Complaining nurses

SusanJean · Dec 9, 2004

I am absolutly offended and embarassed for this fellow nurse who feels its "not her job" to help a child who has a medical condition of not being able to control his bowels. Should the child stand up in class and tell the teacher I soiled my self so all his classmates can make fun of him?Should the teacher stop teaching class and clean the child so then the child can be more humiliated?This nurse should be ashamed and should look for a new vocation.I have been a nurse for thirteen years and I am tired of hearing fellow nurses complain about doing things that are their job. Nurses are there to nurture and heal MIND BODY and SPIRIT. Is this nurse above cleaning stool off a probably very embarrased child. My advice to her is get a new job and stop complaining.
Sincerely,
Upset Nurse who loves caring for all no matter how unpleasant the job

I agree with you 100%. I have run across many medical professionals who should not be in the profession they are in...including doctors, PA's, nurses, social workers, etc.

Just on a human and humane level, where is the compassion?

Isn't there something in nursing, as in medicine, that says "Do no harm??" I don't know, but am really asking...

SJ

JVanRN · Dec 9, 2004

If anything helping the little boy clean himself up (with the encoperesis) is more of a nursing function than providing safety pins and so forth...so yeah I thought that response about "drawing the line there" was kinda odd...but then I don't do her job so I don't know...I'm sure she's an okay nurse...just venting...that's what this place is for...try not to get to upset over it.

SusanJean · Dec 9, 2004

My daughter's school has the most fantastic nurse -- she cares about the kids, what happens to them (at school and at home) and goes out of her way to provide a "safe" place for the kids to come. My time spent volunteering w/ her has been, in part, what has lead me to nursing.

I'm sure I am "spoiled" by this woman, by way of what I expect a caring professional to be...

But, I hold her up as the standard of what I will be as a nurse.

smk1, LPN · Dec 9, 2004

i'm not a nurse yet but i was a school health assistant and while I don't know that particular nurses situation, we once had a kindergarten student who decided to have a bowel movement on herself everyday. ( i say decided, because she had to have been potty trained at some point to be enrolled). This kid didn't wear anything other than regular pants and panties. No pullups or anything to aid in a quick clean-up. We were expected to some how clean the poop off of this girl and get her changed (into what? i might add). I "drew the line" so to speak here. First the kid needed a psych consult, which we got for her and worked with the social worker at school to get help (some weird stuff was going on in that family) but there was no "medical reason" determined for her soiling herself everyday. Not to mention that she smelled so bad that it was upsetting to the sick kids sitting in our office being cared for. Still, she showed no embarrasment about the situation. We finally were able to work it out so that her grandma was called to help her clean up everyday at school. I guess my point is that it is fine to help, but sometimes the nurses office becomes a dumping ground for everything. Kids who ripped a shirt and need a new one, kids who splashed in puddles and are all wet. When you aren't busy it's not a problem to help out and i was glad to do it, and if it were a situation where the student couldn't control their responses, i would have no problem helping, but chronic dumping of non-medical things into the nurses office simply because no one else wants to deal with it can get disheartening. i hope this post doesn't sound cold, but you simply had to be in this particular situation to see that the nursing office was being abused.

kevinsnurse · Dec 9, 2004

Please look up the diagnosis encoperesis and understand a little more about what it means before you say this kindergarten student DECEIDED to have a bowel movement on herself everday.Children can be potty trained and then develop problems after that with bowel control, well into their early adolesence. Being a Nurse means having undertanding and VERY often thinking "outside the box". Perhaps having the Grandmother sending a supply of wipes, clean underwear, and pants to the office or with the child to school each day would have helped your situation.A child "soiling" themselves IS a nursing problem, psycosocial and physical,and should be delt with by a Nurse. Remeber - Mind, Body, Spirit is what you are resposible for as a Nurse. If you don't agree please rethink becoming a nurse. And that is what I need to VENT about professional nursing attitudes.

