Long story short, my sister has decided that she wants to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. She has a master's in psych, and believes this will be an easy thing to achieve, but she just simply doesn't want to clean poop.
I do assist with peri care, sometimes with a tech, and sometimes because the tech is with another patient. It's not the biggest part of my job and it is not the worst part of my job. It gives me a chance to assess skin issues, to change any bandages that may be on the coccyx, and to let the patient know that I'm there no matter what reason they need me.
I tried to explain this to her, and she just doesn't 'get it'. I get this idea that becoming an NP is practically the same as a MD to her, and that worries me. She'll learn, I suppose. I just hope that she will understand that assisting a patient at a time when they can't even go to the bathroom by themselves is not a bad thing. It's not horrible to help someone. It's what we do.
I'm just bothered by it. Thoughts...comments? Ways to make her understand? all appreciated.
Yep. The technical terms are scatolia (fecal smearing) and coprophagia (eating one's feces). Scatolia and coprophagia are exceedingly common in the geri-psych patient population.
I agree, a lot people going in NP thinking it will be cake 9-5hrs 4-5 days a week with a bump in pay and no poop. While it can be so it is rare. Most NPs I know who work for hospitals work all the time doing H&P and taking care the bulk of floor patients and discharges or ER work ups. The ones who work in practices work a lot more than people think. Some have contracts with nursing homes and do weekend rounds every other weekend and some end up charting from home when off work. I know there are cuah NPs positions out there but generally those filled up already l. The psych NP I know works a lot, on call, clinic work and the primary practice. She makes well but she earns it.
That is all if she gets through nursing school. Most NP program require at least a couple years experience as a nurse though their are some online ones that you can by with going right into. Either way she has a unrealistic expectation thinking she above nursing before she goes in it.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Many people don't "realize" what they are getting into, even if they think they do. That's probably what led to the saying, "Live and Learn".
My mom was a nurse, I worked as a CNA before I went to nursing school, and I'm fairly intelligent.
Even though I graduated #2 in the class, afterwards I said that if I had known what it was really going to be like, going through nursing school, I don't know that I would've signed up.
It wasn't ever poop/vomit/pee/blood that bothered me, but rather all the stress that built up due to feeling mentally exhausted all the time.
Anyway, no one can see around the wide curve of time, to the future. If you had told me when I met him, that I would marry my husband in several years time, I would've laughed you off the face of the earth. "Not my type!" And yet, here we are, 26 years later. Huh.
I also didn't want to clean poop when I considered nursing as a career. Now I am a GI nurse, I love it and poop is all I see all day. Go figure. Nursing is weird that way. I am sure she will change her attitude toward poop. :)
I don't think there is a single nurse that thinks "yay, poop!". If there is, well... they really are a special sort! But after a while all the body fluids sort of become just fluids and you just get to work without putting a lot of thought to it. Sure, there are things that we all find more aversive than others. But given a good pair of gloves and the promise of Sanitex - we get by.
I mean when you think about it, I've read experiences written by restaurant employees and bartenders having to clean up after sick patrons in the restroom or mop up someone's good time from the bar. I am sure no one told them they'd be doing that for below minimum wage plus tips. But I digress...
Your sister doesn't want to clean poop - It's part of the grunt work of nursing school. It's a fact. If she can get through it - squeeze a few years out of floor nursing (as the other posters have stated) so she has the chops to work as an NP and is not just book educated. But as others pointed out - especially in pysch - poop happens. A lot and in very interesting ways. The NP may very well have to get involved. It depends on the makeup of the floor or what is going on... and you never know for sure - especially in psych - is it dirt under those nails or something worse?
Lets be real, there's a high chance she can get through school with minimal poo cleaning.
I know we paid our "dues", but if she's set on being a psych NP and has psych experience there is no reason why she has to go through the trials and tribulations of a staff RN. I sense some jealousy regarding the fact that she is going to avoid a lot of the BS we all had to deal with through-out our careers.
Remember she is going to be a psych NP, not a psych RN. If she works minimally in school or just outpatient her chance at avoiding poop is even higher.
NPs don't clean poop. Last time I checked I have never seen one of our NP hospitalists change a patient...
She doesn't need to want or like to to clean poop. What she does need to understand is that she *will* do it in nursing school or she will never graduate. Failing to do it in her job out of nursing school will get her bad to no recommendations for the NP program she wants to do. She has a psych degree so I don't get why this is hard for her to puzzle out. Tell her refusing to care for her patient's needs will not help her with her plan and will negatively effect everything. Then let her fail or succeed on her own and stay completely out of it.
martymoose, BSN, RN
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