STNA's ... do you have to clean up a lot of poo-poo?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am thinking about becoming an STNA so I can get some experience before I apply for a PA program or direct entry MSN. I have looked over some threads here but I cannot get a feel on exactly what dirty jobs the STNA does.

If there is poo-poo (for lack of a better term!), pee, blood, or puke on the floor, does the STNA clean it up or is there a janitor? I know this sounds really dumb but I just want to know ahead of time.

I am trying to get a feel if an STNA is more like a janitor of yucky messes or an actual assistant to a nurse (talking blood pressure, pulse etc.). Does an STNA often wield a mop?

I know STNA's change beds; what if the bed is covered in nasty stuff? Do you get to wear a bunch of protective clothing? Again, not trying to sound like a total moron here; just worried about disease prevention. Is this taken seriously on the job?

I don't mind helping people in the bathroom, bathing them, enemas, etc. (I have a strong stomach) but I have this fear that being an STNA is like being a janitor, rather than being a true medical professional.

Can someone enlighten me? Thanks!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

The nursing assistant position encompasses a number of tasks that aren't always in the job description, including housekeeping/janitorial duties, meal service, even answering the phones. For that matter, so does nursing itself---as an RN, I myself have been known to wield a plunger to unclog a toilet and spray the dining room for ants!:)

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
The nursing assistant position encompasses a number of tasks that aren't always in the job description, including housekeeping/janitorial duties, meal service, even answering the phones. For that matter, so does nursing itself---as an RN, I myself have been known to wield a plunger to unclog a toilet and spray the dining room for ants!:)

And change lightbulbs, spread salt on snowy sidewalks on Saturdays, clean poo-poo off the floor in the dining room, etc - all as an RN. No one is immune! (But don't let that scare you away, it's far from the end of the world.

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Specializes in LTC.

Most of the "poo poo" you will be cleaning will be out of butt cracks, not the floor.

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Most of the "poo poo" you will be cleaning will be out of butt cracks, not the floor.

LOL!! :lol2: I guess it's not so bad if it's in the nether regions vs. the floor (somehow less nauseating that way).

Thank you to everyone for your posts! This is very helpful to me. I appreciate everyone's time!

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Sick people are messy.

:)

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Thank God being a Mom has desensitized me to icky stuff. You haven't lived until another human being puts his or her booger in your mouth! (my daughter did that to me when she was 2) :p

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Thank God being a Mom has desensitized me to icky stuff. You haven't lived until another human being puts his or her booger in your mouth! (my daughter did that to me when she was 2) :p

Or thrown up on your head as you were tying their shoes. :lol2:

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Well, here is a bit of advice to all student or want to be student CNA's, LPN.s and RN.s. Yes, "poo-poo" is part of the job. A very small part. If "poo-poo" is your main concern, then please, work at wal-mart. Do not, I mean, do not, think health care is for you. Professionals in healthcare- from CNA to RN and everything in between and beyond, do not care about "poo-poo". That is what makes us professional. I hope you never "poo-poo" yourself. Might not be pretty......:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Let's start with the "for lack of a better term" issue....how about "stool," "BM," or "urine." I'm sorry if I'm being picky or whatever, but terms like "poo-poo" just make me cringe (to me, that's on par with calling briefs "diapers," I can't stand when people call them that!). Anyway.

If someone doesn't quite make it to the toilet fast enough, then yes, you'll have to clean it up (I would feel like a total orifice calling housekeeping to do that....I'm not *above* doing it!). Same goes for if they throw up on the floor. Absolutely your job if they mess up the bed. I find it disappointing that you'd ask, actually. Can you picture standing back watching someone else do it, or leaving a mess on the floor in a patient's room where it is, until someone can get there? The downside (at least where I am) is that I don't really have access to a mop, so I grab towels and a spray bottle of cleaner/disinfectant. If someone from housekeeping happens to be on the unit (they go throughout the hospital with their carts where they are needed and clean rooms after patients are discharged if it's past the time of doing their daily rounds), I may ask them to mop the area, but only AFTER I've done the spray/towel routine, just to have them just go over it.

The majority of excrement you'll be cleaning will be off of the patients themselves, and changing soiled linen, although over the years I've cleaned urine/stool off of just about everything....toilets (all parts...seat, bowl, handle), sinks, walls, floors, curtains, bed rails, call lights, clothing, shoes, ....dentures......

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AWWWWWWHHH : ) nursing's lil perks! lol.....

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

The aides at the hospital I am doing clinicals at, do vitals, empty and measure the urine, turn the patients, assist with toileting, clean up a lot of vomit and stool. They do not do enemas, it's not allowed. They do the accu-checks and various other things, I can say the aides do clean up a lot of stool. Not housekeeping. The nurse does all these tasks as well, but I would say the aide does 98% of it from what I have seen. In the nursing home the aides pretty much did 100% of it where I was at.

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