ICU yuck

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So I was interested in going back to school to pursue nursing...get my RN then maybe eventually my NP. I got a job as a Patient Care Tech at one of my local hospitals 2 months ago in the ICU. I am not a very big fan of this job. It is gross and depressing and I am dealing with death/dead bodies left and right. It is not at all what I want. It has actually discouraged me from nursing. I am so not into geriatrics or wiping old peoples asses to be blunt! I have always been interested in healthcare and the helping professions and especially children. My first degree was in teaching. Maybe this is just not the right setting for me? Maybe it is the duties of the Patient Care Tech that are disenchanting to me and not the duties of a nurse. Any advise? Should I try another setting before I make my decision? I know the settings and careers an RN can have are limitless, which is one thing keeping me interested.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

By all means, try another setting before making such a big decision -- and definitely before making a big investment in an education. Don't invest time and money in a nursing education until you feel good about what a nursing career involves.

You'll have to do lots of stuff you don't enjoy as a nurse -- and as a nursing student -- but you need to feel good about the possibile nursing jobs out there before you invest.

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See if you can transfer to Peds at your hospital. Not everyone fits in with certain things. I worked as a CNA in Assisted Living and even though I loved my residents I don't think elder care is my calling. Not every nursing duty will be glamorous, but this is important work. Try a new deptment and if you're still not happy you will know for sure.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

A word of caution. Children have parents that will drive you NUTS!

Children get sick.... very sick......children die. As a nurse the bad comes with the good. When someone is sick...they get better and go home or they don't and go to heaven (or hell). Sometimes there is no better privilege than being present and a babies entrance and easing someones pain as they leave this plane of existence.

The humanity of nursing can be beautiful, but it is also very messy.

Good Luck finding your passion.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OB, NICU.

It just sounds like you don't know what nursing is all about. A lot of people want to be pediatrics nurse, but they don't know or understand that these will be sick kids with all the body fluids you will still have to deal with. I don't think a 14 year old's poop or vomit is any nicer than an 80 year old's. It is not all babies or little kids. Plus the parents' issues.

It is not all rainbows out there. I would recommend you to either not go into nursing or at least shadow the peds nurses and see what real life is about.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

you do need to think hard about becoming an rn while realizing that you really do get used to certain smells and

certain nursing tasks that just the very thought of makes you gag at this stage. you really will! there are time

honored ways to cope. for instance, a few drops of oil of wintergreen or oil of peppermint on a cottonball, which

you then tuck behind your mask or into your bra helps eliminate your having to smell various smells.

you can also use a dab of vicks or a mint teabag. for new young student nurses who haven't had experience with

other people's excrement other than changing an occasional diaper, it comes as a shock! don't forget that what

you're thinking of as pct/aide jobs are also nurse jobs. just because a nurse who is in the midst of passing meds says she can't help, doesn't mean she's being difficult or that what you need help with isn't a nursing task.

i chose to be a psych nurse and ended up getting an msn. immune to poop, barf, and other nasties, right?

nope! as long as i worked, i don't think i owned a pair of work shoes that someone hadn't thrown up on at

some point. pleasant? hardly, but it went with the job. occasionally someone would "paint" with their poop often

mixed with mustard. usually the aides cleaned it up but if i happened to be free, i'd help too.

every rn, lpn, aide has something that grosses him/her out. mine are the sound the suction machine makes

as it works, dentures, and crusty, powdery, unwashed feet! my chosen field pretty much eliminated suction machines, they could brush their own dentures, and i made myself become clinical around their icky feet and

unclipped toenails. barf and poop? bring 'em on if i can escape the dreaded suction machine and unbrushed teeth.

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