Are my classmates delusional??

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Hello everyone,

I was recently in a study session with some of classmates for a Microbiology class. We started talking about nursing in general and I jokingly said we are going to be professional a$$ wipers! (btw, I was just joking no need to comment on this :)) But they both looked at me with puzzled looks and said that we don't have to do that as nurses that CNAs do that. I asked them, if a patient has an accident while under your care what are you going to do? They looked uncomfortable with this question and just answered that they are aware that as a nurse those situations are not common. One claimed that her entire family was in nursing and she knows first hand that nurses hardly have to do that.

It just baffles me how many people go into nursing thinking that this things are beneath them? As experienced nurses how often are you faced with that situation, where you have to clean up a patient's feces and vomit. I honestly thought that you have do that often.

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Specializes in NICU.

your classmates indeed are delusional. I'm not an experienced nurse yet, as I have just graduated, but I definitely expect to be cleaning feces and vomit from time to time. No task is beneath me and your friends are in for a rude awakening if they think they aren't going to ever have to get their hands dirty. My guess is they will have a very, very hard time adjusting when clinicals start. When my clinicals started in my first semester of nursing school, all we did was patient care. Give bed baths and clean people up. Ha! I'd like to see how your classmates make it.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Home Health.

Um, they are in for a rude awakening! If they go to the CNA EVERYTIME a mess occurs, then they arent doing teamwork and the CNA's will not like them. The CNA's have many patients to care for and cant be there for every mess. Yes, as a nurse, you will encounter alot of poop and vomit and yes you will wipe butts and hold a bucket while the patient vomits, etc. Thats part of patient care. But I once had a CNA who refused to clean anything and I had to to total patient care. Needless to say, I hated working with her. When you work with a good CNA, dont take advantage of them. They will not respect you. You need to work as a team. I worked with alot of nurses who felt that cleaning ANYTHING was just so beneath them and the CNA's would hide from them. Ive seen some nurses walk around the hallway for up to 15 minutes looking for a CNA to clean up a mess... the nurse could have already had the mess cleaned up themself and been off to the next task. Thats just rediculous.

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Some units don't have CNAs....what will they do then???

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/LTC/geriatrics.

Don't ever delegate something that you woun't want to do yourself! It is disrespectful and down right rude to your CNA. As a new graduate you can have CNAs that are old enough to be your mother and to treat them like dirt is not the best way to make a first impression. I try to grab my CNA and do whatever we have to do together (if it is undesirable it is usually a big job). Our hospital is the closest regional medical ceter to the local community college and we see a lot of new graduates and students. Every time the students are working on their delegation skills the CNAs get upset because the students just tell the CNA to do something when CNA has way more work then the nursing student who is standing around waiting for the CNA to report back to them. Some days we have a lot of butts to wipe and some days people take care of their own ADLs but to say "I am not going to do..." when I become a nurse is arrogant. If you can't put something below your nose to allow you to do your job you shouln't be a nurse.

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Specializes in OB.

Bahahaha LOL that just makes me laugh!!! You should tell your classmates that as a nurse they can expect to have to deal with any and every type of bodily fluid imaginable, and yes at times be the one who has to clean it up! If a patient gets sick, you are not going to make them sit there in the mess until a CNA can get to them to clean it up. Sure CNA's do alot, but that doesn't mean nurses don't clean people up.

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Specializes in Phase 2, Home Health.

You can also let your classmates know that there are times that there may not be a CNA available. When I worked med-surg/onc night shift we did not have CNAs. It was just us and our share of messes to clean up. It seemed the day and eves got all the CNAs and we didn't get 'em because nights are "quieter". Yeah, right.

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Um, they are in for a rude awakening! If they go to the CNA EVERYTIME a mess occurs, then they arent doing teamwork and the CNA's will not like them. The CNA's have many patients to care for and cant be there for every mess. Yes, as a nurse, you will encounter alot of poop and vomit and yes you will wipe butts and hold a bucket while the patient vomits, etc. Thats part of patient care. But I once had a CNA who refused to clean anything and I had to to total patient care. Needless to say, I hated working with her. When you work with a good CNA, dont take advantage of them. They will not respect you. You need to work as a team. I worked with alot of nurses who felt that cleaning ANYTHING was just so beneath them and the CNA's would hide from them. Ive seen some nurses walk around the hallway for up to 15 minutes looking for a CNA to clean up a mess... the nurse could have already had the mess cleaned up themself and been off to the next task. Thats just rediculous.

Pardon my lack of education......

I am a trm 3 NS...Yes! I have cleaned up many code brown's (including on a 600+ lb pt!)... AND I understand that this is a nurses role..... but why would they keep a CNA around who refused to clean? I would think that would have been shirking her duties and it would be like....GEE it's beneath me as a CNA so I'll leave it for the RN?

:confused:

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Specializes in ICU.

I suppose the area of nursing you're going into affects the amount of poo and other bodily fluids you see... but the bottom line is if you're going into floor nursing, you're going to get your hands dirty... sometimes literally. Expecting a CNA to clean your patients up every time is a good way to get people not to like you.

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*sigh*

These types of attitudes from newbies actually in an odd way amuse me. YES! the are in for a rude awakening.

I work in the ER, tell them not only should they be ready to clean up everything, at one time or another. They should also practice their dodging skills, for things being thrown at you by unruly patients. It doesn't happen often, but I've been hit with an IV bag before.

lol

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

As everyone here knows ... as a nursing student, they won't be able to avoid that sort of thing. They may also not be able to avoid it in their first job or 2 after graduation.

However ... there are a lot of jobs in nursing that don't require much (if any) "butt wiping." If they survive the next few years, they will either change their expectations -- or go into one of those fields.

BTW: I was a NICU nurse for many years. Yes, I wiped butts ... but they were mostly tiny butts with tiny poops and smaller spit-ups. It wasn't the same as with big people.

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Specializes in ICU, ER.
As experienced nurses how often are you faced with that situation, where you have to clean up a patient's feces and vomit. I honestly thought that you have do that often

Yes, constantly. Your classmates are delusional.

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