for you, but there are so many different ways to be a nurse.

Another way to look at it is that the ADLs are the basis, the bottom line, of caring for these patients. It is rudimentary. Too often things like regular turning, clean sheets, and oral care are ignored.

Don't write off nursing as a career just yet. You may just need to find your niche.

ManyQuestions · Oct 24, 2003

Thanks for the career advice regarding nursing and ADLs, y'all. I guess I just needed to hear it a few more times.

I guess it's time to take a closer look at that Radiology Tech training program, eh?

Dixen81 · Oct 24, 2003

Different strokes for different folks...I'll gladly take care of those old folks for ya...Good luck in whatever you choose!

WhyO · Oct 25, 2003

I don't think you should write this off yet either! It is true that you will have to do ADL's through nursing school and Cna training... All of us who work with direct patient care do it daily and I will be the first to fess up that it is not the most fun I have or look forward to HOWEVER it needs to be done (think of yourself, kids, mom, dad, bro, ect in that situation).

There are many different realms of nursing which do not require as much, if any, ADL-cares, for example: school nursing, community health nursing, psyche nursing (at least our psych unit), quality control nursing, employee health nursing, nursing instructor/professors, & nursing informatics & implementing ect) .

There are also different aspects of the depth of ADL care that you will do in hospital settings... the LTF do a lot of assisting patients in the manner that you speak, but there is surgical nursing, ER nursing ect where the level of ADL care is lower. I floated to the LTC unit in my hospital a few weeks ago (i am an ICU nurse) and couldn't wait till my shift was over... the only thing I can say is that LT nurses are GODDESSES! I got through the day just fine, but decided that I definitely didn't have the patience to do that type of nursing every day. I don't believe it is because I was a terrible person or terrible nurse because I had those feelings, but that type of nursing is not for me at this point in my life... that could change in the future!

there is all types of nurses and nursing out there, don't sell your self short yet, explore your options! But as a reminder, think how much that person & family will value you when you have done a few extras with a patient when it comes to patient cares!