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.
Your sister is not at all "realistic". I have a master's in psych and had to become a cna I, II and then LPN. If she thinks she's too good to go through the steps it takes to get there, she will get grief from her instructors and she could be failed out if they sense her unwillingness. I cleaned up a lot of poop in psych, in geri-psych, with psych children, etc, as a tech. Good luck to your sister. I give you a lot of credit for trying to educate her.
Those of us who don't want to deal with poop mean it in the sense that we don't want our regular duties to include cleaning up our patient's poop. Having poop thrown at us by patients is a different issue. Anyone going into psych should be aware that poop throwing patients can be an issue.
I actually never knew how big of "a thing" this was until I read this thread. I truly didn't know this was such an intrinsic part of psych nursing. You learn something new every day here!
I work OR too. But sometimes surgeries go over. Surely that's happened to you as well?
Actually hardly ever. I work in a union hospital so my breaks, meals and shift times are strictly enforced per contract. Also I now work in an ASU so there's no PM shift to relieve me if a case goes over. If I can see that a case won't finish on time I simply don't bring the case into the OR, unless management sends an RN over from the Main OR to relieve me. By sticking to my guns on this point management knows I won't be pressured, harassed or bullied into working any longer than I wish to. I can, on occasion, be sweet talked into it if I'm in the mood to stay but it's always my call, not theirs.
I have to agree...I don't see envy at all. Just someone who is frustrated by the naivety of her sister...OP came across as a kind caring person with a good attitude about the less desirable parts of nursing
I agree with your sister. And, as an aside, there are plenty of nursing jobs where even RNs don't have to clean up people's #2. And there is not that much of this in nursing school. Not only are nurse practitioners treated with much more respect than RNs, ( I am not saying this is OK by the way) but they have their choice of many, many jobs and yes, they are not forced ( inhumanely ) to work overtime like RNs are. Plus, they CAN choose to work 9 to 5. There are countless 9-5 positions for psychiatric NPs. Your sister has a masters in psychology, I am guessing that she has worked around psychiatric nurse practitioners and observes what they do. Additionally, nurse practitioners in general don't do nurses aide type work work like wiping peoples butts. In fact, RNs want so badly to be considered professionals, yet they allow themselves to be treated often like a doormats. In discussing bedside nursing, especially, What other professional would allow themself to be forced to work overtime, barely take a mealbreak in a 12 hour workday, barely take care of bodily needs such as going to the bathroom for hours on end, be treated horribly by their management, coworkers, clients etc. Hospital and nursing home nurses might as well be slaves. When was the last time you saw a physician wipe somebody's butt? Being a nurse practitioner is a whole different ballgame professionally.
Does NP not stand for NURSE practitioner? We are talking about how she will deal with poop during the NURSE part of her education. Sure she may have the graviest of gravy schedules and never lift a finger again once she passes her NP boards but until then....
Come to think of it, there are many ways to get around the poop. I have not seen the poop for years, make as much as a NP. Sister needs to rethink the whole deal.
Your sister is not at all "realistic". I have a master's in psych and had to become a cna I, II and then LPN. If she thinks she's too good to go through the steps it takes to get there, she will get grief from her instructors and she could be failed out if they sense her unwillingness. I cleaned up a lot of poop in psych, in geri-psych, with psych children, etc, as a tech. Good luck to your sister. I give you a lot of credit for trying to educate her.
What do you mean by "had to," and why would you "have" to (as opposed to it being your choice)?
karrikon
143 Posts
Your sister is not at all "realistic". I have a master's in psych and had to become a cna I, II and then LPN. If she thinks she's too good to go through the steps it takes to get there, she will get grief from her instructors and she could be failed out if they sense her unwillingness. I cleaned up a lot of poop in psych, in geri-psych, with psych children, etc, as a tech. Good luck to your sister. I give you a lot of credit for trying to educate her.