I have the time (to pee)

sandyfeet · Mar 27, 2014

I also find time to pee AND poop during shift! No shame in TMI here lol. I even have a secret bathroom I go to if I need ultimate privacy. No one will ever find me :)

The secret bathroom is KEY to survival! I have the key codes to 2 different department's bathrooms, and also have another secret bathroom in the basement just in case!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 27, 2014

Take care of yourself first; if you don't you won't be able to take care of others. When the oxygen masks descend into the cabin of the airliner (a truly frightening experience!), they tell you to put your own mask on first, then help others.

Take the time to pee, to take a lunch break, to take a 15 minute break -- you need them, and it's not really going to impact your backlog of workload that much. It might even make you feel better enough to concentrate and hence do your work that much faster -- or more accurately.

beckyboo1, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2014

I agree Ruby Vee. I don't get the mindset that you can't pee or take a lunch break. If I'm in a crazy shift, I take my lunch break anyway! The work will still be there when I get back and I get a few minutes to re-group. We don't have to be martyrs.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2014

Thank you!!! I've said similar things in other threads b/c I see that a lot on AN..."I don't even have time to pee!" Two minutes, really?

Here's the deal. Call lights can wait two minutes. Pain meds can wait two minutes. Dressing changes can wait two minutes. Pt is D/C'ing and he and his ride are getting antsy? They can wait two minutes. Doctor is asking to help position a pt for an LP, or to witness sterile technique for putting in a line? "I'll be there in two minutes."

I also take my lunches and pump for my breastfeeding infant. You know what I've always done when I hear "Your pt needs pain meds" (not so much of an issue in ICU b/c it's more obvious when someone is on break)? Back over the walkie/Vocera, "I'm on break, Nurse B is covering for me." If my covering nurse has a question I'll answer it via Vocera, but I won't exit the break/pump room unless it's a true emergency.

There have been days here and there where I will only take a 15-minute pump break when things are crazy. In that situation, I ALWAYS claim an extra 1/2 hour of time b/c I don't work for free.

We are treated however we allow ourselves to be treated. Nobody is standing with a gun to our head barring us from the BR. We are professionals--not slaves, not serfs, not prisoners. Heck we're not even retail employees whose manager tells us when break time is. If you need to pee, if you need to drink water, if you need to eat, Mamas if you need to pump--you go. You CHOOSE to go. But whining "I can't even pee" is not helping us personally, or as a profession.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2014

I started thinking of the little old ladies who stand up to go to the bathroom and leave a trail of pee on the way. I don't want to be like that so I started peeing whenever I felt the need.

Or one of those young-ish ladies who's had 5 babies, who hops to the BR w/ legs crossed if she waits too long. :whistling: :roflmao:

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2014

seemed like every time I went to the bathroom, a doctor would be on the phone, needing you. Or someone would want to place a swan or something RIGHT THEN.

"I'll be there in two minutes." (If this is an issue going forward.) :yes:

Glad your current job is better about that though!

Nola009 · Mar 27, 2014

I am a new nurse and sometimes I don't have time or am too busy to pee. And I really don't have time to drink the amount of h2o I usually do. By the end of the night, my urine is amber and sometimes it's cloudy. I drink as much as I can before and after the shift and take cranberry supplements to avoid getting a uti

Nola009 · Mar 27, 2014

I worked with a nurse whose daughter, also a nurse, died of toxic shock syndrome from not taking a break to tend to necessities. If you do not take care of yourself you cannot take care of anyone else.

Wow, that's sad. Thanks for sharing that --- point taken!

brillohead, ADN, RN · Mar 28, 2014

Vianne, we have to chart what a patient's stool looks like, in intimate detail! Some of the descriptions are hilarious. I will draw the line at my own poop, however!

My patient (I do PDN) is on formula tube feeds that result in GREEN poop. Always the same color of green, with only variations in consistency (play-doh, paste, or slime). Does the Bristol Stool Chart come in the color green? LOL

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 28, 2014

I am a new nurse and sometimes I don't have time or am too busy to pee. And I really don't have time to drink the amount of h2o I usually do. By the end of the night, my urine is amber and sometimes it's cloudy. I drink as much as I can before and after the shift and take cranberry supplements to avoid getting a uti

I think the point of this whole thread is that you need to MAKE the time. You need to take care of YOU first.

CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Mar 31, 2014

Too much info LoL... But seriously it does the same to me. ( not in nursing yet, but walking in general does the trick)

It's great that you ladies and gents are so comfortable talking about poop... because you'll be doing it a lot more once you become nurses.. One day, you'll find yourself in the break room eating a sandwich (or sad but true, at a fancy-ish restaurant) and in between bites you'll catch yourself asking your colleague or friends/family but hopefully never a date, "what color, consistency, texture, continence, frequency, odor?" And you'll ask yourself, "when did I transform into this person?" lol.

PRNketamine · Mar 31, 2014

The only time I can't pee is when I'm in the room with an intubated poorly sedated pt and no one to cover.

Although mostly I am too dehydrated to need to pee anyway.