Taking out the trash

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 16, 2004

Well, actually we have a great guy who waxes the floor so there's no need for that or the rolling of the eyes . . I'm not an idiot. And I'm not to blame for the nursing shortage, in fact I bet the nursing shortage has very little to do with grabbing up a full bag of trash in a patient's room and throwing it away. Making a political statement out of every little thing that happens MAY just be one contributing factor to the dissatisfation felt by new nurses. The bitter in-fighting between shifts, the antagonism between nurses and management. Sheesh, instead of trying to figure out how to get along better and have safer staffed floors, we shoot the messenger who decides to take the trash out.
I've been a nurse now for almost 6 years and MY biggest disappointment is the constant bickering and fighting and moaning and groaning . . . . the political climate around nursing, to be blunt, sucks. And THAT is what they don't teach you in nursing school. I proctered a new nurse a few years ago and one of the points I tried to reiterate was not to join into the bashing of your co-workers. Don't buy into the shift vs. shift blame game . . . the administration is evil/Nurses are angels game . . . the lazy CNA game. Try to remember the job is 24/7, we are teammates, rely on one another, trust each other. Well, he fell fast and deep into the cesspool of blame . . . .like my kids . . "I didn't leave that glass there" . .well, help out anyway and take it to the kitchen!
I'm not going to fall into that angry mode of thinking . . . . I'm going to help my co-workers and empty the trash and make a bed and help a patient up to a commode and mop up a spill in the middle of the night. And I think I'm smart enough to notice if administration starts making it my job description and starts firing all the other staff . . . I think I might just be able to make my own decision about where to go from there.
It actually does make a difference where you are coming from. We are not a monolith speaking groupspeak.
steph

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmen!

tonchitoRN · Mar 16, 2004

you have time to take out the trash?

btw - something i was taught a long time ago. no matter how much you wash your hands they are never 100% clean. even though everyone wears gloves and is diligent about washing hands you are never as clean as you think. now i am wondering you as a nurse clean poop and take out the trash and then you do a surgical dressing change or insert an iv. then everyone wonders where that patient caught the nosocomial infection? anyone listening?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Mar 16, 2004

Good post Steph.

My take on it is, if it becomes written in the job description and part of the evaluation "nursing to take out trash", then I will object. In the meantime, if it's overflowing and housekeeping is off duty, I'll empty it. Again, I realize that's my decision and I decline to make a complaint or even take notice if the offgoing shift doesn't empty trash. Because it's not their job. I do plenty of things though that isn't my job like defrosting the fridge, cleaning the breakroom, etc. It's going above and beyond when time allows. Just don't "expect" it of me and I'm o.k. Kind of selfish of me I know, that I pick and choose which chores I take on, but that's me.

If you don't want to empty the trash, then don't. If your coworkers make a big deal of it, who cares what they think. If your manager wants to write you up for not dumping the trash, find another job.

CCU NRS · Mar 16, 2004

you have time to take out the trash?
btw - something i was taught a long time ago. no matter how much you wash your hands they are never 100% clean. even though everyone wears gloves and is diligent about washing hands you are never as clean as you think. now i am wondering you as a nurse clean poop and take out the trash and then you do a surgical dressing change or insert an iv. then everyone wonders where that patient caught the nosocomial infection? anyone listening?

you should change your gloves between cleaning poop and doing the dressing change anyone listening?

I mean you are now equating the emptying of the trash to causing nosocomial, but you feel that leaving the trash in the room is not a problem...breakdown in crtical thinking

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Mar 17, 2004

Taking out the trash is but a task that is performed. However, it covers a bigger issue for nurses. If we are to recruit and attract bright young people into the profession of nursing, how appealing is it going to be for them to know that after they paid $25-35,000 (or more) for their education, they will be picking up trash! Sorry, whether you like it or not, young people do not consider picking up trash a professional job responsibility once they have worked for and earned their degree. I would venture to think that their parents (probably the ones who paid the tuition bill), would also not find this task appealing for their young daughter or son either.

