Do you have to deal with these?

do you have to deal with poo,pee and vomit in the ER if you're a RN? a PA? a NP? if yet, on a daily basis? just wondering. if this question sounds weird, dont mind me

I'm afraid to say you really have to deal with puke pee pee and all that in any kind of nurse setting. I don't know what RN, PA or NP mean, but I'm a registered general nurse in the UK, and I clean up exactly what my Junior staff members clean up. It's called teamwork, ecept when there is sputum involved, so I'll try to swap with someone else doing poo poo duty. Our Student nurses do the same. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who think nursing is glamourous, or all about fawning over the Doctors with tight uniforms on and no slip on underneath (talking from personal experience), and that some people refuse to clean up stuff in case they break a nail. Even in theatre, if there is a blocked bowel, you get it. I tell you though, you might not get it in minor injuries, or minor surgery very often.

ER/ED nurses see (and touch) some of the grossest things imaginable.

Stuff like wounds with maggots in them, and worse.

ER/ED nurses see (and touch) some of the grossest things imaginable.

Stuff like wounds with maggots in them, and worse.

Really, poop and pee are the least of the worries. (How about the feet on the homeless guy who hasn't taken his shoes off in weeks. :rotfl: )

The sites and smells and nasties of nursing are a valid concern. It's understandable to try to find an area where you won't have to deal with it. In nursing school, you'll have to get through it, and by the end you'll find it not so bad.

do you have to deal with poo,pee and vomit in the ER if you're a RN? a PA? a NP? if yet, on a daily basis? just wondering. if this question sounds weird, dont mind me

You have asked this same question on another thread. I know that you do not want to deal with any of the above, because you seem to be trying to find an area of nursing that doesn't have to deal with it. I have to ask the obvious question.....why do you want to be a nurse? It can't be for the money, the wonderful hours or the glory, so what is your motivation? You said in another thread you did not want to do patient care, IIRC. There are lots of good jobs out there that do not require care of ill or injured people. Perhaps you could seek them out.

I know this sounds harsh, but nursing is a tough business. It is not for the weak and faint of heart. It requires day to day dealing with people who are very ill, perhaps dying. I do not want another nurse working with or near me who cannot or will not have the patients best interest at heart. If you are not willing to get down and dirty, you have no business being in nursing school. Yes, you may find a niche somewhere where you never have to smell anything bad, see anything disgusting, touch anything yucky, but you will miss all of the good stuff too.

So find yourself a little ivory tower somewhere and live in it, but find another profession. If your main concern is your own inconvience, then you are not a collegue of mine.

it's just a part of nursing that you have to deal with. heck, even lvn's have to go through this too!

do you have to deal with poo,pee and vomit in the ER if you're a RN? a PA? a NP? if yet, on a daily basis? just wondering. if this question sounds weird, dont mind me

Are you still a student? Because if you are, you'll get used to all of it by the time you graduate :beer: .

Of course you have to deal with poo, pee and vomit!!! They are natural body functions. If you have a pet, surely you have dealt with these...and one day if you have a child, you get to deal with plenty of all 3!!!

I agree with Dixielee - if you are looking for a job where you won't get dirty or smell anything bad, then nursing is definitely not for you - and you might have a hard time surviving clinicals. But if you really want to be a nurse, and truly care for your patients, then the messes are just incidental. (they do make for some darn funny stories sometimes, though).

Everyone has their weak spot, though. you just have to acknowledge yours, and hold your breath and say a prayer when you have to deal with it. At my last job (in OB) I worked with a tech who was awesome....she was the biggest help with everything, but started gagging each time she saw a container of pumped breastmilk...we would have to cover it up with a towel each time we needed her to carry it to the NICU. We laughed about it together and as long as it was covered she was fine!!!

Examine what you really are looking for in a career before you get too far.

I'm with Dixie as well- not only do you ave to deal with them- you can use "them" to help in your assessment tools-

"Sputum of many colors

Urine that has certain odors and colors

GI bleed breath

C diff poop smell- no need for culture results on them

Strep throat halitosis to name ONLY a few

(we could start a whole new thread on these topics)

There's a lot to nursing---some very gross

There are risks to nursing---some very dangerous--MRSA, HepC, HIV, and so on (not to mention the physical risks to your health)

ED nursing is also one of the MOST rewarding professions there are---but not everyone is cut out for it.

Anne

Man oh man, do you ever have to deal with all of these things if you become a nurse. Yesterday in our Peds ED we had 10 beds full of nothing but little guys with nausea, vomiting & diarrhea. But if you get through nursing school you will either get used to it, or get out. There will be no tolerance for anything otherwise - your patients who are experiencing it deserve for you to treat them w/ respect - even if you feel like gagging and running from the room.

HAHA i know. why do men think nurses are so sexy? they really think nurses wear tiny uniforms and have long wavy hair :rotfl: there is nothing sexy about doing a nurse' job from what ive read here =)

why do i want to become a nurse? i really dont know. there are some parts of it that really interests me and want to dive right into it but there are other parts that discourages me. would i really love my career? would i want to run out the door when i become a RN and in result throw away my four years of bsn education? like ive said numerous times before im just doing my GEDs in college and have NO hospital working experience. im trying my best to decide if this is the path that i should take because i do not want to waste time/money studying the wrong subjects. that's why ive been on this forum trying to find out as much as i can about nursing and there really is no need to for you to become angry and say that you would never want to work with me for not being clear if this is what i really want to do for now i might sound selfish right now but i cant help it. this is one of the biggest decision that i have to make in my life and i was just asking some questions to get an idea of what working as a nurse is really like. i have no time to go to a hospital to shadow a nurse and im feeling desparate because i still dont know what i want to do in life and i thought this would be a great place to get important advices before i commit to nursing. im writing an essay here but my life is SOOOO sad right now! *sigh* i wish i can be like those people who go into college knowing what they want to major in and everything and i think im just venting here right now :angryfire :chuckle thanks for reading m post! i feel a bit better? haha i hope what i wrote here makes sense because i only had three hours of sleep and im going crazy. HAVE A NICE DAY!

also this forum confuses me because one nurse says one thing and the other one says something else. i still dont know what a RN really goes through at work and what they do on their "typical day" if there is such a thing :)

i know there are a lot of dedicated nurses on this forum, but there must be some things that you dont like about your job becasue there seems to be no such thing as "the perfect job" can you share some of the downs of being a nurse so those wont catch me off guard alter?

or better yet, give me any career (not including nursing) advices or stories so i can consider other career options if i find that nursing would not be right for me. there seems to be no adult around me who can help me with my situation right now and i am lost. thank you