i'm not a nurse yet but i was a school health assistant and while I don't know that particular nurses situation, we once had a kindergarten student who decided to have a bowel movement on herself everyday. ( i say decided, because she had to have been potty trained at some point to be enrolled). This kid didn't wear anything other than regular pants and panties. No pullups or anything to aid in a quick clean-up. We were expected to some how clean the poop off of this girl and get her changed (into what? i might add). I "drew the line" so to speak here. First the kid needed a psych consult, which we got for her and worked with the social worker at school to get help (some weird stuff was going on in that family) but there was no "medical reason" determined for her soiling herself everyday. Not to mention that she smelled so bad that it was upsetting to the sick kids sitting in our office being cared for. Still, she showed no embarrasment about the situation. We finally were able to work it out so that her grandma was called to help her clean up everyday at school. I guess my point is that it is fine to help, but sometimes the nurses office becomes a dumping ground for everything. Kids who ripped a shirt and need a new one, kids who splashed in puddles and are all wet. When you aren't busy it's not a problem to help out and i was glad to do it, and if it were a situation where the student couldn't control their responses, i would have no problem helping, but chronic dumping of non-medical things into the nurses office simply because no one else wants to deal with it can get disheartening. i hope this post doesn't sound cold, but you simply had to be in this particular situation to see that the nursing office was being abused.

smk1, LPN · Dec 9, 2004

Please look up the diagnosis encoperesis and understand a little more about what it means before you say this kindergarten student DECEIDED to have a bowel movement on herself everday.Children can be potty trained and then develop problems after that with bowel control, well into their early adolesence. Being a Nurse means having undertanding and VERY often thinking "outside the box". Perhaps having the Grandmother sending a supply of wipes, clean underwear, and pants to the office or with the child to school each day would have helped your situation.A child "soiling" themselves IS a nursing problem, psycosocial and physical,and should be delt with by a Nurse. Remeber - Mind, Body, Spirit is what you are resposible for as a Nurse. If you don't agree please rethink becoming a nurse. And that is what I need to VENT about professional nursing attitudes.

ok your post sounds a bit snooty. If you didn't mean it to be, then i apologize in advance. I have no need to look up the definiton of encoperesis because I wasn't the one making the decisions. A physician, School nurse and counselor were involved and the MEDICAL opinion was that this wasn't a physiological issue. Yes nursing deals with psychosocial issues, however when there is a trained/ educated professional school psychologist and an MSW there SPECIFICALLY to deal with these issues, then that is where the child should be sent. Yes she "decided" to stop going potty. There was determined to be NO physiological reason why she couldn't have her BMs on a toilet. Now as I stated before in my post there were obvious issues in that family that called for professional help, and that is why the counselor was brought in. At this point this was his case and this child had no other "nursing" or "medical" need and was simply being handed off because the other departments didn't want to deal with cleaning her. This sort of thing is not really a nursing "function". Think of it this way, if you work in an office building as a Workers comp nurse or in some other nursing capacity, and someone who is not your patient urinates and has a bm all over themselves down the hall. WOuld you expect to be the one required to go and clean that person up just because you are the "nurse"? It has nothing to do with not having compassion and understanding, I am sure most people would help out to be nice, it is when people start trying to REQUIRE things of you that a problem can begin, and when you have situations like this along with a host of other non-nursing issues to deal with, to the point where it takes time away from your expected duties, it can be a bit much. I am not making a blanket statement that all school nurses should make the same choice. I just am recalling a PARTICULAR incident in which the nurse made a decision to "take a stand" as it were, and interestingly enough most of her nurse colleagues agreed, but perhaps you work in a different climate and so this wouldn't be a problem for you. By the way I feel that i am a very understanding person, which is why i can see 2 sides of the story, and it is that quality along with others that i think will hep me to become a good nurse.

jaimealmostRN · Dec 10, 2004

Whatever, troll alert. I personally don't like cleaning up poo either...but I will if the person needs it, does that mean that I smile when I do it? H#LL no, this is a place to vent not be completely PC as most of us do at work/in school clinicals. We complain here so we don't do it in front of embarassed children or the family members of our patients.