If we, as nurses, allow administration to dictate our professional (and in this case - non-professional) job duties, then we are missing the point of what a profession is and can be. There is always so much talk that if nurses united and spoke with one voice, we could accomplish so much. Perhaps taking out the trash is not the issue that will unite us, but please understand that something this small can and does define who we are as professionals. If we are going to do this task, then administration is going to keep cutting ancillary help and before you know it, nurses will be required to take out the trash all the time. Like other posters have said, today it is taking out the trash, tomorrow it is cleaning and mopping the floors and the list will grow. Trust me, it will grow.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 17, 2004

Taking out the trash is but a task that is performed. However, it covers a bigger issue for nurses. If we are to recruit and attract bright young people into the profession of nursing, how appealing is it going to be for them to know that after they paid $25-35,000 (or more) for their education, they will be picking up trash! Sorry, whether you like it or not, young people do not consider picking up trash a professional job responsibility once they have worked for and earned their degree. I would venture to think that their parents (probably the ones who paid the tuition bill), would also not find this task appealing for their young daughter or son either.
If we, as nurses, allow administration to dictate our professional (and in this case - non-professional) job duties, then we are missing the point of what a profession is and can be. There is always so much talk that if nurses united and spoke with one voice, we could accomplish so much. Perhaps taking out the trash is not the issue that will unite us, but please understand that something this small can and does define who we are as professionals. If we are going to do this task, then administration is going to keep cutting ancillary help and before you know it, nurses will be required to take out the trash all the time. Like other posters have said, today it is taking out the trash, tomorrow it is cleaning and mopping the floors and the list will grow. Trust me, it will grow.

Whether i take out the trash or mop the floors will not make me any less of a professional. What WILL make me a professional will be my konwledge, competency, skill, professional attitude, etc.. And i can live and strive for the best of that.

Signed, an LPN student :)

orrnlori, RN · Mar 17, 2004

I went back and re-read the originial post and no where in there does it state that the management was asking her to take out the trash, it was another nurse. The gripe was with the other nurse. Sheesh! So we are stand back and decide what we think is in our professional realm to do each day and do only those things? Come on. I'm paying to put my son through college and then he'll go to grad school, courtesy of my pocketbook. I hope he never thinks that he is too good to help out when needed no matter what he ends up doing. This has been blown all out of proportion. I don't feel demeaned by occasionally pulling trash bags. I know who I am and what I'm capable of, bagging trash hardly demeans me as a person or nurse. I reiterate --- Sheeeshhh!

CCU NRS · Mar 17, 2004

Who takes out the trash at your house? I do it and I have the kids do it and Imhev even on accassion seen my wife do it. Hmmmm I guess the perspective is just different I mean you do keep your house clan and thrash emptied don't you?

kellilou3 · Mar 17, 2004

Taking out the trash is but a task that is performed. However, it covers a bigger issue for nurses. If we are to recruit and attract bright young people into the profession of nursing, how appealing is it going to be for them to know that after they paid $25-35,000 (or more) for their education, they will be picking up trash! Sorry, whether you like it or not, young people do not consider picking up trash a professional job responsibility once they have worked for and earned their degree. I would venture to think that their parents (probably the ones who paid the tuition bill), would also not find this task appealing for their young daughter or son either.

I haven't even started nursing school yet but hold the idea that my job as a nurse will be to fulfill the patient's needs, and if the trash is nasty and overflowing, then I will empty it as a courtesy to the patient. The thought that I may have to empty trash does not discourage me from entering the nursing profession, nor does it make me feel any less of a professional. What makes me, personally, feel professional is knowing that I am doing my personal best to meet the patient's needs, and I'm sure my parents wouldn't care what the heck I was doing for a career, as long as I was doing my best. The general consensus on this topic seems to be that no one person can speak for everyone, so there really isn't a point in debating this further. If you're unhappy with your situation, whether that be pay, workload, or even taking out the trash, then you need deal with it on a personal level because it may not be the same everywhere else. :)

roxannekkb · Mar 17, 2004

Who takes out the trash at your house? I do it and I have the kids do it and Imhev even on accassion seen my wife do it. Hmmmm I guess the perspective is just different I mean you do keep your house clan and thrash emptied don't you?

Well you also cook and wash dishes at home, mow the lawn, and take care of your kids. You vacuum and dust, wash windows, do laundry, iron, go food shopping, and scrub the toilet bowl. But does that mean you're going to do it at your job? Unit clerks, doctors, respiratory therapists, and social workers also empty trash at home, and clean their house. But do any of them do it at work?

Although, maybe things are different at your job. Maybe you've got docs who launder, bleach and iron linens, and unit clerks who mop the floor.

All of that once did fall into the realm of nursing. Nurse was cook/janitor/doctor's helper. The point of this discussion is not whether one should help out on occasion, but whether nurses should readily pick up the slack. If nurses don't complain, and refuse to be laden down by non-nursing chores, then hospitals will keep trimming away at ancillary help, and expect nurses to do it.

