Don't wanna always give baths, clean up feces, etc., where to work?

[WannaBCRNA]

In clinicals we just give baths, clean up poop and puke, and feed patients. I honestly want nothing to do with this once I'm a nurse, so, where/what floors can I work on as a new grad, in order to avoid this? I do have an interest in Psych nursing.

[EmmaG, RN]

I've also seen some RN's (and notice I said some, not all)find a patient who has had an accident and have spent countless minutes looking for an aide to go clean them up when it could have been done and over with.

When I was charge, woe be to the nurse I caught doing this crap (and there were a few--- but they only did it once, at least when I was working )

[kendel]

i don't disagree that this is an integral part of direct care, no matter the letters after your name, for the precise reasons that have been reiterated (and reiterated, and reiterated....) and i hope youre not implying that it is i upon that high horse....im afraid of heights!!!however, the original inquiry was:

in clinicals we just give baths, clean up poop and puke, and feed patients. i honestly want nothing to do with this once i'm a nurse, so, where/what floors can i work on as a new grad, in order to avoid this?

i have yet to see this issue addressed. instead, i have seen several responses claiming that this is inherent to the practice of nursing. that is simply not the case. in addition to direct care, nurses work in a variety of different areas, including administration, case management, community education, legal nurse consulting, life care planning, research, forensics, utilization review, chart auditing, quality assurance, education, accrediation, credentialing, writing, pharmaceuticals, telemedicine, ehealth. i am sure there are many other areas (and i grant that many of them do require a direct care background) it is my opinion that we should get back to the stated question, rather than the question of whether the performing of said tasks is inherent to the practice of nursing. i think we all know that it isnt.

@

i see why you like the office

[Asherah, BSN, RN]

i see why you like the office

Are one line sarcastic comments truly productive in this thread? I think not.

[Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I had this one patient one shift that I thought was pretty dirty. Baths are normally done on day shift, but maybe they couldn't get to her that day. I gave her the complete beauty treatment, changed linens, washed her hair, cleaned her dentures. She needed a lot of work. It took me about an hour to get it all done. I joked with her that we should go out for a night on the town because she looked so good and snazzy. She laughed and kept calling me someone else's name, but that was okay because she said she felt so good. She had dementia and was very sick, but after it all was done - she was smiling ear to ear. We really did have a good time with our 'beauty' session. When I returned to work a couple of days later, I found out that she had died the next day. At least I know she felt cared for in those last 24 hours she was alive - even if she was disoriented - at least she felt some comfort.

I don't particularly enjoy giving baths or dealing with poo. With that being said, if a patient needs a bath or needs cleaning up after an accident - I have no problem doing it. I treat all of my patients as though I'm treating a member of my own family - with dignity and respect and a little humor thrown in. I would expect my family to be cared for in that manner and I would do the same for other families.

I've had celebrations with a s/p bowel resection patient for having a BM. I've eagerly awaited 'the poo' to rule out C-Diff or a GI bleed.

Poo happens, I've dealt with the poo, I clean the poo, I gather/ collect the poo.....but sorry Emmanuel - I just can't embrace the poo!!

[smk1, LPN]

It is possible that I might burn out fairly quickly if cleaning up poop/vomit/pee were 75% or more of my job all day everyday with little else mixed in. Probably not going to be the case though. In any case, I don't define my practice by how much crap I clean up. There is a lot more to it than that. I have had maybe 2 days as a student where I spent the majority of the day cleaning people up, but my frustration on those days had little to do wth the actual cleaning up. It was with the lack of time to do anything but the bare minimum. These people could have benefited from a real shampooing and lotion and massage to help calm them down and relieve their anxiety and help them t get more comfortable. Newsflash: Many patients are mortified that they have lost control of their bodily fluids and have to ask someone else to clean them up! The problem that I could see was that there was barely enough time to get them clean and complete all of the other duties that needed to be attended to. Most people are not going to "enjoy" cleaning up poo and vomit, but if you can try your best to change the way you view this duty you might not dread it as much as you think.

[smk1, LPN]

Areas where you will encounter little in the way of clean up duties: School nursing (though it is possible), clinics, out patient mental health settings (though you will have to deal with a vast array of smells emanating from the patients even if you don't have to clean them). Insurance and occupational health nursing. Clinical instruction.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I think we've said all we need to say. There are several of long threads about this topic.

The original poster hasn't even started nursing school yet and is going to experience a wide variety of situations and emotions.

Going to close for now while the mods discuss it. Thanks.