The life or death squatty potty

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So I just had to share this with people that would understand. Not a rant, just a quick story.

On my ICU floor, we have a stool like object that we use during CPR since or beds are pretty tall. I come into work to see the stool in a patients room. Apparently, she had been using it as a squatty potty. Maybe 10 minutes later, a different patient codes. While we're working on her. I tell the cna which room the stool is in for her to go get. She comes back and says that the patient wouldn't let her take it, even after she explained to the patient that we need it for a code, happening right now.

There are plenty of staff in the room (asking for the stool actually) so I run over and just grab the stool, all the while I can hear the patient making a big stink about me taking her squatty potty. I was just amazed by her selfishness. Stool should not have even been in her room.

She did complain to my charge nurse, but no one really cared.

It was past time for her to leave. Orders to the floor, but no beds available.

I love my squatty potty (at home)! But I don't let-somebody-else-die love my squatty potty!

The tech never should have asked. Run in grab it, leave. I wouldn't even tell the patient what I was doing with it. It's a code.

I'd tell her to call her family to bring her personal squatty potty in as we don't provide those in the hospital.

People are insane.

Specializes in MCH,NICU,NNsy,Educ,Village Nursing.
It's a stool that wraps around your toilet. When you put your feet up on it, it puts you in a squatting position which is supposedly better for going number 2. I've personally never tried it, but it has really good reviews.

Amazon.com: Squatty Potty The Original Bathroom Toilet Stool, White, 7": Health & Personal Care

Hmm....this squatty potty isn't like the squatty potties I've used in my travels, which have gone by the name "cho", "toilet" (and, I use that term loosely) and "out house". I don't think one has ever been used to help with a code, however.........

Specializes in Informatics / Trauma / Hospice / Immunology.

No. Why would you lie to enable the patient's delusions which are detrimental to your coworkers and other patients? I just explain the purpose of the stool and how critical it is to others. Then take it and leave. In short this is not a toy yet alone your toy. Good day. I'll be back later to check on you.

Specializes in NICU.

This is what I don't get .Millions are spent on remodels,new rooms,making the patient comfortable but need a step stool to reach meds,supplies, put your feet up and you are out of luck.

My unit had only one and it was heavier than concrete.If the cleaning lady took it to reach higher you could not find it,if your co worker gave it to a patient needing to place their feet up,forget it.

Is it a hospital policy ?= One shall only have a single step stool per floor to be shared between units"? So we step up on chairs that swivel and hope your co worker is strong enough to stop it from twisting and knocking you off. The other is a reacher aid...dont get me started.

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

Reminds me of the time I had a guy fall out of his wheelchair in a dining room and while we're trying to examine him and help him up, another guy is yelling at me because I hadn't given him (whatever it was) yet. And guy #2 was pretty mentally competent, too.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
It was on an episode of Shark Tank

I saw it on a rerun of Shark Tank and found it, umm, interesting, so I Googled it. For the next 10 months I kept getting ads (Cookies, or however the heck that works) for Squatty Potty. I think they featured a unicorn defecating...or some sort of relationship between unicorns and one's poo.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
I just explain the purpose of the stool and how critical it is to others.

No pun intended?

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I'm still trying to visualize how such a thing would be used in a code. Does the person doing compression's stand on it to get to the right height for the bed? That doesn't sound even remotely safe, why not just lower the bed to the correct height? I am of course assuming the bed has a CPR function to harden the mattress, if not the coding patient should be moved to the floor.

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
I'm still trying to visualize how such a thing would be used in a code. Does the person doing compression's stand on it to get to the right height for the bed? That doesn't sound even remotely safe, why not just lower the bed to the correct height? I am of course assuming the bed has a CPR function to harden the mattress, if not the coding patient should be moved to the floor.

Yes, it's a step stool, basically, so shorties like me are able to be over the chest when doing compressions. I have never seen a patient in the hospital moved from the bed to the floor. Won't happen unless the bed is on fire or something. I have been at plenty of prehospital codes that started on the floor/ground, though.

I'm still trying to visualize how such a thing would be used in a code. Does the person doing compression's stand on it to get to the right height for the bed? That doesn't sound even remotely safe, why not just lower the bed to the correct height? I am of course assuming the bed has a CPR function to harden the mattress, if not the coding patient should be moved to the floor.

Pretty much what kbrn2002 said. Tall beds plus short nurses can be an issue. Of course the bed is lowered as much as it can be. But that's also why I said stool like object. its like a stool, but pretty wide, almost like a platform or soapbox. Makes compressions easier, even for not super short people.

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