I've seen it happen, when one hospital I worked in decided to turn over washing isolettes to the nursing staff--it was part of their plan to cut housekeeping staff. Most of the nurses refused, although a few did clean them (the martyrs, as always). But as the dirty ones accumulated in the hallways, and the hospital was forced to rent a few to accomodate new arrivals, they relented. They hired the extra staff housekeeping wanted, and the isolettes were cleaned.

Now, no one minded cleaning one if things were crazy and babies were pouring through the door. The problem was having it enshrined in our job description.

Hospitals can hire enough housekeeping to empty trash at regular intervals, empty laundry hampers, mop the floors, and do the sort of job that they are paid to do it. I have been in hospitals where nurses never touch the trash, and never need to--save for the rarest occasion. If nurses are pulling trash, linens, cleaning bathrooms, etc, regularly or even semi-regularly, it is because the hospital is refusing to hire sufficient staff. That's the bottom line.

And if nurses do it, and pick up the slack elsewhere, there is no motivation for a hospital to change. Nurses complain of burn-out and not being able to adequately care for their patients--I wonder why, since many of them seem to be so busy doing everyone else's job.

smk1, LPN · Mar 17, 2004

i was a nursing assistant in an assisted living facility and had a similar experience. The aides started helping the servers clear the dining room after breakfast because most of us were friends and the server had to get to school in the morning. Well after doing this of our own free will and helping spirit, there came a time when we were too busy to help. THe Kitchen manager complained and we were REPRIMANDED for not helping clear dishes after meals! I about blew my top, this was not my job and in fact is an entirely other PAID POSITION and yet because i was being helpful when i had the time, I was in trouble when my ACTUAL job demanded that i be elsewhere helping a resident. Now Im not saying this is always going to be the case in all facilities, but everybody knows the attitude of their administration and what the likely outcome will be in their facility. for me, i learned to be a team player in a "pinch" but to not always be "overly" helpful "just because" because in that particular job i WOULD be taken advantage of. It is a sad way to look at things but I know that i will remember this (and a few other similar experiences) in future endeavors.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Mar 17, 2004

I haven't even started nursing school yet but hold the idea that my job as a nurse will be to fulfill the patient's needs, and if the trash is nasty and overflowing, then I will empty it as a courtesy to the patient. The thought that I may have to empty trash does not discourage me from entering the nursing profession, nor does it make me feel any less of a professional. What makes me, personally, feel professional is knowing that I am doing my personal best to meet the patient's needs, and I'm sure my parents wouldn't care what the heck I was doing for a career, as long as I was doing my best. The general consensus on this topic seems to be that no one person can speak for everyone, so there really isn't a point in debating this further. If you're unhappy with your situation, whether that be pay, workload, or even taking out the trash, then you need deal with it on a personal level because it may not be the same everywhere else. :)

Kellilou3 - while I can respect your opinion, you are not a nurse yet and you are not faced with the challenges nurses are faced with. Please print this thread out and put it in a safe place. After you are an RN and have some practical nursing work experience, pull this thread (which you printed earlier) and read your response. I am sure your opinion will have a dramatic shift from what you have sumbitted here.

I applaud your positive attitude and also applaud your entry into nursing. It is a wonderful profession to be in and I am proud everyday about the work that I do and the contribution I make to the patient's life. The issue here is a bigger issue than just picking up trash or helping out once in a while. I am very much like other nurses and I do pull trash and do help out as I am a part of the team. However, I take issue with being required to perform these duties as a part of my professional role as a Registered Nurse. I have to agree with the post by smkoepke .... once you do something in the name of team work, suddenly it becomes expected of you routinely.

Nurses have many clinical responsibilities and make many decisions on a day by day basis that impact and effect the lives of the patient's under their care. Making these decisions often involves time and coordination. Today, I had several issues with administration of potassium for couple of patients that were in need of replacement and several that had orders that were inconsistent with their original plan of care. It took time to contact the physician's, draw new labs and make new clinical decisions for these patients. If I was worried about taking out the trash more than I was concerned about my true clinical responsibilities, then I do not provide a quality or safe service to the patient.

I have learned through posts on this thread that taking out the trash is a personal choice and that is fine. Again, I will do it as a part of the team but I will not be a part of this type of job responsibility being added to my professional duties as a Registered Nurse. When you are in practice as an RN, you will then be able to make those choices. But I do appreicate your comments. :)