How much poop/puke/cleaning of bodily fluids is there in nursing school?

[priorities2]

Hey all. I'm starting in September and just want to know what I should be preparing myself mentally for. How much poop/puke/pee etc is involved? Is it a daily basis thing or just once in a while?

I'm not totally averse to it, just want to start getting prepared. =)

[chrisrn24]

What on earth? All I'm advising is to be prepared. My first patient in nursing school had C. Diff. Thank you for the heads up, though I am well aware of what NPs do/don't do. But like I said, experience is what gets you there. And if you go into being an NP feeling as if you are above anyone else when it comes to the "dirty work" of basic patient care, you won't last (or really be a very good NP). That is all.

Yes!!!

You have to be willing to get your hands dirty. Nothing is above you.

[SlyFoxRN, BSN, RN]

I strongly disagree that one needs to do the "dirty work" to be a good NP.

An NP is a provider. It is education and skills that make a good provider, not poop cleaning cred. If I go into the ED, I would much rather have an experienced, intelligent NP over one that prides herself on cleaning up messes.

Physicians don't have a poop cleaning requirement, and I'm pretty sure they make very good providers. NP's may be advanced nurses, but the roles are very different and people need to stop assuming that just because you're an advance practice NURSE that cleaning up messes needs to be in your job description.

This being said: I do advocate working before becoming an NP, which likely means cleaning messes. Fact of life! Just remember the patient is more uncomfortable than you are, so remember their feelings and treat them with respect (which I am sure that you will do already!).

[Quit Floating Me, BSN, RN]

I never had to deal with that in nursing school.

[AZirish]

Block one for RN program almost done.... Yes, every week at clinicals for sure. If the smell bothers you a little bit in the beginning, you could have something with you to swipe under your nose quickly. I think you'll find it won't bother you as much as you think because you'll be more concerned about the patients embarrassment or pain and discomfort and you will just want to help them. You'll do great! There were people in my class concerned about that, too, and they found it wasn't as bad as they thought. Have to say, though, I've been working with a c-diff patient for weeks now and I can't smell the difference. Lol!!

Okay. I'm just asking about school though. So, every day in nursing clinicals in RN school you clean up poop?

I didn't.

Sure, there was some, but it's not like every person who's in the hospital is incontinent and puking all over the place.

There are also degrees of poop. Sometimes it's just a matter of emptying a bedpan (pretty detached) and sometimes they're covered in it and it's coming out as fast as you can wipe it off.

And sometimes, the patients are perfectly capable of managing their own bowel/bladder function.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Sometimes you wonder, "how does a person produce that much poop in one shift?" *Sigh* I can't recall too many days in nursing school where patients didn't produce various body fluids.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

OP you need to work at the bedside at least 3 years before going to NP school, if you want to develop solid clinical judgement. You just don't know what you don't know.

Bedside nursing involves caring....and bodily fluids. The focus should be on the holistic plan of care for that patient, not the fact that you're cleaning up after them. Otherwise, you should consider clinic work or some type of desk job after a couple of years working bedside if you can't tolerate bodily fluids.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

The answer is....do you utilize the rest room every day? Then so does your patient....and if you wish to be a good ADVANCED practitioner you need to know the basics first. I have to say I find it REALLY annoying when these questions are asked because they have no intention of being a nurse...they want the fast track to the big bucks.

I see a problem in the future with NP and the flooding of this lucrative market....there will be plently of NP's and not enough clinics to go around...they just might find themselves back at the bedside dealing with excrement.

An ADVANCED nurse needs to learn the basics first.

[GodIs082010, ASN, RN]

The answer is....do you utilize the rest room every day? Then so does your patient....and if you wish to be a good ADVANCED practitioner you need to know the basics first. I have to say I find it REALLY annoying when these questions are asked because they have no intention of being a nurse...they want the fast track to the big bucks.

I see a problem in the future with NP and the flooding of this lucrative market....there will be plently of NP's and not enough clinics to go around...they just might find themselves back at the bedside dealing with excrement.

An ADVANCED nurse needs to learn the basics first.

You took the words out of my mouth

[priorities2]

I personally don't think she's lazy or anything like that....I just think it's rather naive to think you'll be avoiding it by being in any one specialty. I have psych nurses in my family that tell me the awesome stories of poop under the hand rails in the hallway, poop flying across the hall, body fluid everywhere....you get the picture. It just happens. I just think it's silly to say "oh well I want to do this so tell me what I want to hear." I don't know....it's health care. It's gonna happen. And nothing in life is certain, that's for sure! Like the OP, I went into nursing school with my eyes wide and glowing at being a PMHNP (previous degree and experience in psych, turned down PhD programs for nursing school), and I've since changed my mind! Anything can happen so it's best to be prepared and ready!

Well yeah, I made this thread in order to become more prepared and ready. I do for sure plan on becoming an outpatient PMHNP though. If I change my mind, that would be my choice, and I would have determined that whatever bodily fluids go along with a different career path are something I can handle.

I definitely won't attend a PMHNP program that doesn't provide me with preceptors and clinicals. In any given nurse's opinion, you might need 3 years of RN experience to be an effective PMHNP, but in reality, it's perfectly legal and tolerated to become one with 0 years or 1 year.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like it's not something I can handle. I'm definitely not in it for the big bucks, and honestly that's kind of presumptuous of you to say, based on a single question. I want to do psychotherapy, and I want to help people understand that medication is not the only way to solve many psych problems - that some more holistic, less harmful solutions are often available, especially to children. Do you think there are no other noble goals within the field of nursing than cleaning messes?

This thread has become so critical/presumptuous ... makes me want to go out there and prove it wrong haha. I do appreciate all the feedback from people who have shared their experiences without judging my motives.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

My definition of sick: When one's internals become one's externals without warning or control. It's not timed by the hour nor by the shift. It just happens; sometimes when you have just left the room; sometimes when you have just entered the room. It's always a toss-up when you're on the clock whether as an employee or as a student. Just be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. Sometimes being knee-deep in poop is better than being chewed out by an instructor or a doctor. The poop is far less painful.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Is it just me or is there truly a rise in the amount of poop posts here on AN lately? OMG! Is the world finally going to :poop:??!?!?!!!? Is it time to head for the bomb shelter???