How *much* bodily fluids???

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Okay, I'm sure this sounds terrible...

I really want to be a Nurse Practitioner. But I want to be an RN first. When I discuss this with people in my family, they immediately ask me if I really want to clean up poop all day. Now I know nursing has it's share of urine, feces and vomit, but that's not what I want to do all day long. I have been looking all over the place for *some* reference as to what nurses do all day long, and it's all so vague--"patient care and assessments" mostly.

I have a child, and I've babysat for years. I've cleaned up my share of bodily fluids, and I don't have a problem with them. If I'm spending, say, one hour a day changing diapers and wiping bottoms, that's fine. But if I'm spending 8 hours a day changing diapers and wiping bottoms, I would be pretty unhappy. I don't want to work my tail off for two years at school only to be cleaning up after people all day long. That's actually why I don't want to be a CNA until my last year of school (and the *only* reason I'm planning on it then is because it really seems to be encouraged).

Yes, I do plan on shadowing at some point...but I'd like to have some idea of what I'm getting into first! Help...and please try not to read this as "I think cleaning up after people is beneath me"...because I don't! I just want to do other things as well!

Rebecca

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Specializes in ER.

You probably already know this, but you need a masters to be a NP, so don't just go to school for 2 years. If you know what your ultimate goal is, then get your BSN right off the bat. It will not take you that much longer and you will not have to hassle with bridging to a masters or BSN program later.

As far as bodily fluids go...it is not a big deal. Most of your time is going to spent on charting! Unless you work in long term care, there is not a lot of poop to clean up anyway. Yes, there is some, but most folks in an acute care hospital can contribute to their own care in some way. You have CNA's to do a lot of that as well. You will however be dealing with starting IV's, drawing blood, suctioning trachs or ET tubes, performing dressing changes, dealing with tube feedings or catheters. Your involvment will depend on where you work. In the ER, I draw a lot of blood, and start a lot of IV's, put in a fair share of catheters, clean a lot of wounds, but don't do a lot of poop cleaning, and certainly not 8 hours worth! Actual exposure to bodily fluids consists of probably less than 10% of what I do. Not a big deal, but I wouldn't want to do it "all day" either.

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Thank you, that's exactly the kind of feedback I need! Yes, I know that I need a masters. Unfortunately, my wonderful DH can only support us (DD and he and I) financially up to a certain point, I need to get out of school and working full time again as quickly as possible. I actually already have a bachelors in accounting, so I could have done an accelerated program, but once I add in 18 months of prereq's, and a program so difficult I can't even work part time, I decided it would be better to get the RN as fast as I can, and then let the hospital pay for a bridge. I got my first degree online, I figure I can do the bridge program online too.

All of what you described sounds about what I expected, so maybe I'm not as far off as I was starting to think--between my mom telling me that all nurses hate their jobs and that she really wishes I could just stick with accounting, and the rest of my family making it sound like I would be a glorified babysitter, and the "grossest things" thread in the humor forum here...I was starting to doubt my judgment!

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As a new grad, it took about a month on the unit and most of the disgust at anything "gross" pretty much went away. You get immune to it extremely quickly. I'm not saying I adore cleaning up diarrhea, but it's not really a big deal anymore.

Of course, the bad side to this is that whenever the dog throws up, I'm the one picked to go clean it up. :)

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As a new grad, it took about a month on the unit and most of the disgust at anything "gross" pretty much went away. You get immune to it extremely quickly. I'm not saying I adore cleaning up diarrhea, but it's not really a big deal anymore.

Of course, the bad side to this is that whenever the dog throws up, I'm the one picked to go clean it up. :)

haha i thought my family were the only ones that singled me out whenever the dogs puke !!! :chuckle glad to hear im not the only one.

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Specializes in Medical.

Laypeople have a really strong (and false) association between nurses and body fluids, particularly the dreaded bed pan :) Like everyone else has said, it really is an inevitable and insignificant part of the job. Sure, you may well have days where it's diarrhoea from a***-hole to breakfast, but they're few and far between.

Oh, and about the "grossest..." thread - those stories represent the outstandingly disturbing moments in a career of nursing - if you were so bored as to calculate the years of nursing represented on this board divided by the number of incidents... who knew maths could be so interesting! Besides, the most disturbing things in my opinion were the kitten and the baby, and neither of them are really fluid related (though no less disturbing for that!)

If nursing's what you really want to do, at least be put off by people who do it, not your mum!

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Iv'e been in LTC as an RN for 11 years. I have had to actually clean up poo...maybe two or three times. As an RN, you do assessments, you start IV's and monitor them. You learn about the nursing approach=assessment, plan, intervention, and evaluation. You work with doctors, you are the patient advocate, a team member, not a poo cleaner...

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If the CNA's do most of the cleaning, do they do most of the sponge baths also? I know after a while you don't even think about what you are doing, but I know I will be uncomfortable at first with any pt. cleanings. Will an RN Student get pushed to do this a bunch while doing clinicals during school, just because we are the "newbies"?

I can say, if CNA's do most of the pt. cleanups, then God bless them, and give them a raise! :chuckle

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Thanks so much everyone for your replies...I feel better! I still need to shadow a few times so I can really feel like I know what I'm going to be in for, but apparently a couple of hospitals don't do shadowing anymore because of HIPPA worries...so now I have to find one that will still let me do it!

Thanks again...

Rebecca

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Cleaning up messes is just a small part of nursing, and is considered a part of patient care. Tell your family that "someone" may have to clean them up someday...and I can guarantee you, you will work as an RN prior to getting your ARNP...you have to get your RN first, then go for your masters. Of course, it would be your choice to practice medicine, but the program I am getting into WON'T take someone that hasn't practices as an RN for at least 1000 hours per year for the last 3 years...so check that out as well. Good luck!

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i will reiterate what everyone has said.

a very sm part of your job will involve cleaning bodily fluids.

there have been sev'l times that i've chosen to help the nsg asst out, but was not required.

the closest involvement you will have will be with chest and or wound vacs/drains, or monitoring output of foley catheters.

and you might have to assess the chance of c-diff once in a while.

but the poop part will be 5% of your job, if that.

leslie

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Laypeople have a really strong (and false) association between nurses and body fluids, particularly the dreaded bed pan :) Like everyone else has said, it really is an inevitable and insignificant part of the job.

I totally agree and I think that pre-nursing students and nursing students also fall in this category. I think that an important thing to remember is that a high percentage of patients would prefer to be able to take care of their own hygiene needs, but unfortunately, they might not be able to. I think student nurses keep this in mind and realize that it isn't our discomfort we should be concerned with but our patients.

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