Jeanine · Dec 10, 2004

Kevin,

I can see by your posting that you love your nephew very much and were searching for help for him. Perhaps that is why you were so passoinate in your response to the nurse who was venting about drawing the line at cleaning up the student with encoporesis.

I was the original poster in the thread who was tired of non-nursing duties and being dumped on in school. I just needed to vent, that doesn't mean that I don't do these things. Just today, I had a student who pulled a hangnail that had maybe a spot of blood on the finger (all of the teachers have been supplied with bandaids for the classroom, per their request). At the same time, I was waiting for the ambulance to arrive for a student with severe abdominal pain, nausea, hypotension, thready pulse, pale color, and rapid/shallow respirations. The teachers really need to try and keep the student in the classroom if at all possible, especially in 7th and 8th grade. The student who needed a band-aid was out of class for 15 minutes before I could tend to him, even though I told him to wash his finger, get a band-aid, and go back to class. I'm sure he missed something in class!

If your zipper is broken, your pants are not going to fall down if you are sitting in your chair, but I know that it's hard to let that stuff go, so I give them a pin.

If you have gum in your hair, I know that it's gross and I'd want to get it out ASAP. It wouldn't bother me so much if I hadn't asked the teachers to send the student to the cafeteria for peanut butter, and then to the bathroom to remove the gum. Why do I need to be the one to get it out? BUT...I do anyway.

It's just hard when you're trying to do a vision screening and all of these little things are showing up and interrupting you!

I'd rather vent to other nurses who can understand. The teachers would just be offended because they don't have time for that stuff and they don't know what else to do with those things either.

Anyway, why don't you post a question about your nephew? Just because we get frustrated sometimes doesn't mean that we don't have a deep well of knowledge to drink from.

kevinsnurse · Dec 10, 2004

The reason I guess I sounded so upset and passionate in my response is that when I was researching on Google for my nephew in order to help him the quoted web site that I was directed to about the subject was the nurses quote "that's where I draw the line" and then to open in it up hoping to find helpful information only to find a nurse complaining about the disease. It just made me think of how many other people looking for help came across this. I am not above any of you and have certainly over the past 13 years have vented about the undesireable situations in our jobs. I am an Emergency Room nurse in New York City so I know all to well about doing things outside the realm of "nursing functions". But those are the things that make me proud to be a nurse. The ability to touch another human life in need whether I am caring for a trauma or a homeless person with no medical problems other than needing a shower and a clean set of clothes.I guess thats just the perspective that Im coming from. So please be careful about what you vent here because this is not a nurses only web site lay people can veiw the messages.And to the student nurses, good luck in your pursuit of the profession but always try to remain objective and do what's best for those under your care and hopefully you will see its those little things that you do for people that make all the difference for them as well as for you in your own job satisfaction.

DDRN4me · Dec 14, 2004

whew!!! lots of tension here on all sides...everyone take a deep breath..I agree that we all need to look at both sides of this kind of discussion! Kevin, I know that as a family member some of these statements seem harsh, but when you are running a "mini er" ALONE and you have an office full of sick kids, sometimes these things will really get you! I work in a school for kids with behavior disorders, and some of the children have smearing issues in the safe rooms..why is it a nursing function to clean up after them?????? I have supplied all rooms with bleach and spray bottles, but some techers think it is beneath them..well its all in a days work..but i get soooo aggravated sometimes- not really at the kids..its the adults that are the pains!!!!

kmekmanlvn · Feb 24, 2010

I have been a nurse for 30+years, Ihave experiance in all areas of medicine,I truly believe that alot of the nursing shortages could be alleived if the nurses boards would grandfather some of the vastly experianced LVN's, giving them a chance to take the RN boards, I personally know many of us could already pass them now, if given the chance. Please advise me via e-mail where to blog this worthy suggestion. Thank you, kmekmanlvn